Rolex Oyster Cushion Two-Tone Dial 1938

Rolex

Founded in 1905 in England by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis as Wilsdorf & Davis, the partnership became known as the Rolex Watch Company in 1915, moving to its new Geneva headquarters in 1919. The success of the wristwatch can be largely attributed to many of Rolex’s innovations which made the company one of the most respected and well-known of all luxury brands. These have included its famous “Oyster” case — the world’s first water-resistant and dustproof watch case, invented in 1926 — and its “Perpetual” — the world’s first reliable, self-winding movement for the wristwatch, launched in 1933. These would form the foundation for Rolex’s Datejust and Day-Date, respectively introduced in 1945 and 1956. Also and equally importantly, Rolex is known for its sports watches, such as the Explorer, Submariner and GMT-Master launched in the mid-1950s.

During the 1930s and ’40s, Rolex also became quite masterful at courting tremendous publicity and excitement through literally being ‘on hand’ during numerous record-breaking events. These were, for example, swimming the English Channel (1927), breaking the world automobile speed record (300mph, 1935), breaking the sound barrier (1947) and climbing Everest for the first time in 1953. No matter how well orchestrated these events came to be, we have to admire Rolex for becoming masters of self-promotion and capitalising on every opportunity with simultaneous worldwide marketing campaigns.

Description

A beautiful, fully restored, gentleman’s Rolex Oyster watch from 1938 in stainless steel. The case is in superb condition and measures 32mm x 32mm, or 38mm corner to corner, not including the lugs. This wonderful watch carries a highly sought-after, freshly restored, two-tone silver dial. These watches were very popular during the 1930s and were a forerunner to the Rolex Precision. They are however becoming harder to find these days, particularly in such wonderful condition as this.

The Dial

The stunning, fully restored two-tone silver dial is simply stunning! This dial is split into quarters which each shine a different shade of silver depending on how the light reflects off it.

This dial carries 1 – 12 Breguet style standard Arabic numerals which are swept by original blued steel ‘index’ hands, framed by an outer minute railtrack, all completed with a perfect subsidiary seconds dial at 6. All of these beautiful features make this watch very easy to read when upon the wrist and match perfectly with the incredible stainless steel case.

The dial is simply signed ‘Rolex Oyster’ at the very top of the dial just below 12, along with ‘Swiss Made’ curved perfectly around the bottom of the minute railtrack.

This dial has been fully restored to the highest standard and remains in incredible condition.

The Movement

The movement fitted to this watch is the original 10½ Hunter, 15 Jewel Rolex Prima movement used in Rolex’s highest quality watches of this period. As may be noted from the photographs, this is the especially high grade ‘Timed to 6 Positions For All Climates’ movement as used in Rolex’s chronometer movements. The movement is in very clean condition having just completed a full overhaul and service by our vintage Rolex specialist watchmaker. This means it has been completely dismantled to each of its component parts before cleaning and inspection under high magnification, replacement where necessary with only genuine Rolex parts, then careful reassembly, adjustments and oiling to Rolex specification, before final calibration and testing.

The movement is now running accurately and within expectations of 30 seconds per day. The timing expected of a Rolex movement of this period is within 1 minute per day, and this is our guarantee. The power reserve when fully wound on this movement is 30 hours. We are therefore confident in offering this watch with a 12-month written warranty*.

The movement is signed ‘Rolex’, ‘Swiss Made’, ‘Timed 6 positions’, ‘For All Climates’ and ‘15 Rubies’.

*Please note – our 12 months’ warranty is only applicable if the full list price is paid.

The Case

The simply incredible stainless steel case is in superb condition, with no scratches or dings or marks visible to the naked eye. This watch also has an incredible smooth bezel which completes the look of this watch perfectly. It is of a large size, compared with typical case sizes of the day, and measures 32mm in width excluding the crown, 32mm in height excluding the lugs, 38mm diagonal across the case and 43mm including the lugs.

The case-back is of full thickness and has never been inscribed. It is completely blemish-free with no scratches dings or other marks visible to the naked eye. Also of note is the watch case, which is crisp with clearly defined lugs.

Inside the case is signed ‘Oyster Watch Co’ along with ‘Geneva Swiss’ and ‘Grest British Patents’.

As ever, our standard advice applies: vintage watches should be kept clean and dry at all times.

The Strap & Buckle

A high quality, matching black leather strap is fitted along with a Rolex steel buckle. However, if a different colour or style of strap is preferred, please let us know and we will do our best to oblige free of charge. We carry tan, conker, dark brown and black in stock in plain padded leather, crocodile skin or lizard skin. We can also obtain most types and colours from our partners at ‘Watch Obsession’ within 48hrs. Please take a look at their huge range of straps here.

Box and Papers

Although there are no original papers with this watch, the reference numbers, markings, signatures and hallmarks are all correct, dating this watch to 1938.

Detailed particulars will be included with our purchase receipt for your interest and security. A separate insurance valuation for the replacement value of this watch will be provided at the time of sale along with our unique ‘Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee’ which states: “If this watch proves to be anything less than 100% genuine, authentic and original, a full refund will be given at any time”.

A high quality hardwood presentation box is included in the sale of this watch.

Payment and Delivery

If you would like to pay by bank transfer, we will be pleased to assist you with this and pass on a 3% saving to you. Paying by bank transfer for a 3% saving will not affect your 12 months warranty. Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and, unfortunately, out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges; however, attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those who happen to visit London on occasion, we are, of course, more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London, and hand your watch directly to you there.

As with all our watches, this watch will be sold under our 14 days no-quibble sale or return policy.

In Conclusion

This is a really beautiful 1930s vintage stainless steel watch from Rolex, one of the most highly honoured and awarded Swiss watch manufacturers. It is to the credit of the company that this watch is still perfectly useable and reliable, just as it was when it left the factory nearly 100 years ago!

A word on our prices – We always try our hardest to acquire the very highest quality watches we can find, before restoring them to the highest possible standards. We then offer these at the fairest prices we can, taking into account our pre and post-sales care and service. This approach means we will never be the cheapest, but nor will we be the most expensive. Indeed there are some well-known stores in West London which are highly successful charging between two to three times the price you see here. We, therefore, consider our prices to be fair, given the quality of watches we have to offer.

Please note, we also welcome part exchanges. If you have a watch or a small collection for sale, please contact us as we will be happy to discuss this.

We will also be happy to Service your watch, Repair your watch or Restore your watch, all at ‘sensible’ prices. Please see here.

If you have any questions please call us on 020 7727 7095 or if calling from overseas on +44 207 727 7095.

Please take a look at our other fine vintage steel watches.

Thank you.