Thoughts on 'Vintage' 1936 Rolex Prince (#019657 1936) at Auction House

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Impgreene

·Fri. 4:17am

I wonder if anyone can help?

I have a 1935 T17 Omega, and I'm quite taken by that period of watches / design.

The 1936 stainless steel Rolex Prine in the images below has come up for auction at an auction house relatively near me and I was considering bidding on it.

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on whether it seemed fully original, likely reasonable value, if anything looks 'off' etc. - I don't have any movement images, but I have requested them from the auction house, if they come through I will post them too.

The auction house listing states that it has a signed 15 rubies movement, ticks when wounds and the hands adjust.

I'm as far from an expert on vintage Rolex's as it is possible to get, so thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

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Fallout Boy

·Fri. 4:24am

Never buy with stamp-sized pictures. ;-)

 

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BAJJ

·Fri. 4:39am

Poor photos, however, for a 1936 watch , I would find it very hard to believe that the dial is original, almost certainly a redial. I think the hands should be blued as well , these don’t seem to be, again the pictures are not great quality so difficult to be certain. I would ask for hi res photos

 

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Impgreene

·Fri. 5:20am

 

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Impgreene

·Fri. 5:22am

BAJJ

Poor photos, however, for a 1936 watch , I would find it very hard to believe that the dial is original, almost certainly a redial. I think the hands should be blued as well , these don’t seem to be, again the pictures are not great quality so difficult to be certain. I would ask for hi res photos

I thought the dial and back of the watch perhaps a bit too 'crisp', and the strange angle of the #2 put me off - I did manage to get some better photos directly from them (rather than just from their website above - please see below:

 

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Impgreene

·Fri. 5:23am

Slightly better resolution images from the auction house.

 

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BAJJ

·Fri. 5:48am

Its a lovely watch, but there’s something about the dial that puts me off, it’s just too sterile and apart from the movement photos, the others appear overexposed, a good way to hide issues. I’m not an expert on this model so this is more of a gut feeling.

 

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Fallout Boy

·Fri. 6:49am

a) compare the "9" with other pictures ...... b) did you find any similar design of the dial on www?

 

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Impgreene

·Fri. 7:59am

Even with a reverse image search I couldn't find an exact match - but then, none of the close matches even resembled each other in number font etc. - even the ones that obviously had age differed.

That said, I think it's just too 'crisp', so will probably leave it as suggested.

I will continue my search for 1930's watches!

Thanks for the help.

 

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Larry S

·Fri. 8:11am·Color Commentator for the Hyperbole.

I’d want to see this in natural light or in person. I think it’s redialed.

 

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size11s

·Fri. 8:20am

I have an IWC in a very similar, if not identical case. They are definitely not a case that can preserve a dial in a condition like that, there is no crown tube so the correct crown is needed to give any dust or moisture sealing to the case, and that is certainly a replacement crown.

 

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Duracuir1

·Fri. 8:22am·Never Used A Kodak

Similar dial… lumed hands?

Similar case… (Gold).

Source.

I used the word similar…

Just a pretty pic from that book to finish off.

 

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Fallout Boy

·Fri. 8:32am

C 1930 : look at the "9"

 

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Larry S

·9:09am yesterday·Color Commentator for the Hyperbole.

Wow … perhaps it’s legit … I’d still ask for natural light pics. So used to super clean dress watches from this era being refinished. People smoked, refinishing was common.