Rolex Oyster Perpetual Model Ref.5500 1945

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 and moved 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.

Description

A beautiful previously restored Rolex Oyster Perpetual stainless steel wristwatch, with a previously restored ivory-cream dial with wonderful steel furnishings. The 34mm stainless steel case has thick straight lugs and a screw-down case-back, overall, giving this stylish watch a confident, yet not overstated wrist presence.

The Dial

This classic early 1940s Rolex Oyster Perpetual dial is beautifully simple and elegant. The steel ‘arrowhead’ hour indices are matched by the steel ‘dauphine’ hands. The design is beautifully balanced and perfectly symmetrical.  In terms of purity and elegance, the absence of a date function is often referred to retain a dials perfect balance.

The dial carries the applied Rolex Coronet and is signed ‘Rolex Oyster Perpetual’,  ‘Officially Certified Chronometer’ with ‘T Swiss T’ at the very bottom.

The original dial has been previously restored to the very highest standards and remains in outstanding condition. The hands are also in wonderful condition considering these remain original, unrestored and untouched.

The Watch Movement

The original high grade “Officially Certified Chronometer” 25 Jewels, 1030 calibre ‘butterfly’ movement is very highly regarded for being particularly accurate, reliable and strong. This movement is known as a ‘butterfly’ movement, due to the lightened rotor which resembles a butterfly wing. Here, it is working perfectly following a thorough overhaul and service by our vintage Rolex specialist watchmaker. This includes dismantling the watch to all its component parts and careful inspection under high magnification, replacement where necessary with only genuine Rolex parts, then careful reassembly and adjustment before final calibration in 5 positions. The watch winds, sets and runs accurately and reliably and after final testing and calibration, is running strongly and accurately within +11 seconds/day, which is outstanding for a watch movement of this age! The power reserve of this watch is 48 hours.

The movement is signed ‘Rolex Perpetual SA Geneva’, ‘Twenty Five Jewels’, ‘Adjusted to Five Positions’ and carries the Calibre number 1030 with the movement serial number N763082.

This watch movement is now ready for many more years of faithful service and is perfectly suited for everyday use. We are therefore very confident in offering this watch with our extendable 12-month warranty on the movement*.

This watch is perfect suited for everyday use, should you so wish.

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

The Watch Case

The steel watch case measures 34mm, excluding the correct Rolex signed winding crown, this makes this a good sized watch for the 1940s. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual case with a wide plain bezel has quite a bold character, with strong straight lugs. It is in excellent condition, having received a very gentle and sympathetic clean and polish, although the watch has obviously been very well cared for, as there are no dings, scratches or marks visible to the naked eye. The case-back is of full thickness and has never been engraved.

Inside the screw down case back it is clearly signed with ‘Montres Rolex S.A’, ‘Stainless Steel’ and with the model reference number 5500.

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

The Strap & Buckle

This watch has a high quality grey cocks foot strap fitted and this watch has also been fitted with a matching steel Rolex 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 if you wish 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 1945.

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”.

This watch comes complete with a high quality hardwood presentation box as shown in the photographs.

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.

This is a truly first class example of a vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual which is ready to wear and completely practical for everyday use. If treated with care, it will make an excellent investment or heirloom piece. Even though vintage steel Rolex prices have risen markedly recently, we still feel good examples such as this are still undervalued and as each year goes by and the world market for vintage Rolex watches continues to expand, prices will continue to climb ever higher.

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