1940s steel vintage Rolex Oyster watch

Date:           1947

Case:            Steel, 30mm

Movement: Rolex Manual Wind

Dial:             Black with Arabic numerals

Lugs:            17mm

An early 1947, stainless steel vintage Rolex Oyster watch. The mid-size case measures 30 mm in diameter, with a Rolex Oyster winding crown. The case is signed Rolex, Geneve Suisse, Brevete, reference 4820 and numbered between the lugs, dating the watch to 1947. The manual wind movement is signed Rolex Precision, Swiss Made with 17 Rubis and patented super balance. The black dial has alternate gilt Arabic numerals, with an outside minute track, subsidiary seconds dial and fine gilt luminous hands. The dial is signed Rolex Oyster above the centre with a Rolex Coronet.

The Rolex Oyster

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.

The ‘Oyster’ name was registered in 1926, an inspiration of Wilsdorf when he struggled to open an oyster at dinner.