'7 World's Records', a Sheffield Presentation, 1928
Rolex is known today for wristwatches, but in the 1920s the Geneva firm still produced a small number of finely finished pocket watches, and this is a correct and complete example of the type. The dial is signed Rolex above the sub-seconds register, the nickel lever movement is signed Rolex 15 Jewels Swiss Made with fast/slow (A/R) regulation, and the inside of the case back carries the full Rolex cartouche: "7 World's Records, Gold Medal, Geneva Suisse, Rolled Gold, Guaranteed to wear 10 years," with case number 50361. Dial, movement and case all speak to each other. There is no redial, no married movement, nothing out of place, which is not something that can be said of many surviving Rolex pocket watches.
The dial is the highlight: a silvered plate with a radiating guilloche sunburst, painted Arabic numerals and fine blued-steel Breguet hands. It has survived with only the faintest central oxidisation and no chips, cracks or flaking. Behind the bezel sits an excellent, unmarked crystal.
What sets this piece apart is the case back. It is engraved: "Presented to Robert Harris by the office staff of Wm. Whiteley & Sons Ltd as a mark of esteem, 23rd June 1928." William Whiteley & Sons of Sheffield, founded in 1760, is the oldest scissor and shear maker in the Western world and became a limited company only in 1920. This inscription does two things: it fixes the date of the watch precisely to 1928, and it ties it to a real person and a historic English firm. It is the kind of provenance that cannot be faked or reproduced, and it turns an already desirable Rolex into a one-of-one object with a story.
The case is rolled gold rather than solid, which is honest to state and is the only thing that separates this watch in price from its solid-gold siblings, which sell for several times more. In every other respect, this is an exceptional survivor: it winds smoothly, sets cleanly and runs well, the dial is clean and the case is bright with only minor wear at the hinge. For a collector who wants a genuine early Rolex with real character and a documented 1928 provenance, without the solid-gold price, this is a rare opportunity.
