Rolexopedia

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex 1873 Oyster Royal}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex Oyster Royal 1873}}
{{#seo:
{{#seo:
|title=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 — Salmon "Scientifical" Dial & Auction Record | BezelBase
|title=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 | Rolexopedia
|description=The 1873 is a scarce hand-wound flat-back Oyster routinely mis-filed as a 1933 Bubbleback. Four documented auction examples, including a 9K gold London-hallmarked one, with dials, case numbers, movement grades and results.
|description=Collector guide to the hand-wound Rolex Oyster Royal 1873: movement grades, dial examples, case details and auction records.
|keywords=Rolex, 1873, Oyster Royal, Scientifical, salmon dial, flat back, reference guide
|keywords=Rolex, Oyster Royal, reference 1873, Extra Prima, Ultra Prima, flat back
|image=Ref 1873 hero.webp
|image=Ref 1873 hero.webp
|image_alt=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 salmon dial, case 100498
|image_alt=Steel Rolex Oyster Royal 1873, case 100498, with salmon dial
|type=Article
|type=Article
|og_type=article
|og_type=article
Line 11: Line 11:
}}
}}


<small>Oyster -> '''1873'''</small>
<small>Oyster → '''1873'''</small>
[[File:Ref 1873 hero.webp|thumb|right|340px|alt=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 salmon dial, case 100498|Rolex Oyster Royal 1873, case 100498 — salmon dial with black round indexes and subsidiary seconds at 6, on a beaded steel bracelet. Antiquorum Geneva, November 2024.]]


The 1873 is one of the scarcer references in the early Oyster catalogue, and one of the most
<div class="rp-lead">
consistently mis-filed. Collector reference lists place it in the 1933 founding group of
[[File:Ref 1873 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Steel Rolex Oyster Royal 1873, case 100498, salmon dial, Antiquorum Geneva 2024|Rolex Oyster Royal 1873, case 100498. Antiquorum, Geneva 2024.]]
Bubblebacks, a sibling of the 1858 with the same three-piece case and the same new Perpetual
</div>
rotor. Every example that has reached public auction is neither. All are hand-wound and all
have flat casebacks; the 2021 Antiquorum lot says so in its title. The dial reads Oyster Royal,
not Oyster Perpetual.


Antiquorum's own catalogue note on the 2024 Geneva example measures how thin the ground is.
Reference 1873 is a hand-wound Oyster Royal. Auction catalogues also call it Oyster Royal Chronometre or Oyster Royal Extra Precision. Eight catalogue entries describe manual-wind watches, mostly dated to the 1930s or around 1940. The Cambi auction catalogue's 2022 entry gives one steel example a date of circa 1954 and describes central seconds; that entry differs from the other records and is treated separately below.
The house wrote that in the past thirty years only a handful of the rare reference 1873 had
 
appeared at auction, and that Antiquorum had itself offered exactly one other example. A
Hodinkee distinguishes the early automatic “Bubbleback” from Rolex's parallel manual-wind “flatback” line. The [[Reference:bubbleback|family guide]] lists 1873 with the manual-wind Oyster references, in keeping with the auction descriptions.
handful is the right word, and it is more than the pair Antiquorum has sold. Bonhams
catalogued two more at Knightsbridge, in September 2021 and November 2023, and one of those is
in 9K gold, which settles a question the reference's thin file had left open.


==Core facts==
==Core facts==


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable rp-facts"
|-
|-
! detail
! detail
Line 36: Line 29:
|-
|-
| reference
| reference
| 1873
| <code>1873</code>
|-
|-
| family
| model names in catalogues
| Oyster (manual-wind)
| Oyster Royal; Oyster Royal Chronometre; Oyster Royal Extra Precision
|-
|-
| production
| movement
| 1930s; no firm start or end year documented
| hand-wound; catalogues report 15–18 jewels and Prima grades, identified by grade and jewel count
|-
| case diameter
| 31mm (2024 lot) / 31.5mm (2021 lot)
|-
| case shape
| tonneau
|-
| caseback
| flat, screw-down
|-
| bezel
| smooth, polished
|-
| crystal
| acrylic
|-
| crown
| screw-down
|-
|-
| winding
| case material
| manual
| stainless steel in seven entries; one 9K-gold example
|-
|-
| movement
| case size
| 17-jewel Extra Prima; 18-jewel chronometer or manual (4 documented movements, one numbered 11250). No caliber number published
| 31–32mm in the catalogued examples with measurements
|-
|-
| case materials
| case form
| stainless steel (3 of 4 documented examples); 9K gold (Bonhams 2021, London import mark for 1937)
| Tonneau in Bonhams' 2021 and 2023 descriptions; other catalogues call it an Oyster case
|-
|-
| dial designations
| caseback and crown
| Oyster Royal; Oyster Royal Chronometre
| screw-down on several documented examples; Antiquorum's 2021 title calls its watch a flat back
|-
|-
| notable dial
| seconds
| salmon "Scientifical" with black round indexes
| subsidiary seconds at 6 in most descriptions; The Cambi catalogue records central seconds on its circa-1954 entry
|-
|-
| documented case numbers
| documented case numbers
| 48634; 37029; 81343; 100498
| 30,967; 37,029; 48,xxx; 48,634; 81,343; 100,459; 100,498; one Watches of Knightsbridge entry gives no number
|}
|}


==Where it sits in the line==
==Place in the line==


Rolex built two parallel populations of Oyster wristwatches through the 1930s and 1940s. One
Rolex sold hand-wound Oysters alongside the automatic Oyster Perpetual line. Hodinkee describes these as parallel “flatback” watches and uses Bubbleback for a loose group of early automatic references. The 1873 auction descriptions identify manual movements, placing it in the hand-wound Oyster branch.
took the Perpetual rotor and the domed caseback that collectors later nicknamed the
Bubbleback. The other stayed hand-wound and kept a flat back, because there was no rotor to
make room for. Hodinkee's Bubbleback collecting guide names this second group
directly: the "flatbacks", manual-wind watches and even early chronographs that Rolex was
building at the same time. The 1873 is one of them.


Within the manual line, "Oyster Royal" is a grade-and-market designation rather than a model
Auctioneers use Oyster Royal, Oyster Royal Chronometre and Oyster Royal Extra Precision for the model. The movement descriptions use grades and jewel counts rather than a caliber designation.
in the modern sense. It sits alongside Oyster Precision, Oyster Chronometer and, on some
references, Oyster Scientific, dial names that told a buyer what timing work the movement had
received. The 1873's documented examples bracket that range: one is marked
Royal with an Extra Prima movement, another Oyster Royal Chronometre with an 18-jewel
chronometer-grade movement behind a salmon "Scientifical" dial, and Bonhams sold a third, in
gold, also marked Oyster Royal Chronometre.


The reference sits close to the 1858 numerically, and that proximity is almost certainly why
==Production outline==
it ended up on the Bubbleback lists. Rolex allocated reference numbers by case and market
position, not by movement type, so numerical neighbours in this era are frequently different
kinds of watch. The 2764 and 2765 pair make the same point nine hundred numbers further on:
one automatic Bubbleback, one manual flatback, adjacent references, same case diameter.


==Production outline==
Auctioneers date most 1873 examples from circa 1930 through circa 1940. Sotheby's dates case 30,967 to circa 1930; Antiquorum dates cases 48,634 and 100,498 to the 1930s; Bonhams dates case 81,343 to circa 1939; and Christie's dates case 100,459 to circa 1940. Watches of Knightsbridge also catalogued a 1930s example. Together, the lot estimates cluster around 1930–1940.


Antiquorum dated both of its examples only to "circa 1930s". Bonhams is more useful. It dated
Bonhams records a London import mark dated 1937 on the 9K-gold case 37,029. The mark records assay/import in 1937; the case and movement may have been made earlier. Read the hallmark date separately from the case number and movement.
its steel example circa 1939, and it dated the gold one by a London import mark for 1937,
which is a hallmark rather than a catalogue estimate and puts at least one 1873 in a named
year. The 1933 start year that circulates for this reference comes from the same collector
list that assigns it to the wrong family, and carries no independent support.


Four case numbers are on record: 37029 on the gold Bonhams example, 48634 on the 2021 Hong
The Cambi auction catalogue's 2022 entry lists a steel Oyster Precision Royal, case 48,xxx, as circa 1954. It describes a 17-jewel manual movement and central seconds. This entry gives a later date and a different seconds layout from the other records, which cluster around 1930–1940 and mostly describe subsidiary seconds. Treat the Cambi date and configuration as claims for that lot.
Kong example, 81343 on the 2023 Bonhams steel example and 100498 on the 2024 Geneva example.
Bonhams also published a movement number, 11250, on the gold watch. Sixty-odd thousand numbers
across four cases is enough to say the reference ran for a while and not enough to say
anything else. No production figures exist in any published source.


Rolex did build the 1873 in gold. Three of the four documented examples are stainless steel;
The case numbers published across these lots are 30,967, 37,029, 48,xxx, 48,634, 81,343, 100,459 and 100,498. These numbers offer individual comparison points; Rolex production limits and a serial-to-year mapping remain unestablished.
the fourth is 9K gold, with a presentation inscription on the caseback and the London import
mark that dates it. Whether a two-tone version exists is still unknown.


==Movement notes==
==Movement notes==


All four documented movements are manually wound, and the catalogues describe different
All eight catalogue entries describe hand-wound movements. The records give different grades and jewel counts: Sotheby's, Antiquorum's Hong Kong lot and Watches of Knightsbridge list 17-jewel Extra Prima movements; Christie's lists a 15-jewel Extra Prima; Antiquorum's Geneva lot calls its 18-jewel movement an Ultra Prima chronometer; The Cambi catalogue gives 17 jewels without a grade; and Bonhams records an 18-jewel manual movement numbered 11,250 on the gold watch. The 2023 Bonhams entry describes a jewelled manual movement without a jewel count.
grades.
 
The Hong Kong 2021 example carried an Extra Prima with 17 jewels. The Geneva 2024 example
carried an 18-jewel chronometer movement that Antiquorum's catalogue note identifies as an
ultra prima, which puts both of the hierarchy's upper grades on this one reference. Bonhams
adds two more movements. Its 1939-dated steel example is described only as a jewelled manual
wind. The 9K gold Oyster Royal Chronometre carries an 18-jewel manual wind with a screwed
balance, timed to six positions, numbered 11250. None of the four catalogues names a caliber
number, and no other published source supplies one.


Naming a caliber here would be a guess. "Extra Prima" is a grade, not a caliber. David
Prima, Extra Prima and Ultra Prima are movement grades, not caliber designations. David Boettcher's review of the surviving examples says Extra Prima commonly appears with 18 jewels while Prima commonly appears with 15; the 17-jewel catalogue descriptions and Christie's 15-jewel Extra Prima entry show why each grade and jewel count should stay tied to its own lot. Boettcher dates the first located Ultra Prima registration to 9 December 1930 and says surviving evidence leaves the distinction between Extra Prima and Ultra Prima unclear.
Boettcher's research at vintagewatchstraps.com traces the sequence to Aegler, which began
marking the better movements it supplied to Rolex as Prima in the 1920s and added Extra Prima
and Ultra Prima later; Hans Wilsdorf registered "Ultra Prima" on 9 December 1930. Boettcher is
careful about what the words actually bought. He finds the graded movements otherwise
identical to standard ones, which puts the difference in adjustment work, to poise and
isochronism, and he reports Prima on 15-jewel movements timed in six positions with both Extra
Prima and Ultra Prima on 18-jewel movements, while saying the gap between the top two grades
is not clear. The Hong Kong example sits outside that pattern: an Extra Prima with 17 jewels.
Reading a grade word as a caliber
number is a recurring error in dealer listings for early Rolex, and the 1873 has too few
documented examples to absorb a guess. Until a movement photograph or a Rolex parts document
supplies a caliber, the grade and the jewel count are the record.


==Dial map==
==Dial map==


Four dials are documented. Two come from Antiquorum, one described at length in the catalogue
The records show several dial layouts. Sotheby's describes a black lacquer dial with luminous indexes and hands, signed for Beyer. Christie's records a black dial with raised baton markers, luminous hands and subsidiary seconds. Watches of Knightsbridge describes a sector dial. Bonhams' 2021 gold watch has a silvered dial with an applied gilt minute track and luminous Arabic numerals; its 2023 steel example has alternating baton and Arabic markers. Antiquorum's Hong Kong example has a patinated dial with original hands, while its Geneva example has a salmon dial with black round indexes. The Cambi catalogue's circa-1954 entry describes a silvered sector dial and central seconds.
and one legible only from the lot photography, and two more from Bonhams.
 
[[File:Ref 1873 dial-detail-salmon.webp|thumb|right|300px|alt=Rolex 1873 salmon dial detail showing Oyster Royal and Chronometre text|The salmon dial in detail: ROLEX OYSTER ROYAL over CHRONOMETRE, black round indexes, blued steel hands and a sunk subsidiary seconds register at 6.]]
 
The salmon "Scientifical" dial on the Geneva 2024 example is the reference's signature.
Antiquorum put it in the lot title and described it as an extremely rare original, with black
round indexes and original hands, on a 31mm steel case numbered 100498. Salmon dials from this
period are sought in their own right, and one on a reference that surfaces roughly once a
decade is an uncommon combination.
 
The catalogue photography settles what the word is doing there. The dial reads ROLEX OYSTER
ROYAL over a CHRONOMETRE marking above the subsidiary seconds, and nothing else. "Scientifical"
appears in Antiquorum's lot title and in quotation marks, never on the dial. The house hedges
it in the note as well, calling the dial a "so called" scientifical and tying the name to the
black round indexes, and its own subtitle for the lot calls the watch a salmon "dot" index
dial. The term is a descriptor the trade has attached to this layout, not period Rolex dial
text.
 
The word is not confined to this reference. "Oyster Scientific" is reported as one of several
dial markings used on the ref 2765, a near-contemporary manual Oyster with the same flat-back
construction, so the vocabulary travelled. What has not been shown is a photographed dial
carrying either spelling: Bonhams catalogued a 2765 under that model
name twice, which moves the attribution from dealer listings into auction-house records, and
the one 1873 dial that can be examined does not carry the word.
Whether Rolex ever printed Scientific or Scientifical on a dial, or whether the term belongs
entirely to the trade, is unresolved.
 
[[File:Ref 1873 dial-variant-two-tone.webp|thumb|right|300px|alt=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 two-tone silvered dial, case 48634|Two-tone silvered dial with gold Arabic 12, 3 and 9, applied gold indexes and subsidiary seconds at 6, on a riveted Oyster bracelet. Antiquorum Hong Kong, April 2021, case 48634.]]


The Hong Kong 2021 example carried a patinated dial with original hands, and the catalogue
Antiquorum's Geneva title and note use “Scientifical” for the salmon dial's black round indexes. The photographed dial reads ROLEX OYSTER ROYAL over CHRONOMETRE; “Scientifical” is Antiquorum's catalogue term, not visible dial wording. Antiquorum also calls the dial original, which remains its assessment of that individual watch.
says no more than that. The lot photography fills in the layout: a two-tone silvered dial with
a sunk outer track, gold-toned Arabic numerals at 12, 3 and 9, applied bâton indexes at the
remaining hours, luminous plots around the chapter ring, and a subsidiary seconds register at
6, with blued steel hands carrying luminous inserts. It is a markedly different watch from the
salmon example, dress-sector layout against plain dot indexes, on the same reference number.


The two Bonhams dials extend the range without breaking it. The 1939 steel example carries a
The two Antiquorum images below show the salmon dial and the two-tone silvered dial on case 48,634. The latter's catalogue description calls the dial patinated and the hands original; the layout details are visible in the photograph.
silvered dial with black alternating baton and Arabic numeral hour markers, subsidiary seconds
at 6, and blued steel dagger hands with luminous inserts. The gold Oyster Royal Chronometre is
silvered with an applied gilt minute track, applied luminous Arabic numerals, subsidiary
seconds and blued leaf-form hands with luminous inserts. Subsidiary seconds at 6 is the one
constant across all four.


That is the whole documented dial range for the reference. Anything more specific about 1873
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
dial configurations would be extrapolation from sibling references.
File:Ref 1873 dial-detail-salmon.webp|Case 100,498: salmon dial with black round indexes; Antiquorum, Geneva 2024
File:Ref 1873 dial-variant-two-tone.webp|Case 48,634: two-tone silvered dial with Arabic 12, 3 and 9; Antiquorum, Hong Kong 2021
</gallery>


==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
==Case, bezel, crystal and crown==


[[File:Ref 1873 case-profile.webp|thumb|right|300px|alt=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 three-quarter view of case 100498|Three-quarter view of case 100498, showing the tonneau flank and the screw-down crown.]]
Catalogue measurements range from 31 to 32mm. Bonhams describes tonneau-form cases for its two examples; Sotheby's, Christie's and other catalogues describe Oyster cases. Antiquorum's Hong Kong entry and several other descriptions specify screw-down casebacks, while its title identifies case 48,634 as a flat back. The Geneva photographs show the crown and case flank; its catalogue does not specify the crown's construction. Check case and crown details on each watch.


Tonneau case with a screw-down caseback and screw-down crown, smooth polished bezel, acrylic
[[File:Ref 1873 case-profile.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Oyster Royal 1873 case 100498 viewed three-quarter, showing tonneau flank and crown|Case 100,498, three-quarter view. Antiquorum, Geneva 2024.]]
crystal. Stainless steel on three of the four documented examples, 9K gold on the fourth.
Measured at 31mm in the 2024 catalogue, 31.5mm in the 2021 catalogue, 31mm on the gold Bonhams
example and 32mm on the steel one, ordinary measurement-method variance on a tonneau case, the
same spread that follows the 31/32mm Bubblebacks around.


The caseback is flat. The 2021 Hong Kong lot title puts "FLAT BACK" in capitals, which is
Crystal and bezel descriptions vary in detail across the catalogues; this set records no distinct bezel variant.
Antiquorum flagging the trait as identifying rather than incidental, and none of the four lot
descriptions mentions a dome, a rotor or self-winding anywhere. On a reference this scarce,
that is the first thing to check on any example offered for sale: a domed back on a 1873 means
either the wrong caseback or the wrong reference.


==Bracelets, end links, and clasps==
==Bracelet and strap==


The 2021 Hong Kong example was accompanied by a Rolex stainless steel rivet bracelet measuring
The Sotheby's 2020 watch has a Gay Frères bamboo bracelet with a steel case; the catalogue title and Chinese description identify a two-tone bracelet. Antiquorum's 2021 lot came on a Rolex steel rivet bracelet measuring about 170mm. Its 2024 lot came on a steel bracelet it called “Private Eyes,” about 175mm long. Bonhams lists associated leather straps and gilt buckles on both of its watches. These catalogue descriptions document the accessories supplied with each lot. Original bracelet fitment remains specific to the individual watch.
roughly 170mm overall. Rivet-link Oyster bracelets are period-plausible for a 1930s steel
Oyster, but a bracelet dates itself and not the watch head, and Antiquorum did not present it
as original delivery. It counts as accompanying hardware and nothing more. The Geneva
2024 example came on a beaded steel bracelet of roughly 175mm, catalogued as a "Private Eyes"
bracelet. Antiquorum did not put the Rolex name on that one the way it did on the Hong Kong
rivet bracelet, and whether it left the factory on the watch is not established either way. Neither Bonhams
example came on a bracelet at all: the 1939 steel watch was on an associated brown leather
strap with an associated gilt buckle, the gold one on brown leather, again with an associated
gilt buckle. No end-link or clasp reference is documented for the 1873 anywhere in the
published record.


==Auction record==
==Auction record==
Line 232: Line 107:
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Venue
! Auction entry
! Date
! Case number
! Lot
! Catalogue details
! Case No
! Published result
! Dial
|-
! Movement
| Watches of Knightsbridge, 24 June 2017, lot 339
! Result
| not stated
| 1930s; stainless steel Oyster; sector dial; 17-jewel manual Extra Prima, timed to six positions
| 2,600 in the result sheet; currency not stated
|-
| Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 11 July 2020, lot 2174
| 30,967
| circa 1930; steel case; 17-jewel Extra Prima; Beyer-signed black dial; Gay Frères bamboo bracelet
| Estimate HKD 20,000–28,000; result not shown on the public lot page
|-
| Antiquorum, Hong Kong, 25 April 2021, lot 233
| 48,634
| circa 1930s; 31.5mm steel case; 17-jewel Extra Prima; flat-back title; Rolex rivet bracelet
| Estimate HKD 40,000–60,000; result not shown on the lot page
|-
| Bonhams, London, 7 September 2021, lot 51
| 37,029
| 9K gold; London import mark for 1937; 18-jewel manual movement No. 11,250
| GBP 2,167.50 including premium
|-
|-
| Antiquorum, Hong Kong
| Cambi auction catalogue, Milan, 30 November 2022, lot 129
| 2021-04-25
| 48,xxx
| 233
| circa 1954; steel; silvered sector dial; central seconds; 17 jewels, manual wind
| 48634
| Estimate EUR 1,300–2,200; catalogued as sold
| Patinated, original hands
| Extra Prima, 17 jewels
| Est. HKD 40,000–60,000; result not published
|-
|-
| Bonhams, London Knightsbridge
| Bonhams, London, 22 November 2023, lot 54
| 2021-09-07
| 81,343
| 51
| circa 1939; 32mm steel case; silvered dial; jewelled manual movement
| 37029
| GBP 1,280 including premium
| Silvered, applied gilt minute track, luminous Arabic (9K gold)
| 18-jewel, screwed balance, 6 positions, No. 11250
| GBP 2,167.50 incl. premium
|-
|-
| Bonhams, London Knightsbridge
| Antiquorum, Geneva, 9 November 2024, lot 282
| 2023-11-22
| 100,498
| 54
| circa 1930s; 31mm steel case; salmon “Scientifical” dial; 18-jewel Ultra Prima chronometer
| 81343
| CHF 10,625 (estimate CHF 8,000–12,000)
| Silvered, alternating baton and Arabic, dagger hands
| Jewelled manual wind
| GBP 1,280 incl. premium
|-
|-
| Antiquorum, Geneva
| Christie's, archived lot 782241
| 2024-11-09
| 100,459
| 282
| circa 1940; 31mm steel case; black dial; 15-jewel Extra Prima; subsidiary seconds
| 100498
| Sale date and result are absent from the archived listing
| Salmon "Scientifical", black round indexes
| 18-jewel chronometer
| CHF 10,625 (est. CHF 8,000–12,000)
|}
|}


Three realised prices are on record. The Geneva 2024 salmon-dial chronometer took CHF 10,625
==Related references==
against a CHF 8,000–12,000 estimate, a mid-estimate result. Bonhams sold the 9K gold example
for GBP 2,167.50 including premium in September 2021 and the 1939 steel one for GBP 1,280
including premium in November 2023. The Hong Kong 2021 estimate of HKD 40,000–60,000, which
the catalogue itself converts to CHF 4,800–7,200, put the Extra Prima example well below where
Antiquorum later pitched the salmon-dial chronometer. Four data points spread across three
years and three currencies are not a price history, but the salmon-dial chronometer sold well
above either Bonhams watch.


Antiquorum's prose carries the more useful number. The catalogue states that only a handful of
* [[Reference:1858|Oyster Perpetual 1858]] , an automatic Oyster Perpetual
1873s had come to auction in thirty years and that the house had offered exactly one other
* [[Reference:2574|Oyster Royal 2574]] , a manual-wind Oyster Royal
example in its entire history, which is as close to a rarity figure as this reference has. The
* [[Reference:2765|Oyster Chronometer 2765]] , a manual-wind Oyster
two Bonhams lots show that "a handful" was meant literally rather than as a flourish. The
* [[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback family guide]] , which separates automatic Bubblebacks from manual-wind Oyster references
Geneva watch came out of a Japanese collection.


== Related references ==
See also [[Reference:Movements|Movement reference]] and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|Serial numbers]].


* [[Reference:2765|Oyster Chronometer 2765]] — manual flat-back sibling, shares the "Scientific" dial vocabulary
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
* [[Reference:2574|Oyster Royal 2574]] — pre-war manual Oyster, boy's size
File:Ref 1873 hero.webp|Case 100,498, salmon dial; Antiquorum, Geneva 2024
* [[Reference:1858|Bubbleback 1858]] — the first Oyster Perpetual, 1933
File:Ref 1873 dial-detail-salmon.webp|Salmon dial detail; Antiquorum, Geneva 2024
* [[Reference:2240|Bubbleback 2240]] — self-winding contemporary
File:Ref 1873 dial-variant-two-tone.webp|Two-tone silvered dial; Antiquorum, Hong Kong 2021
* [[Reference:2764|Bubbleback 2764]] — Cal. 620N "Super Precision"
File:Ref 1873 case-profile.webp|Tonneau case and screw-down crown; Antiquorum, Geneva 2024
 
</gallery>
See also the [[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback family index]], [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]], [[Reference:Bracelets|bracelet & clasp guide]], and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|serial numbers by year]].


== Sources ==
== Sources ==
Line 302: Line 173:
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-ref-1873-oyster-royal-chronometre-lot-372-282 "ROLEX, SWITZERLAND, REF. 1873, OYSTER ROYAL CHRONOMETRE, SALMON SCIENTIFICAL DIAL, STAINLESS STEEL", Antiquorum, 2024-11-09]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-ref-1873-oyster-royal-chronometre-lot-372-282 "ROLEX, SWITZERLAND, REF. 1873, OYSTER ROYAL CHRONOMETRE, SALMON SCIENTIFICAL DIAL, STAINLESS STEEL", Antiquorum, 2024-11-09]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-ref-1873-royal-lot-338-233 "ROLEX REF 1873, ROYAL, FLAT BACK STEEL", Antiquorum, 2021-04-25]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-ref-1873-royal-lot-338-233 "ROLEX REF 1873, ROYAL, FLAT BACK STEEL", Antiquorum, 2021-04-25]
* [https://www.bonhams.com/auction/26685/lot/51/rolex-a-9k-gold-manual-wind-wristwatch-oyster-royal-chronometre-ref-1873-london-import-mark-for-1937/ "Rolex. A 9K gold manual wind wristwatch, Oyster Royal Chronometre, Ref: 1873, London Import mark for 1937", Bonhams, 2021-09-07]
* [https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28035/lot/54/rolex-a-stainless-steel-manual-wind-wristwatch-ref-1873-circa-1939/ "Rolex. A stainless steel manual wind wristwatch, Ref: 1873, Circa 1939", Bonhams, 2023-11-22]
* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogprima.php David Boettcher, "Prima, Extra Prima and Ultra Prima", vintagewatchstraps.com]
* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogprima.php David Boettcher, "Prima, Extra Prima and Ultra Prima", vintagewatchstraps.com]
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-rolex-bubbleback-and-why-it-still-matters "Buying, Selling, & Collecting: The Rolex Bubbleback And Why It Still Matters", Hodinkee]
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-rolex-bubbleback-and-why-it-still-matters "Buying, Selling, & Collecting: The Rolex Bubbleback And Why It Still Matters", Hodinkee]
* [https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/lists/rolex-bubbleback-watches-collector-guide-1931-1950s-1235893131/ "A Collector's Guide to Rolex Bubbleback Watches, From 1931 to the 1950s", Robb Report]
* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/important-watches/rolex-oyster-royal-extra-precision-reference-1873 "Sotheby’s Oyster Royal Extra Precision ref. 1873, lot 2174", Sotheby’s, 2020-07-11]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-223-217 "Rolex Oyster Chronometer, Ref. 2765, retailed by Murdock's, Cape Town", Antiquorum, 2009-12-09]
* [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-782241 "Christie’s Oyster ref. 1873, case 100,459", Christie’s]
* [https://www.bonhams.com/auction/26685/lot/51/rolex-a-9k-gold-manual-wind-wristwatch-oyster-royal-chronometre-ref-1873-london-import-mark-for-1937/ "Rolex. A 9K gold manual wind wristwatch, Oyster Royal Chronometre, Ref: 1873, London Import mark for 1937", Bonhams, London Knightsbridge, 2021-09-07, lot 51]
* [https://watchesofknightsbridge.com/auctions/wp-content/uploads/24th-June-2017-SaleResults-1.pdf "Watches of Knightsbridge Rolex ref. 1873 sector dial, lot 339", Watches of Knightsbridge, 2017-06-24]
* [https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28035/lot/54/rolex-a-stainless-steel-manual-wind-wristwatch-ref-1873-circa-1939/ "Rolex. A stainless steel manual wind wristwatch, Ref: 1873, Circa 1939", Bonhams, London Knightsbridge, 2023-11-22, lot 54]
* [https://www.cambiaste.com/uploads/auctions/868-cambi_orologi_795_2022_11_eb.pdf "Cambi Oyster Precision Royal ref. 1873, lot 129", Cambi Casa d’Aste, 2022-11-30]
* "List of Bubbleback models (user w-v-m)", RolexForums
 
[[Category:Oyster]]
[[Category:Oyster]]
[[Category:References]]
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