Congratulations and happy birthday to you. Both are very fine watches and here is my take on things:
Rolex 16030
- Most likely without cert due to the age of the watch and the cert has probably long disintegrated or gone missing.
- Most likely the watch will require a service or has been serviced before in the past. Not a bad thing, but it depends very much on who serviced it and if anything was changed before. You wouldn't want to end up with a frankenwatch. Water resistance might be another issue here as well due to worn out gaskets and such.
- Excellent size at 36mm which I believe will suit women with average wrist size very well.
- Acryllic glass which has it's good and bad (scratches easier than sapphire but can be polished).
- Is it a quick set date? I'm not too sure with this model. If it isn't, it will be quite painful to set the date.
- Excellent oyster bracelet which is much more durable than the leather on the Portofino
- Most likely cheaper than the Portofino
IWC Portofino
- This is one of the nicest dress watches ever made IMHO. If i'm not mistaken, this model still comes on folding clasp compared to tang buckle, which is a huge advantage for me.
- ETA movement, cheaper servicing costs, very accurate and reliable. Some may see this as a disadvantage as it is not in-house made.
- Pre-owned should come with cert and box (probably falling apart now, as with most IWC boxes) but would most likely be more costly than the Rolex
- Leather strap may be due for change and if you are going with the original IWC leather strap, it will set you back close to another RM1k perhaps.
- Size would be 39mm which might be a tad big for a woman but it depends very much on your wrist size. If you can fit it then flaunt it.
- If i'm not mistaken, there is 1 merchant on this forum that has 1 unit preowned in his sub-forum. However, this model is not easy to come by pre-owned.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend the IWC Portofino due to it being newer. However, if you are looking for a daily use watch, the Rolex would be a better bet, but maybe you should go for later models (ie 16234 or maybe Explorers if you can up your budget a bit).
Anyhow, happy shopping and don't rush into buying until you have really made up your mind.
If you can't make up your mind, toss a coin with both watches in front of you. Regardless of the outcome of the coin toss, you will know which one you want when the coin is in the air.
