Reference:3525: Difference between revisions

Line 12:

Chronograph → '''3525'''

The 3525 is ~~Rolex’s~~ first Oyster chronograph. Earlier Rolex chronographs existed, but none in a screw-down Oyster case. That makes the 3525 the technical starting point for the later 6034, 6238, and Daytona line. Collectors call it ''Monoblocco'' for the one-piece upper case and ''Barilotto'' for its barrel-like profile.

The 3525 is Rolex's first Oyster chronograph. Earlier Rolex chronographs existed, but none in a screw-down Oyster case. That makes the 3525 the technical starting point for the later 6034, 6238, and Daytona line. Collectors call it ''Monoblocco'' for the one-piece upper case and ''Barilotto'' for its barrel-like profile.

It is also the watch that Rolex shipped, on credit, to Allied officers held in German prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War. One of those watches ended up at Stalag Luft III, the camp of the Great Escape. That example, with its paperwork fully intact, sold at Antiquorum in 2007 for £66,000.

Line 61:

|-

| italian nicknames

| ''Monoblocco'' (~~“one block”~~); ''Barilotto'' (~~“little barrel”~~)

| ''Monoblocco'' ("one block"); ''Barilotto'' ("little barrel")

|-

| collector name

| The ~~“POW watch”~~

| The "POW watch"

|}

Line 81:

The ''Monoblocco'' construction is the technical centerpiece of the reference. On a conventional three-piece Oyster, the case is made up of a bezel that screws onto the mid-case, the mid-case itself, and a caseback that screws in from below. Each interface between pieces is a potential water path sealed with a gasket. On the 3525, the bezel, the mid-case and the lugs are not separate pieces. They are one piece of metal, turned and machined as a unit. Only the caseback threads in separately. The crown and the two chronograph pushers pass through the single upper piece, each with its own screw-down seal.

Italian collectors called the construction ''Monoblocco'' from early on. The alternative nickname, ''Barilotto'', comes from the barrel-like taper of the upper case in profile — the bezel zone is slightly narrower than the caseback perimeter, giving the watch a faintly hourglass shape in side view. Both names appear interchangeably in Papaleo, Pucci, and Mondani, and in modern catalog text from Antiquorum and ~~Sotheby’s~~.

Italian collectors called the construction ''Monoblocco'' from early on. The alternative nickname, ''Barilotto'', comes from the barrel-like taper of the upper case in profile — the bezel zone is slightly narrower than the caseback perimeter, giving the watch a faintly hourglass shape in side view. Both names appear interchangeably in Papaleo, Pucci, and Mondani, and in modern catalog text from Antiquorum and Sotheby's.

The case measures ~~approximately~~ 35 mm across. That was a full-sized ~~men’s~~ chronograph in period, and on the wrist today it wears small. The lug-to-lug is short, the crystal domed acrylic, the whole package lighter and thinner than anything from the Daytona era. Next to a Cosmograph Daytona of the 6239 generation, the 3525 reads as noticeably more restrained and unmistakably of its period.

The case measures about 35 mm across. That was a full-sized men's chronograph in period, and on the wrist today it wears small. The lug-to-lug is short, the crystal domed acrylic, the whole package lighter and thinner than anything from the Daytona era. Next to a Cosmograph Daytona of the 6239 generation, the 3525 reads as noticeably more restrained and unmistakably of its period.

== The Cal. 13 and the Valjoux 23 ==

Rolex catalogued the movement as ~~“Cal~~. 13.” The designation refers to the 13-ligne size (roughly 29.5mm) of the movement blank. The base is the Valjoux 23 VZ, a lateral-clutch, column-wheel chronograph with 17 jewels, a running seconds register at 9 ~~o’clock~~ and a 30-minute counter at 3 ~~o’clock~~. No continuous hour counter; the 3525 is a two-register watch. Central chrono seconds. The balance is screwed; the bridges carry ~~“Rolex”~~ and ~~“17 Rubis”~~ signatures in most examples.

Rolex catalogued the movement as "Cal. 13." The designation refers to the 13-ligne size (roughly 29.5mm) of the movement blank. The base is the Valjoux 23 VZ, a lateral-clutch, column-wheel chronograph with 17 jewels, a running seconds register at 9 o'clock and a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock. No continuous hour counter; the 3525 is a two-register watch. Central chrono seconds. The balance is screwed; the bridges carry "Rolex" and "17 Rubis" signatures in most examples.

The Valjoux 23 was one of the most respected chronograph bases of the 1930s and 1940s, used by Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, and others. Rolex bought the base from Valjoux, finished it, and housed it. The ~~“in~~-~~house”~~ framing occasionally applied to Rolex chronographs of this era is inaccurate for the 3525: Rolex did not manufacture the chronograph module; it specified, finished, and cased it.

The Valjoux 23 was one of the most respected chronograph bases of the 1930s and 1940s, used by Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, and others. Rolex bought the base from Valjoux, finished it, and housed it. The "in-house" framing occasionally applied to Rolex chronographs of this era is inaccurate for the 3525: Rolex did not manufacture the chronograph module; it specified, finished, and cased it.

The ~~movement’s~~ configuration sets the reading logic of the dial. Elapsed minutes read at 3 ~~o’clock~~. Running seconds read at 9 ~~o’clock~~. Elapsed seconds read off the central hand. The outer chapter carries a tachometer scale for speed calculation and a telemeter scale for distance-to-sound-source calculation. Both scales were standard period equipment on a sports chronograph, and both persist through the Daytona era that follows.

The movement's configuration sets the reading logic of the dial. Elapsed minutes read at 3 o'clock. Running seconds read at 9 o'clock. Elapsed seconds read off the central hand. The outer chapter carries a tachometer scale for speed calculation and a telemeter scale for distance-to-sound-source calculation. Both scales were standard period equipment on a sports chronograph, and both persist through the Daytona era that follows.

Line 101:

Across roughly six years of production and four case metals, the 3525 accumulated a full range of dial configurations.

The silvered dial is the most common configuration on stainless steel cases, with applied baton or Arabic indexes, blued steel hands, and printed tachometer and telemeter scales on the outer track. The ~~Sotheby’s~~ 2020 Important Watches Part II example (case 372,822, c.1945) carries it. Glossy black gilt — black with gilt (gold-toned) printing for scales and signatures — is the other principal steel dial; the ~~Sotheby’s~~ 2019 example (case 186,144, c.1942) is described in the lot text as ~~“glossy~~ black gilt,” tracking the same gilt-printing convention Rolex used on contemporary time-only Oysters before the matte-dial transition of the mid-1960s.

The silvered dial is the most common configuration on stainless steel cases, with applied baton or Arabic indexes, blued steel hands, and printed tachometer and telemeter scales on the outer track. The Sotheby's 2020 Important Watches Part II example (case 372,822, c.1945) carries it. Glossy black gilt — black with gilt (gold-toned) printing for scales and signatures — is the other principal steel dial; the Sotheby's 2019 example (case 186,144, c.1942) is described in the lot text as "glossy black gilt," tracking the same gilt-printing convention Rolex used on contemporary time-only Oysters before the matte-dial transition of the mid-1960s.

Salmon or pink matte dials are standard on pink gold cases. The Mondani Collection example (case 147,854, 1940) carries a matte pink dial with printed baton indexes, Arabic 6 and 12, and blued steel baton hands. Two-tone dials combine contrasting center and outer chapter in the Art Deco dial language common to late-1930s and early-1940s chronographs.

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== The POW program and the Nutting watch ==

The ~~3525’s~~ second identity is as the ~~“POW~~ watch,” the Rolex chronograph that Hans Wilsdorf shipped to Allied officers in German prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War.

The 3525's second identity is as the "POW watch," the Rolex chronograph that Hans Wilsdorf shipped to Allied officers in German prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War.

The mechanism was simple enough: British and Commonwealth POWs could still order watches by mail, Rolex could still ship from neutral Switzerland, and Wilsdorf let them pay after the war. The point is not the romance, but that the watches were sold on extended credit, not simply handed out.

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The best-documented example is the Nutting watch. Corporal Clive James Nutting of the British Army was captured and interned at Stalag Luft III, the German Luftwaffe-run prison camp in Lower Silesia (today Żagań, Poland) — the Great Escape camp, where 76 POWs broke out of Hut 104 through a tunnel in March 1944, as later dramatized in the 1963 film. Nutting was a shoemaker by trade and a signals specialist, on the escape-planning committee from early on. He did not use the tunnel himself before its discovery, but he made civilian belts, shoes, and briefcases for escapers from leather stolen from German officers who had brought their kit in for repair.

Nutting ordered a Rolex. The watch is a steel 3525 Oyster Chronograph Antimagnetic, serial 185,983, made in 1941 and shipped by Rolex on credit in 1943. The Antiquorum lot text records a shipping date of 8 July 1943; Rolex ~~Magazine’s~~ article on the watch records a delivery-to-camp date of 4 August 1943. Both can be true: one is the Swiss ship date, the other the camp arrival date. By August 1943 Nutting had a Rolex chronograph on his wrist in Stalag Luft III, eight months before the Great Escape.

Nutting ordered a Rolex. The watch is a steel 3525 Oyster Chronograph Antimagnetic, serial 185,983, made in 1941 and shipped by Rolex on credit in 1943. The Antiquorum lot text records a shipping date of 8 July 1943; Rolex Magazine's article on the watch records a delivery-to-camp date of 4 August 1943. Both can be true: one is the Swiss ship date, the other the camp arrival date. By August 1943 Nutting had a Rolex chronograph on his wrist in Stalag Luft III, eight months before the Great Escape.

Nutting kept the watch for the rest of his life. He repatriated to Britain after the war, later emigrated to Queensland, Australia, and died there in 2001 at age 90. His archive stayed with the watch: the numbered receipt from Rolex, the numbered guarantee, the Rolex envelope, three letters from the Rolex Watch Co. signed by Hans Wilsdorf, and ~~Nutting’s~~ own correspondence and photographs from Stalag Luft III. The whole package sold at Antiquorum in 2007 for £66,000.

Nutting kept the watch for the rest of his life. He repatriated to Britain after the war, later emigrated to Queensland, Australia, and died there in 2001 at age 90. His archive stayed with the watch: the numbered receipt from Rolex, the numbered guarantee, the Rolex envelope, three letters from the Rolex Watch Co. signed by Hans Wilsdorf, and Nutting's own correspondence and photographs from Stalag Luft III. The whole package sold at Antiquorum in 2007 for £66,000.

Other POW-provenance 3525s surface periodically. The Brownlee watch (USAAF 1st Lt Leon W. Brownlee, held at Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria, freed April 1945) appeared at Antiquorum Geneva in May 2023 with an estimate of EUR 62,000–102,000. Phillips published an article on the Dickins 3525 (RAF Wing Commander Douglas S. Dickins). Dealer and forum listings carry additional named-POW examples. The Rolex POW archive is incomplete; no full list of delivered watches survives in public. The documented examples form a small, coherent corpus.

On the specific claim that the Nutting 3525 was used to time the Great Escape itself: Nutting was on the planning committee, the 3525 is a chronograph with a 30-minute counter, and the watch was on his wrist in the camp at the right time. Whether it was actually used to time guard patrols or to cue escapees through the tunnel is not documented in the Rolex archive or in ~~Nutting’s~~ own writings. The connection is circumstantial, strong enough to mention but not to state as fact.

On the specific claim that the Nutting 3525 was used to time the Great Escape itself: Nutting was on the planning committee, the 3525 is a chronograph with a 30-minute counter, and the watch was on his wrist in the camp at the right time. Whether it was actually used to time guard patrols or to cue escapees through the tunnel is not documented in the Rolex archive or in Nutting's own writings. The connection is circumstantial, strong enough to mention but not to state as fact.

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| —

|-

| ~~Sotheby’s~~ (Important Watches)

| Sotheby's (Important Watches)

| 2019

| 186144

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| Est. USD 12,000–18,000

|-

| ~~Sotheby’s~~ (Important Watches Part II)

| Sotheby's (Important Watches Part II)

| 2020

| 372822

Line 217:

=== Case-number clusters and dating ===

Case numbers observed on documented 3525s span from the ~140,000s (1940) through the ~370,000s (1945). That range is broad because the 3525 was produced continuously for six years, shared serial allocations with other Rolex references of the period, and included multiple metal variants produced at different cadences. The ~~Sotheby’s~~ 2020 lot text describes a ~~“second~~ production series (1942–1946)” for case 372,822, a distinction that suggests two generations of 3525, potentially with minor detail changes between early and late production. Specialist research on the precise transition point has not been published in accessible sources.

Case numbers observed on documented 3525s span from the ~140,000s (1940) through the ~370,000s (1945). That range is broad because the 3525 was produced continuously for six years, shared serial allocations with other Rolex references of the period, and included multiple metal variants produced at different cadences. The Sotheby's 2020 lot text describes a "second production series (1942–1946)" for case 372,822, a distinction that suggests two generations of 3525, potentially with minor detail changes between early and late production. Specialist research on the precise transition point has not been published in accessible sources.

The Alpha Hands 3525 Case Number Project aggregates documented serials in a searchable database. Its working estimate for total production exceeds the older dealer-literature figure of ~200 steel examples; actual steel production is likely in the low four figures, with gold examples adding several hundred more. A reasonable working total across all metals is ~2,000–2,500 pieces. Firm archival documentation does not exist.

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== Authentication notes ==

The 3525 is old enough that condition and originality variance is extreme. A ~~buyer’s~~ checklist on period-correct examples:

The 3525 is old enough that condition and originality variance is extreme. A buyer's checklist on period-correct examples:

Case geometry. The Monoblocco construction should be visible in profile: no interior seam where a bezel would meet a separate mid-case. The caseback is the only separable part. Pushers should be flat round buttons that screw down; unscrewed, they should rotate smoothly and spring back firmly.

Caseback markings. The inside of the caseback on a period-correct 3525 carries Rolex-specific stamping including ~~“Oyster~~ Watch ~~Co”~~ and period reference and model codes. Over-polished casebacks with the stamping worn away are common after 80 years of ownership.

Caseback markings. The inside of the caseback on a period-correct 3525 carries Rolex-specific stamping including "Oyster Watch Co" and period reference and model codes. Over-polished casebacks with the stamping worn away are common after 80 years of ownership.

Dial. Refinished and replacement dials are the single largest originality variable on vintage 3525s. Period-correct printing on the tachometer and telemeter scales is fine and crisp; heavy, thick printing is a refinish indicator. Applied indexes on gold cases should match the case metal tone. Black gilt dials with even patina and intact gilt printing carry substantial premiums; the same dial refinished is worth a fraction.

Movement. Cal. 13 (Valjoux 23 VZ) should be signed on the bridges. Movement serials should sit in the documented range. Replacement movements transplanted from a non-Rolex Valjoux 23 host exist; the movement bridges should read ~~“Rolex~~,” not ~~“Valjoux~~.”

Movement. Cal. 13 (Valjoux 23 VZ) should be signed on the bridges. Movement serials should sit in the documented range. Replacement movements transplanted from a non-Rolex Valjoux 23 host exist; the movement bridges should read "Rolex," not "Valjoux."

Provenance paperwork. For any 3525 offered with POW provenance, the physical documentation is decisive. Wilsdorf letters on period Rolex letterhead, numbered guarantee, numbered receipt, and POW archive material collectively make the provenance. Verbal family-lore provenance without paperwork is treated with skepticism in the market.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 <small>Chronograph → '''3525'''</small>
-The 3525 is Rolex’s first Oyster chronograph. Earlier Rolex chronographs existed, but none in a screw-down Oyster case. That makes the 3525 the technical starting point for the later 6034, 6238, and Daytona line. Collectors call it ''Monoblocco'' for the one-piece upper case and ''Barilotto'' for its barrel-like profile.
+The 3525 is Rolex's first Oyster chronograph. Earlier Rolex chronographs existed, but none in a screw-down Oyster case. That makes the 3525 the technical starting point for the later 6034, 6238, and Daytona line. Collectors call it ''Monoblocco'' for the one-piece upper case and ''Barilotto'' for its barrel-like profile.
 It is also the watch that Rolex shipped, on credit, to Allied officers held in German prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War. One of those watches ended up at Stalag Luft III, the camp of the Great Escape. That example, with its paperwork fully intact, sold at Antiquorum in 2007 for £66,000.
@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 |-
 | italian nicknames
-| ''Monoblocco'' (“one block”); ''Barilotto'' (“little barrel”)
+| ''Monoblocco'' ("one block"); ''Barilotto'' ("little barrel")
 |-
 | collector name
-| The “POW watch”
+| The "POW watch"
 |}
@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 The ''Monoblocco'' construction is the technical centerpiece of the reference. On a conventional three-piece Oyster, the case is made up of a bezel that screws onto the mid-case, the mid-case itself, and a caseback that screws in from below. Each interface between pieces is a potential water path sealed with a gasket. On the 3525, the bezel, the mid-case and the lugs are not separate pieces. They are one piece of metal, turned and machined as a unit. Only the caseback threads in separately. The crown and the two chronograph pushers pass through the single upper piece, each with its own screw-down seal.
-Italian collectors called the construction ''Monoblocco'' from early on. The alternative nickname, ''Barilotto'', comes from the barrel-like taper of the upper case in profile — the bezel zone is slightly narrower than the caseback perimeter, giving the watch a faintly hourglass shape in side view. Both names appear interchangeably in Papaleo, Pucci, and Mondani, and in modern catalog text from Antiquorum and Sotheby’s.
+Italian collectors called the construction ''Monoblocco'' from early on. The alternative nickname, ''Barilotto'', comes from the barrel-like taper of the upper case in profile — the bezel zone is slightly narrower than the caseback perimeter, giving the watch a faintly hourglass shape in side view. Both names appear interchangeably in Papaleo, Pucci, and Mondani, and in modern catalog text from Antiquorum and Sotheby's.
-The case measures approximately 35 mm across. That was a full-sized men’s chronograph in period, and on the wrist today it wears small. The lug-to-lug is short, the crystal domed acrylic, the whole package lighter and thinner than anything from the Daytona era. Next to a Cosmograph Daytona of the 6239 generation, the 3525 reads as noticeably more restrained and unmistakably of its period.
+The case measures about 35 mm across. That was a full-sized men's chronograph in period, and on the wrist today it wears small. The lug-to-lug is short, the crystal domed acrylic, the whole package lighter and thinner than anything from the Daytona era. Next to a Cosmograph Daytona of the 6239 generation, the 3525 reads as noticeably more restrained and unmistakably of its period.
 <span id="the-cal.-13-and-the-valjoux-23"></span>
 == The Cal. 13 and the Valjoux 23 ==
-Rolex catalogued the movement as “Cal. 13.” The designation refers to the 13-ligne size (roughly 29.5mm) of the movement blank. The base is the Valjoux 23 VZ, a lateral-clutch, column-wheel chronograph with 17 jewels, a running seconds register at 9 o’clock and a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock. No continuous hour counter; the 3525 is a two-register watch. Central chrono seconds. The balance is screwed; the bridges carry “Rolex” and “17 Rubis” signatures in most examples.
+Rolex catalogued the movement as "Cal. 13." The designation refers to the 13-ligne size (roughly 29.5mm) of the movement blank. The base is the Valjoux 23 VZ, a lateral-clutch, column-wheel chronograph with 17 jewels, a running seconds register at 9 o'clock and a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock. No continuous hour counter; the 3525 is a two-register watch. Central chrono seconds. The balance is screwed; the bridges carry "Rolex" and "17 Rubis" signatures in most examples.
-The Valjoux 23 was one of the most respected chronograph bases of the 1930s and 1940s, used by Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, and others. Rolex bought the base from Valjoux, finished it, and housed it. The “in-house” framing occasionally applied to Rolex chronographs of this era is inaccurate for the 3525: Rolex did not manufacture the chronograph module; it specified, finished, and cased it.
+The Valjoux 23 was one of the most respected chronograph bases of the 1930s and 1940s, used by Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, and others. Rolex bought the base from Valjoux, finished it, and housed it. The "in-house" framing occasionally applied to Rolex chronographs of this era is inaccurate for the 3525: Rolex did not manufacture the chronograph module; it specified, finished, and cased it.
-The movement’s configuration sets the reading logic of the dial. Elapsed minutes read at 3 o’clock. Running seconds read at 9 o’clock. Elapsed seconds read off the central hand. The outer chapter carries a tachometer scale for speed calculation and a telemeter scale for distance-to-sound-source calculation. Both scales were standard period equipment on a sports chronograph, and both persist through the Daytona era that follows.
+The movement's configuration sets the reading logic of the dial. Elapsed minutes read at 3 o'clock. Running seconds read at 9 o'clock. Elapsed seconds read off the central hand. The outer chapter carries a tachometer scale for speed calculation and a telemeter scale for distance-to-sound-source calculation. Both scales were standard period equipment on a sports chronograph, and both persist through the Daytona era that follows.
 <span id="dial-variants"></span>
@@ Line 101: / Line 101: @@
 Across roughly six years of production and four case metals, the 3525 accumulated a full range of dial configurations.
-The silvered dial is the most common configuration on stainless steel cases, with applied baton or Arabic indexes, blued steel hands, and printed tachometer and telemeter scales on the outer track. The Sotheby’s 2020 Important Watches Part II example (case 372,822, c.1945) carries it. Glossy black gilt — black with gilt (gold-toned) printing for scales and signatures — is the other principal steel dial; the Sotheby’s 2019 example (case 186,144, c.1942) is described in the lot text as “glossy black gilt,” tracking the same gilt-printing convention Rolex used on contemporary time-only Oysters before the matte-dial transition of the mid-1960s.
+The silvered dial is the most common configuration on stainless steel cases, with applied baton or Arabic indexes, blued steel hands, and printed tachometer and telemeter scales on the outer track. The Sotheby's 2020 Important Watches Part II example (case 372,822, c.1945) carries it. Glossy black gilt — black with gilt (gold-toned) printing for scales and signatures — is the other principal steel dial; the Sotheby's 2019 example (case 186,144, c.1942) is described in the lot text as "glossy black gilt," tracking the same gilt-printing convention Rolex used on contemporary time-only Oysters before the matte-dial transition of the mid-1960s.
 Salmon or pink matte dials are standard on pink gold cases. The Mondani Collection example (case 147,854, 1940) carries a matte pink dial with printed baton indexes, Arabic 6 and 12, and blued steel baton hands. Two-tone dials combine contrasting center and outer chapter in the Art Deco dial language common to late-1930s and early-1940s chronographs.
@@ Line 110: / Line 110: @@
 == The POW program and the Nutting watch ==
-The 3525’s second identity is as the “POW watch,” the Rolex chronograph that Hans Wilsdorf shipped to Allied officers in German prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War.
+The 3525's second identity is as the "POW watch," the Rolex chronograph that Hans Wilsdorf shipped to Allied officers in German prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War.
 The mechanism was simple enough: British and Commonwealth POWs could still order watches by mail, Rolex could still ship from neutral Switzerland, and Wilsdorf let them pay after the war. The point is not the romance, but that the watches were sold on extended credit, not simply handed out.
@@ Line 116: / Line 116: @@
 The best-documented example is the Nutting watch. Corporal Clive James Nutting of the British Army was captured and interned at Stalag Luft III, the German Luftwaffe-run prison camp in Lower Silesia (today Żagań, Poland) — the Great Escape camp, where 76 POWs broke out of Hut 104 through a tunnel in March 1944, as later dramatized in the 1963 film. Nutting was a shoemaker by trade and a signals specialist, on the escape-planning committee from early on. He did not use the tunnel himself before its discovery, but he made civilian belts, shoes, and briefcases for escapers from leather stolen from German officers who had brought their kit in for repair.
-Nutting ordered a Rolex. The watch is a steel 3525 Oyster Chronograph Antimagnetic, serial 185,983, made in 1941 and shipped by Rolex on credit in 1943. The Antiquorum lot text records a shipping date of 8 July 1943; Rolex Magazine’s article on the watch records a delivery-to-camp date of 4 August 1943. Both can be true: one is the Swiss ship date, the other the camp arrival date. By August 1943 Nutting had a Rolex chronograph on his wrist in Stalag Luft III, eight months before the Great Escape.
+Nutting ordered a Rolex. The watch is a steel 3525 Oyster Chronograph Antimagnetic, serial 185,983, made in 1941 and shipped by Rolex on credit in 1943. The Antiquorum lot text records a shipping date of 8 July 1943; Rolex Magazine's article on the watch records a delivery-to-camp date of 4 August 1943. Both can be true: one is the Swiss ship date, the other the camp arrival date. By August 1943 Nutting had a Rolex chronograph on his wrist in Stalag Luft III, eight months before the Great Escape.
-Nutting kept the watch for the rest of his life. He repatriated to Britain after the war, later emigrated to Queensland, Australia, and died there in 2001 at age 90. His archive stayed with the watch: the numbered receipt from Rolex, the numbered guarantee, the Rolex envelope, three letters from the Rolex Watch Co. signed by Hans Wilsdorf, and Nutting’s own correspondence and photographs from Stalag Luft III. The whole package sold at Antiquorum in 2007 for £66,000.
+Nutting kept the watch for the rest of his life. He repatriated to Britain after the war, later emigrated to Queensland, Australia, and died there in 2001 at age 90. His archive stayed with the watch: the numbered receipt from Rolex, the numbered guarantee, the Rolex envelope, three letters from the Rolex Watch Co. signed by Hans Wilsdorf, and Nutting's own correspondence and photographs from Stalag Luft III. The whole package sold at Antiquorum in 2007 for £66,000.
 Other POW-provenance 3525s surface periodically. The Brownlee watch (USAAF 1st Lt Leon W. Brownlee, held at Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria, freed April 1945) appeared at Antiquorum Geneva in May 2023 with an estimate of EUR 62,000–102,000. Phillips published an article on the Dickins 3525 (RAF Wing Commander Douglas S. Dickins). Dealer and forum listings carry additional named-POW examples. The Rolex POW archive is incomplete; no full list of delivered watches survives in public. The documented examples form a small, coherent corpus.
-On the specific claim that the Nutting 3525 was used to time the Great Escape itself: Nutting was on the planning committee, the 3525 is a chronograph with a 30-minute counter, and the watch was on his wrist in the camp at the right time. Whether it was actually used to time guard patrols or to cue escapees through the tunnel is not documented in the Rolex archive or in Nutting’s own writings. The connection is circumstantial, strong enough to mention but not to state as fact.
+On the specific claim that the Nutting 3525 was used to time the Great Escape itself: Nutting was on the planning committee, the 3525 is a chronograph with a 30-minute counter, and the watch was on his wrist in the camp at the right time. Whether it was actually used to time guard patrols or to cue escapees through the tunnel is not documented in the Rolex archive or in Nutting's own writings. The connection is circumstantial, strong enough to mention but not to state as fact.
 <span id="auction-record"></span>
@@ Line 171: / Line 171: @@
 | —
 |-
-| Sotheby’s (Important Watches)
+| Sotheby's (Important Watches)
 | 2019
 | 186144
@@ Line 179: / Line 179: @@
 | Est. USD 12,000–18,000
 |-
-| Sotheby’s (Important Watches Part II)
+| Sotheby's (Important Watches Part II)
 | 2020
 | 372822
@@ Line 217: / Line 217: @@
 === Case-number clusters and dating ===
-Case numbers observed on documented 3525s span from the ~140,000s (1940) through the ~370,000s (1945). That range is broad because the 3525 was produced continuously for six years, shared serial allocations with other Rolex references of the period, and included multiple metal variants produced at different cadences. The Sotheby’s 2020 lot text describes a “second production series (1942–1946)” for case 372,822, a distinction that suggests two generations of 3525, potentially with minor detail changes between early and late production. Specialist research on the precise transition point has not been published in accessible sources.
+Case numbers observed on documented 3525s span from the ~140,000s (1940) through the ~370,000s (1945). That range is broad because the 3525 was produced continuously for six years, shared serial allocations with other Rolex references of the period, and included multiple metal variants produced at different cadences. The Sotheby's 2020 lot text describes a "second production series (1942–1946)" for case 372,822, a distinction that suggests two generations of 3525, potentially with minor detail changes between early and late production. Specialist research on the precise transition point has not been published in accessible sources.
 The Alpha Hands 3525 Case Number Project aggregates documented serials in a searchable database. Its working estimate for total production exceeds the older dealer-literature figure of ~200 steel examples; actual steel production is likely in the low four figures, with gold examples adding several hundred more. A reasonable working total across all metals is ~2,000–2,500 pieces. Firm archival documentation does not exist.
@@ Line 224: / Line 224: @@
 == Authentication notes ==
-The 3525 is old enough that condition and originality variance is extreme. A buyer’s checklist on period-correct examples:
+The 3525 is old enough that condition and originality variance is extreme. A buyer's checklist on period-correct examples:
 Case geometry. The Monoblocco construction should be visible in profile: no interior seam where a bezel would meet a separate mid-case. The caseback is the only separable part. Pushers should be flat round buttons that screw down; unscrewed, they should rotate smoothly and spring back firmly.
-Caseback markings. The inside of the caseback on a period-correct 3525 carries Rolex-specific stamping including “Oyster Watch Co” and period reference and model codes. Over-polished casebacks with the stamping worn away are common after 80 years of ownership.
+Caseback markings. The inside of the caseback on a period-correct 3525 carries Rolex-specific stamping including "Oyster Watch Co" and period reference and model codes. Over-polished casebacks with the stamping worn away are common after 80 years of ownership.
 Dial. Refinished and replacement dials are the single largest originality variable on vintage 3525s. Period-correct printing on the tachometer and telemeter scales is fine and crisp; heavy, thick printing is a refinish indicator. Applied indexes on gold cases should match the case metal tone. Black gilt dials with even patina and intact gilt printing carry substantial premiums; the same dial refinished is worth a fraction.
-Movement. Cal. 13 (Valjoux 23 VZ) should be signed on the bridges. Movement serials should sit in the documented range. Replacement movements transplanted from a non-Rolex Valjoux 23 host exist; the movement bridges should read “Rolex,” not “Valjoux.”
+Movement. Cal. 13 (Valjoux 23 VZ) should be signed on the bridges. Movement serials should sit in the documented range. Replacement movements transplanted from a non-Rolex Valjoux 23 host exist; the movement bridges should read "Rolex," not "Valjoux."
 Provenance paperwork. For any 3525 offered with POW provenance, the physical documentation is decisive. Wilsdorf letters on period Rolex letterhead, numbered guarantee, numbered receipt, and POW archive material collectively make the provenance. Verbal family-lore provenance without paperwork is treated with skepticism in the market.