1930 9ct two-colour gold vintage Rolex Prince Brancard watch

Date:           1930

Case:            9ct gold, 25 x 42mm

Movement: Extra Prima

Dial:             Arabic numerals

Lugs:            20 mm

This is a very early fine example of the Rolex Prince. The stylish Brancard case, which is flared and curved, is in wonderful condition. A real must-have for any watch enthusiast

A 1930, 9ct two-colour gold vintage Rolex Prince Brancard watch. The case measures 25 x 42mm, with 20mm lug size. The case is signed RWCLtd. (Rolex Watch Company Limited), hallmarked Glasgow 1930 and numbered to the back with ref. 971u. The manual wind, Extra Prima movement is signed Rolex, Observatory Quality, Timed to 6 positions, numbered, with 15 Rubies. The silvered dial has gilt Arabic numerals, with a large seconds dial below and fine blued steel ‘Poires Indes’ hands. The dial is signed  Rolex Prince above the centre, with Chronometer below.

The Rolex Prince with the two dials is often referred to as a ‘doctors watch’ or ‘duo-dial’. The large seconds dial enabling the wearer to time heart beats, etc more accurately.

The Rolex Prince

The Rolex Prince was first produced in 1929 and it has a special movement, initially made by Aegler and Wilsdorf , when in 1927 a patent was filed for a “shaped watch movement with a seconds dial”. In this new watch the winding barrel and the balance wheel were at opposite ends of the movement allowing for a larger balance wheel and thus more accuracy. A larger winding barrel also meant that the watch could run for longer on a single wind. This allowed most Princes to be chronometer rated and most were indeed sold with a chronometer certificate.

The variation of the Prince models available, even though most movements were similar ( besides the rare Jump Hour model) the cases came in a few different shapes and metals. The Brancard case in silver, gold, platinum and stainless steel, also two colour and ‘tiger-stripe’, the Railway case with stepped sides and also a straight sided case design.