1930 silver vintage Rolex Prince watch

An early silver vintage Rolex Prince watch. The case measures 20 x 40 mm (including lugs). The case is signed RWCLtd (Rolex Watch Company Limited), hallmarked Glasgow 1930 and numbered to the back, with reference 1343A. The Extra Prima movement is signed with 15 Rubies, Rolex Hairspring, Timed to 6 positions, Observatory Quality and numbered. The movement has a protective cap which is also signed Rolex, 25 World’s Records. The dial has black Arabic numerals at the quarters with a large seconds dial below. The dial is signed Rolex Prince above the centre with Chronometer below.

The Rolex Prince

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 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.

Rolex say there was a limited number of Prince watches ‘as such fine watches cannot be produced quickly or in large quantities’.