1930s gold and steel vintage Rolex Prince ‘Railway’ watch

An early gold and steel vintage Rolex Prince ‘Railway’ watch. The steel and gold case measures 23 x 42 mm (including lugs). The case is signed Rolex, 25 Records Universels, Geneve-Suisse, and numbered to the back, with reference 1527 (known as the Railway model).  The Extra Prima movement is signed Rolex, Observatory Quality, Timed to 6 Positions, Rolex Hairspring with 15 Rubies and numbered. The dial has black Arabic numerals to the quarters, with a large seconds dial below and gold detail surrounds. 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 beats, etc more accurately.

ROLEX PRINCE HISTORY

‘The Rolex Prince has its place in watch making history as being one of the most groundbreaking watches released. Rolex released this watch in 1928 and its accuracy and ease of use set the standard for luxury watches. The Rolex Prince featured a stylish rectangular shape as well as two easily legible dials. Hours and minutes were tracked by the larger dial on top and seconds were counted on the smaller dial on bottom.

The 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.

The “Railway Prince” was released in 1935 and was designed after the look of locomotives, this model was designated 1527.’