This little watch came into my possession through one of the usual channels. Which is to say people hard up for cash rummaging through boxes of their (grand)parents' stuff looking for anything might be potentially valuable and then trying to sell any old watches they find.

At the time I bought it it was trash. The crystal was broken. The crown (knob) and casetube were gone. The mechanism was a mass of rust, loose dirt, broken parts, and oil that had reached the density of tar. I bough it intending to strip it for usable parts.

But once I had it in the "junkers" drawer it started to grow on me. The dial was still in good shape, the case and band were still mostly intact underneath all the scratches and grime, and it was a fairly good example of a baseline Rolex from the 1960s.

Two months of sporadic restoration during my free time followed, and this was the end result. I'm quite happy with it.

Oh, and in spite of my still not being too great at digital photography, this watch is actually a nice clean stainless steel, and the dial is a slightly bluish off-white. I may submit another photo if I ever improve.