What is a Rolex nipple dial?
If you have immersed yourself in the world of vintage Rolex watches, you may have come across the term ”Rolex nipple dial”. This is just one of many words and terms that are used in the context of Rolex watches to describe them.
But what does Rolex nipple dial mean?
Let’s find out.
What is a Rolex nipple dial?
The name nipple dial refers to, of course, the dial of a Rolex watch. But not just any dial. In fact a special dial variation with a special feature.
The name refers to the applied indices of a Rolex, and a particular variant of these markers, where they are not completely ”flat”, but slightly raised, and the luminous material only applied to the tip of the marker.
If you look at the round hour markers of a Rolex nipple dial, it becomes obvious how the name has come about, as it reminds of a nipple.
Furthermore, a Rolex nipple dial follows the same design style as all of Rolex’s other watches, which means rectangular markers at 6 and 9 o’clock, as well as a triangle at 12 o’clock. These are also made in the same style as the round nipple markers, but of course, aren’t reminiscent of nipples due to their shape.
Rolex nipple dials are quite rare as they were only made for the GMT-Master and Submariner models. The dial-type was in production on and off from the 1950s up until the 1970s, but only available on a few watches in total. All nipple dials have their applied markers made in yellow gold as they are only found on either two-tone or solid gold Rolex watches. The markers have luminescence material, and because the production span of the nipple dials is so wide, what material they use for the luminescence varies.
The fact that the nipple dials have only been available in full gold or gold and steel watches has contributed to making them rarer, as these watches are naturally more expensive than full-steel variants.
Over the course of its production, nipple dials were available in blue, black, and brown dials.
The first watch to feature a nipple dial was the GMT-Master 6542 made in full gold. Following this, Rolex released a number of nipple-dial watches.
These are all the Rolex references that were available with a nipple dial:
- GMT-Master 6542 in gold
- GMT-Master 1675/8 in gold
- GMT-Master 1675/3 in two-tone
- GMT-Master 16758 in gold
- GMT-Master 16753 in two-tone.
- Submariner 1680/8 in gold
- Submariner 1680 in gold
- Submariner 16808 in gold
The fact is that nipple dials are not optimal for legibility. Due to the raising of the markers’ top, the surface which has luminous material is much smaller than the standard Rolex markers. With that said, the nipple dials represent an interesting contrast in Rolex’s production of sports watches, since the nipple dials were made primarily for design, and compromised function. Remember that we are used to saying the opposite about Rolex watches – that Rolex never compromises on function.
The nipple dials are rare and generally command a premium on the secondhand market as opposed to non-nipple dialed versions. With their point markers, they get their very own design, made to enhance their exclusivity to make sports watches that are more elegant than sporty.
With the nipple dials, we can for sure say that Rolex acknowledges that it wasn’t just professionals who wore these professional watches, the way they were originally intended.
