1930s 14ct gold vintage Rolex Prince Brancard watch
A rare vintage 14ct gold Rolex Prince Brancard watch. The Brancard case (ref. 1490) measures 25 x 42 mm, is signed R.W.C.Ltd. (Rolex Watch Company Limited) Rolex, 25 World’s Records, Geneva-Suisse, marked 14K and numbered. The case is engraved with ‘Presented to AH McNeilly to mark a quarter century of continuous service with the T. Eaton Co. Ltd. 1912-1937’. The Rolex Extra Prima Chronometer movement with 17 Rubies, Timed to 6 positions and numbered. The silvered gilt dial has black 1/4 Century Club around the outside, with a large subsidiary seconds dial below. The dial is signed Eaton above the centre, with Chronometer below.
T. Eaton Co. Limited
Once Canada’s largest department store retailer, founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton. Eaton’s grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country and buying offices across the globe.
‘1/4 CENTURY CLUB’ watches were custom made by Rolex exclusively for Eaton’s as an award to employees who had worked for the company for 25 years. They were made in 14kt gold and beautifully engraved on the case back with the employee’s name and the years of service, in this case, A. H. McNeilly who had worked there during 1912 – 1937. The custom made dial instead of the normal numerals or hour markers has the letters ‘1/4 CENTURY CLUB’ inscribed and in place of the name Rolex was ‘Eaton’.
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.
