1920s silver octagonal ladies vintage Rolex Oyster watch
Date: 1927
Case: Silver, 28 x 35mm
Movement: Rolex Prima
Dial: Guilloche with Black Arabic numerals
Lugs: 14 mm
A rare early Rolex Oyster watch from 1927, the same year Mercedes Glietze swam the channel wearing one!
A 1927, silver octagonal ladies vintage Rolex Oyster watch. The case, with a knurled front bezel, measures 28 x 35mm (including lugs) with 14mm lug size and an Oyster Patent winding crown. The case is signed Rolex, 20 World’s Records, hallmarked Glasgow 1927 and numbered. The Rolex Ultra Prima, manual wind movement is signed, with 15 jewels, timed to 6 positions, for all climates. The silvered ‘guilloche’ (engine-turned) dial has black Arabic numerals with a subsidiary seconds dial and fine blued steel ‘cathedrales’ hands. The dial is signed Rolex Oyster above the centre
‘The greatest triumph in watch making, the Rolex Oyster. The wonder watch that defies the elements.’
The headline from the front page of the Daily Mail newspaper, November 24th, 1927. Hans Wilsdorf (founder of the Rolex watch company) had succeeded in producing a truly waterproof watch and took the whole front page to advertise his achievement. Following years of striving to improve the ‘wristlet’ or wristwatch, Wilsdorf patented the Oyster case in September 1926. Consisting of three parts, bezel, ring and back that were all threaded to screw together, ensuring the case was water and dust proof. A month later he filed a patent for the screw thread and crown, which would hermetically seal the watch. (This had originally been filed by Paul Perregaux and Georges Peret (their one and only patent) in October 1925. Wilsdorf saw the great potential and bought the patent and subsequently filed for the British patent; 260.554.) Wilsdorf saw a great marketing opportunity when 26-year-old Mercedes Glietze swam the English Channel in October 1927. He presented her with an Oyster watch, which she wore on a chain around her neck. After the swim, lasting 15 hours and 15 minutes, the watch was found to be running and telling the correct time! He followed this triumph with window displays of aquariums with Oyster watches submerged inside, an idea he had registered in November 1922.
The Rolex Oyster watch
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.
