1920s 9ct rose gold cushion vintage Rolex Oyster watch

Date:           1926

Case:            9ct rose gold, 32 x 32mm

Movement: Rolex Prima

Dial:             Champagne  with Arabic numerals

Lugs:            18mm

An incredibly rare ‘Pre-Patent’ gold cushion Rolex Oyster watch, with centre sweep seconds!

A 1926, 9ct rose gold cushion vintage Rolex Oyster watch. The case measures 32 x 32mm with 18mm lugs, with personal engraving ‘Roger F Stowell, 23.3.29’ to the back and with an Oyster crown. The case is signed Rolex, 7 World’s Records, RWCLtd. (Rolex Watch Company Limited), hallmarked Glasgow 1926, Patent Applied For and numbered. The manual wind movement is signed Rolex, Swiss, numbered, with 15 jewels. The champagne dial has black Arabic numerals, with red centre sweep seconds hand and fine blued steel ‘cubistes’ hands. The dial is signed Rolex Oyster above the centre.

The Rolex Oyster

Following the end of World War I, global trading resumed and Rolex watches were being sent abroad, particularly to the the hot and humid tropical countries of the British Empire. Many of the watches were found to have rusted on arrival following a long damp voyage!

Hans Wilsdorf (co-founder of Rolex) was determined to produce a ‘water-proof’ watch and commented;

“We must succeed in making a watch case so tight that our movements will be permanently guaranteed against damage caused by dust, perspiration, heat and cold. Only then will the perfect accuracy of the Rolex watch be secured.”

The Rolex Oyster watch was produced a few years later in 1926 with a ‘three-piece’ case, (the front and back screwing into the body). An iconic design that has become probably the best selling waterproof wristwatch.