I began my love affair with watches and #horology shortly after moving to South Korea in 2008 and during this affair I've moved through a progression of timepieces in an attempt to attain horological harmony. Each watch attracted me on impulse to purchase it but over time the "slight" imperfections inevitably came to destroy any love I'd originally had.
The first watch I'd bought to start this hobby was a quartz movement which I soon came to despise once realizing I had an affection for mechanical movements. Next was a quite seemingly lovely mechanical watch which ticked a lot of the boxes for me but I'd made the mistake of getting it with gold-plating and a generic ETA movement. The idea of having a plated watch case began to bother me more and more over the years. The thought now disgusts me.
Next I purchased a decent dive watch: diver-rated, in-house mechanical movement and all stainless steel. I'm still quite fond of this watch but the proportions were too big for me and so I could never completely be happy with it. There were a few other watches along the way thrown in between which had some combination of these horological faux pas.
Then a few years back I decided to pull the trigger on a second-hand Rolex Datejust 16233:
This particular Rolex Datejust 16233 came out circa 1991 and ticked all the boxes for me. Firstly, Rolex itself will always have its place in the horological history books so there is pedigree to the brand. The movement and innovations thereof are all completely in-house. The gold is 18k and interestingly, unless I'm mistaken, Rolex creates all their own gold alloys, so it's quite uniquely "Rolex gold."
Having bought the 16233 second-hand for a decent price I feel confident that it will at the very least retain its value in the coming years. The proportions are a modest 36 mm which I believe to be just right in a gentleman's wristwatch. It's a common misconception that the Rolex Datejust is a dress watch. Actually, the Datejust just like the Submariner belongs to Rolex's sports line of watches. It has a screw-down crown and is water-resistant to 100 meters. Although it may look it, the Datejust wasn't designed to be babied, and so I get great joy having this as my daily wearer.
And so I've finally found peace with this watch. Here are some other details on the Rolex Datejust 16233 that have kept me in love with it these past few years:
The Rolex mechanical movement in the Datejust 16233 is durable and extremely accurate. In fact, the movement in this watch is actually a COSC certified chronometer. This model has the quick-set date and of course hacking seconds. This model also has sapphire crystal. The crystal on the Datejust is dramatic in its thickness:
I've always been a fan of the cyclops which magnifies the date. The fluted bezel makes this watch pop with the way it plays with light (hard to get on camera, something you'd really have to see in person). In my opinion the jubilee bracelet is very classy and comfortable. I would have been happy with the all-steel model as well (with the white gold bezel), but seeing that this is the two-tone Datejust, it has the addition of having the roman numerals and Rolex crown in gold upon the dial. The winding crown is also in gold.
Some additional information on the Rolex Datejust 16233: It's a holes case, which some may not like, however personally I'm indifferent. It has "T Swiss Made T" printed on the bottom of the dial signifying that the hands and markers contained tritium for the purpose of luminescence. Obviously there is no lume currently remaining. The bracelet contains hollow links. Personally on this aspect I'd prefer solid links. The clasp is a single-deployant release but I've never found it to be an issue for my day-to-day activities. Overall the watch is very light and comfortable on the wrist.
The watch has a plain, solid caseback. Rolex watch movements are workhorse movements and although durable and accurate aren't something necessarily to show off. As to why there's no printing, I assume this is to allow the owner to engrave on the back what they'd wish. There is some stretching that comes with having gold center links in the jubilee bracelet but in my case it's not yet that bad.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this one, take care!