Rolex vintage explorer II

The Rolex vintage Explorer II was a faliure during that time! Nevertheless, it has become one of the most popular sport model now!

Rolex vintage daytona 6239

Rolex vintage sports model daytona

Rolex 6265 (with screw down crown and pushers)

Rare sports model made for the middle East market (with the Middle East Eagle icon on the dial). This watch is unique as Rolex no longer allows co-branding in its watch dial.

The daytona model has been popularised by Paul newmen in the movie. The early daytona uses non-Rolex movement and they are manual movements (Valjour).

Vintage Rolex moonphase

Rolex don't make any more moonphase watches. Since the late 1950s

These were the early so called "complicated" movement with day, date, time, moonphase, chronograph functions all into one at that time!

Rolex Prince - a watch for those men, who were looking for something distinct to wear.

The Rolex Prince is One of THE classic!

Dusring the 1930s, the price of the Rolex Prince is equvalent to the price of a car!

It is widely known as a doctor's watch as it has a large separate subsidiary second dial for ease of reading for doctors when measuring the pulse rates of the patients.

Rolex has recently re-launed a new Prince series but the feel of the watch is different (Please see enclosed photo).

Like the bubblebacks, the Rolex Prince comes in many variations, steel, gold (9k, 14k, 18k), silver, gold and steel, tiger straps etc.

The Gruen doctor's watch and the Rolex Prince shared the same movements as the former were made for the US market while the latter were made for the rest of the world. They were not sold as competitors. However, the price of the Gruen is 30% of that of a Rolex. That's the power of brand building!

Rolex Prince - Watch 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.

On initial release, the prince was available in two case styles, one was a more rectangular case (Classic) and the other was a much rounder design (Brancard), the choice of materials was yellow gold, sterling silver, platinum, and two tone combinations (steel was available later on). Brancard model watches were designated model 971 and Classic watches were model 1343. Shortly after its release, the Rolex Prince was augmented with a self winding movement, which eliminated the need for winding.

The “Railway Prince” was released in 1935 and was designed after the look of locomotives, this model was designated 1527. Rolex then introduced a new movement which was nicknamed “Jumping Hours”. This design would only feature minute markings on the larger top dial, with a slot open at the top (12 o’clock position) with a number display (1-12 Hours). As the minute hand swung past the hour display, the number would switch over to the next hour. This would also serve as the inspiration for the Rolex Datejust down the line.

One of the last models of the Rolex Prince was the “Super Precision Aerodynamic” version. It featured a singular large dial where the hour, minutes, and second hands all lived. The Rolex Prince line would be discontinued sometime in the 1940’s and replaced with the more circular and sporty designs.

Special Edition Rolex Prince Watches

Throughout its production period, the Rolex Prince watch has had numerous production runs as special editions. The “Sporting Prince” was a pocket watch that was designed to be used while engaged in athletic activities. It was contained in a case that would activate a spring mechanism that would present the dial to the user by popping out and tilting.

A large Canadian department store commissioned Rolex to create special edition versions of the Prince to give employees that have worked for more than 25 years, appropriately named the “Quarter Century Club”. These watches had the words “1/4 Century Club” printed on the edges of the hour and minutes dial instead of number markings.

Rolex bubbleback

Some background History from the web: Rolex was founded in London, in 1905, by the 24-year-old Wilsdorf, a German who became a British citizen after taking an English bride. It was an era when national borders tended to define men's ambitions, but Wilsdorf thought big from the beginning. In 1908, before anyone had uttered the term multinational, Wilsdorf trademarked the word Rolex, a name that's easily pronounced in different languages and short enough to fit on a watch dial. It's said that Wilsdorf dreamed up the word while riding a London bus, having been inspired by the sound a watch makes as it is wound

I love the Rolex bubblebacks! One of my key collections are the vintage Rolex Bubbleback as these are the first fully finctional automatic watches produced in the 1930s. What attracts me was its unique protruding backcase (which is why it was called bubbleback).

There are many versions namely: in steel, half gold, gold (9k, 14k, 18k Pink or Yellow gold) and hooded version as well as the varies sizes and dials.

One of the rare ones that I have is the one with the hooded bubbleback in pink gold (made for the USA market) as well as the one with 9 Rolex crowns, and the California dial!

www.rolex.2itb.com

Vintage watches

I love watches! Especially vintage watches!

I have been collecting vintage watches since 1988~~

I started collecting watches when I was still in the university. I would source for T shirts from the factory and then sell them in University to earn money for the building of my vintage watch collection.

the 1980s-90s were the peak of the vintage watch collection. After 1997 the financial crisis, the fever for vintage watch collection seemed to cool down. Following which, many began to collect the newly produced watch instead of the vintage one owing to easy availability and ease of purchase.

Nevertheless, vintage watches remain my true love!