Reference:2784: Difference between revisions
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The "Junior" in Junior Sport is a size class. Against the 32mm Oyster Perpetual of the same period, a 30mm case was the boy's or mid-size option, and the smaller wristwatch was fashionable through the decade. Sotheby's dates the reference's introduction to the early 1930s. | The "Junior" in Junior Sport is a size class. Against the 32mm Oyster Perpetual of the same period, a 30mm case was the boy's or mid-size option, and the smaller wristwatch was fashionable through the decade. Sotheby's dates the reference's introduction to the early 1930s. | ||
Where the 2784 sits is best understood through the company that made the case. The horological researcher David Boettcher, working from Swiss commercial-register extracts, establishes that Montres Huître S.A., trading in English as Oyster Watch Limited, was incorporated in Geneva on 31 August 1928 with Hans Wilsdorf on the first board. | Where the 2784 sits is best understood through the company that made the case. The horological researcher David Boettcher, working from Swiss commercial-register extracts, establishes that Montres Huître S.A., trading in English as Oyster Watch Limited, was incorporated in Geneva on 31 August 1928 with Hans Wilsdorf on the first board. That incorporation made Oyster Watch Limited, in his words, "legally a completely separate company from the Rolex Watch Company and not just another sub-brand." It ceased trading on 28 August 1940 and was struck from the register in December 1969. James Dowling's ''Rolex: The Unauthorised History'' is explicit that Oyster Watch Co. products were not intended to compete with Rolex. In modern terms the relationship is closer to Rolex and Tudor than to two badges on one product, which is how a long-standing contributor on the NAWCC board put it in 2003: the Oyster of that era was Rolex's second line. | ||
==Production outline== | ==Production outline== | ||
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The catalogue estimates do not reconcile. Christie's dated cases 126541 and 127947 both to circa 1930, while Sotheby's dated the much lower case 92797 to circa 1939. Higher case numbers cannot be nine years earlier. The documented cases fall into two bands, roughly 81,000 to 93,000 and 126,000 to 128,000, and the houses have variously assigned examples across those bands to 1930, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1940 and 1945. The case-number bands are evidence; the circa dates are guesses, and quoting them as production dates would propagate the error. | The catalogue estimates do not reconcile. Christie's dated cases 126541 and 127947 both to circa 1930, while Sotheby's dated the much lower case 92797 to circa 1939. Higher case numbers cannot be nine years earlier. The documented cases fall into two bands, roughly 81,000 to 93,000 and 126,000 to 128,000, and the houses have variously assigned examples across those bands to 1930, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1940 and 1945. The case-number bands are evidence; the circa dates are guesses, and quoting them as production dates would propagate the error. | ||
The other complication is that the Rolex R.20 case manual does not list the reference. That sounds significant and is not. A contributor on the NAWCC board who checked it reported that the manual's references "end on ref:1831 - and then jump right to ref:5500 nothing in between." The omission spans the entire band from 1832 to 5499, so it says nothing about the 2784 in particular | The other complication is that the Rolex R.20 case manual does not list the reference. That sounds significant and is not. A contributor on the NAWCC board who checked it reported that the manual's references "end on ref:1831 - and then jump right to ref:5500 nothing in between." The omission spans the entire band from 1832 to 5499, so it says nothing about the 2784 in particular. | ||
What can be dated is one specific watch: a Solar Aqua 2784 carries a caseback inscription recording its presentation in 1943 by the jewellery department of Eaton's, the Canadian department store. That is the firmest date attached to any example. | What can be dated is one specific watch: a Solar Aqua 2784 carries a caseback inscription recording its presentation in 1943 by the jewellery department of Eaton's, the Canadian department store. That is the firmest date attached to any example. | ||
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[[File:Ref 2784 Raleigh dial.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Oyster Raleigh 2784 in steel and gold with luminous Arabic numerals, inner red 24-hour numerals and centre seconds|An Oyster Raleigh on the 2784 case, dated 1941: luminous Arabic hours, inner red 24-hour numerals and sweep centre seconds from the calibre 59(SC).]] | [[File:Ref 2784 Raleigh dial.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Oyster Raleigh 2784 in steel and gold with luminous Arabic numerals, inner red 24-hour numerals and centre seconds|An Oyster Raleigh on the 2784 case, dated 1941: luminous Arabic hours, inner red 24-hour numerals and sweep centre seconds from the calibre 59(SC).]] | ||
Most 2784s were sold in Canada and the Commonwealth, alongside Oyster-cased watches carrying names like Royalite, Victory, Firefly, Raleigh, Commander, Recorda, Edison, Grenfell, Shipmate, Skyrocket and Standard. Why they exist at all is | Most 2784s were sold in Canada and the Commonwealth, alongside Oyster-cased watches carrying names like Royalite, Victory, Firefly, Raleigh, Commander, Recorda, Edison, Grenfell, Shipmate, Skyrocket and Standard. Why they exist at all is disputed, and the two best-documented accounts contradict each other. | ||
The widely repeated explanation is a territorial one. Wilsdorf and the Gruen brothers were both shareholders in Aegler, and the agreement between them divided the world: Gruen sold Aegler-powered watches in the United States, Rolex everywhere else. On this account the Canadian Oysters carry Fontainemelon movements because Aegler movements were unavailable to Rolex in North America. | The widely repeated explanation is a territorial one. Wilsdorf and the Gruen brothers were both shareholders in Aegler, and the agreement between them divided the world: Gruen sold Aegler-powered watches in the United States, Rolex everywhere else. On this account the Canadian Oysters carry Fontainemelon movements because Aegler movements were unavailable to Rolex in North America. | ||
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* [[Reference:3009|Oyster Chronometre Scientific 3009]] — manual-wind Oyster of the same era | * [[Reference:3009|Oyster Chronometre Scientific 3009]] — manual-wind Oyster of the same era | ||
* [[Reference:3003|Oyster Precision 3003]] | * [[Reference:3003|Oyster Precision 3003]] | ||
* | * Oyster Precision 6694 — the last manual-wind Rolex | ||
See also the [[Reference:oyster-perpetual|Oyster Perpetual family index]], [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]], [[Reference:Bracelets|bracelet & clasp guide]], and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|serial numbers by year]]. | See also the [[Reference:oyster-perpetual|Oyster Perpetual family index]], [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]], [[Reference:Bracelets|bracelet & clasp guide]], and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|serial numbers by year]]. | ||
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* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-108-7 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva, The Mondani Collection, Lot 108 — Rolex ref. 3116", Antiquorum, 2006-05-14] | * [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-108-7 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva, The Mondani Collection, Lot 108 — Rolex ref. 3116", Antiquorum, 2006-05-14] | ||
[[Category:Oyster]] | [[Category:Oyster]] | ||