Reference:1491: Difference between revisions

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{{#seo:

|title=Rolex 1491 (1930–1945) — Production & Dial Guide | Rolexopedia

|title=Rolex 1491 (1930–1945), Production & Dial Guide | Rolexopedia

|description=The Rolex Prince Brancard Jumping Hour 1491 — Rolex's only catalogued rectangular wrist with a heures sautantes display. Digital hour aperture at twelve, minutes around the dial, sub-seconds at six. Aegler shaped movement (Cal. 350 T.S. / 7½′′′ Extra Prima Observatory) plus Aegler-built jump-hour module. Distinct deeper case than the 1490; HS suffix on factory casebacks (F2149HS, F220) on dressy white-gold and bicolor sub-runs. Production 1930–1945.

|description=The Rolex Prince Brancard Jumping Hour 1491, Rolex's only catalogued rectangular wrist with a heures sautantes display. Digital hour aperture at twelve, minutes around the dial, sub-seconds at six. Aegler shaped movement (Cal. 350 T.S. / 7½′′′ Extra Prima Observatory) plus Aegler-built jump-hour module. Distinct deeper case than the 1490; HS suffix on factory casebacks (F2149HS, F220) on dressy white-gold and bicolor sub-runs. Production 1930–1945.

|keywords=Rolex, Prince, 1491, 1491HS, Brancard, Jumping Hour, Heures Sautantes, Aegler, Cal. 350 T.S., Ultra Prima, Bucherer, Beyer, vintage, Art Deco, doctor watch, reference guide

|image=Ref 1491 hero.webp

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[[File:Ref 1491 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 jump-hour Brancard on the wrist, stainless steel, jump-hour aperture at twelve|Stainless steel 1491, Bonhams London, 21 June 2023, auction 28033 lot 75 — jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]

[[File:Ref 1491 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 jump-hour Brancard on the wrist, stainless steel, jump-hour aperture at twelve|Stainless steel 1491, Bonhams London, 21 June 2023, auction 28033 lot 75, jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]

</div>

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|-

| movement

| Aegler shaped, 7½′′′ (or 7′′′) base architecture with jumping-hour module mounted on the standard Prince base — the module is Aegler-built, not sourced from a complication specialist

| Aegler shaped, 7½′′′ (or 7′′′) base architecture with jumping-hour module mounted on the standard Prince base, the module is Aegler-built, not sourced from a complication specialist

|-

| caliber labels

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The Brancard Prince family runs the 971, 1490, and 1491 in parallel through 1930–1945, with the 1862 and other Classic Princes alongside them on a different case shape. Where the 1490 dominated period Rolex advertising and the 971 carried the chronometer-grade marketing, the jumping-hour 1491 appeared less often in the catalogue and in advertising. The 1491 surfaces in modern auctions at roughly the same depth as the platinum 971 (a configuration documented in single-digit examples), and a Watchprosite collector estimates surviving 1491s in the low hundreds, with the dressier 1491HS configurations surfacing once per decade or less.

Robb Report identifies a ref. 1571 "Railway Prince" with the same jumping-hour complication in a different Prince case form; the attribution is not corroborated by other primary sources and remains unconfirmed. Phillips's 2016 Beyer-signed silver jump-hour Prince is catalogued as ref. 1490, while Antiquorum's similar-layout examples are catalogued as 1491HS — Phillips and Antiquorum disagree on the reference number for visually identical configurations. The differing catalogue numbers remain unresolved. The omission of HS from some accompanying papers may account for part of the confusion, but does not establish that the Phillips attribution is wrong.

Robb Report identifies a ref. 1571 "Railway Prince" with the same jumping-hour complication in a different Prince case form; the attribution is not corroborated by other primary sources and remains unconfirmed. Phillips's 2016 Beyer-signed silver jump-hour Prince is catalogued as ref. 1490, while Antiquorum's similar-layout examples are catalogued as 1491HS, Phillips and Antiquorum disagree on the reference number for visually identical configurations. The differing catalogue numbers remain unresolved. The omission of HS from some accompanying papers may account for part of the confusion, but does not establish that the Phillips attribution is wrong.

==The jumping-hour mechanism==

[[File:Ref 1491 18k-glasgow-1930.webp|thumb|right|260px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 18K Glasgow 1930|1491 18K yellow gold, Glasgow Import mark 1930 (Bonhams sale 29152 lot 23) — front view shows the jump-hour aperture at twelve and the sub-seconds register at six]]

[[File:Ref 1491 18k-glasgow-1930.webp|thumb|right|260px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 18K Glasgow 1930|1491 18K yellow gold, Glasgow Import mark 1930 (Bonhams sale 29152 lot 23), front view shows the jump-hour aperture at twelve and the sub-seconds register at six]]

The Aegler shaped-movement family that powered the standard Prince — Cal. 300, Cal. 350, Cal. 7½′′′ T.S. 300 — receives a jumping-hour module on the 1491. The module is Aegler-built, developed in-house instead of sourced from an outside complication specialist such as Audemars Frères, Le Coultre, or one of the period jump-hour module makers like Hahn or Cortébert. It mounts on top of the standard Prince base movement and consists of an hour disc carrying the twelve hour numerals, an instantaneous-jump mechanism that advances the disc one position per hour at the moment the minute hand reaches twelve, and a small aperture cut into the dial at the twelve o'clock position through which one numeral at a time is visible.

The Aegler shaped-movement family that powered the standard Prince, Cal. 300, Cal. 350, Cal. 7½′′′ T.S. 300, receives a jumping-hour module on the 1491. The module is Aegler-built, developed in-house instead of sourced from an outside complication specialist such as Audemars Frères, Le Coultre, or one of the period jump-hour module makers like Hahn or Cortébert. It mounts on top of the standard Prince base movement and consists of an hour disc carrying the twelve hour numerals, an instantaneous-jump mechanism that advances the disc one position per hour at the moment the minute hand reaches twelve, and a small aperture cut into the dial at the twelve o'clock position through which one numeral at a time is visible.

The module added enough thickness to the standard movement that the 1491 case is deeper than the 1490 case. Case depth is one check when assessing a claimed 1491. A Brancard claimed as a 1491 that has the same case depth as a 1490 is either a transplant (1490 case fitted with a later jumping-hour module) or a misidentified 1490 with a refinished aperture-style dial. The 1491 case is also distinguished by its case-number sequence. F-prefix factory stamps are documented on multiple HS examples (F2149HS at Antiquorum 2008 lot 693, F220 at Bonhams 2024), and the "HS" letters appear on the caseback even when the same letters are absent from accompanying factory papers.

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* Silvered dial with applied Breguet-style minute markers, hour aperture, sub-seconds. Typical on dressier white-gold and bicolor examples.

[[File:Ref 1491 gold jump-hour detail.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491HS two-color 18K gold jumping hour, Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6|1491HS two-color 18K gold (yellow + white), Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6, c.1930 — jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]

[[File:Ref 1491 gold jump-hour detail.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491HS two-color 18K gold jumping hour, Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6|1491HS two-color 18K gold (yellow + white), Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6, c.1930, jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]

* Two-tone sector dial with hour aperture and sub-seconds. Late 1930s Art-Deco geometric variants.

* Bucherer-double-signed dial. Antiquorum 2008 lot 692, white-gold 1491 with original 1945 Bucherer invoice. The only documented retailer-double on a 1491.

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== Related references ==

* [[Reference:1527|Prince 1527]] — 1930–1945

* [[Reference:1527|Prince 1527]], 1930–1945

* [[Reference:1490|Prince 1490]] — 1928–1945

* [[Reference:1490|Prince 1490]], 1928–1945

* [[Reference:1862|Prince 1862]] — 1928–1942

* [[Reference:1862|Prince 1862]], 1928–1942

* [[Reference:971|Prince 971]] — Brancard Art-Deco (1928–1938)

* [[Reference:971|Prince 971]], Brancard Art-Deco (1928–1938)

* [[Reference:1343|Prince 1343]] — Classic Rectangular (1928–1935)

* [[Reference:1343|Prince 1343]], Classic Rectangular (1928–1935)

* [[Reference:3361|Prince 3361]]

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* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/important-watches-ge1604/lot.135.html "Rolex", Sotheby's "Important Watches" (GE1604), 2016, lot 135]

* "Rolex Prince 1491 Bicolor 1932 Engraved", Artcurial (no public catalog URL located)

* "Prince personal journey — 1491 Jumping Hour module thicker", Watchprosite

* "Prince personal journey, 1491 Jumping Hour module thicker", Watchprosite

* "Rolex Prince Jumping Hour — population proxy", Watchprosite, 2020

* "Rolex Prince Jumping Hour, population proxy", Watchprosite, 2020

* "Rolex Prince 1491 — proposed conceptual ancestor of the 1945 Datejust window", rolexencyclopedie.nl

* "Rolex Prince 1491, proposed conceptual ancestor of the 1945 Datejust window", rolexencyclopedie.nl

* [https://www.rolexmagazine.com/2017/05/the-complete-history-of-rolex-prince.html Jake Ehrlich, "The Complete History of the Rolex Prince", Rolex Magazine, 2017-05]

* [https://quillandpad.com/2019/04/09/the-golden-age-of-rolex-movements-part-i-sowing-the-seeds-of-greatness/ Tim Mosso, "The Golden Age of Rolex Movements Part I", Quill & Pad, 2019-04-09]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex 1491}}
 {{#seo:
-|title=Rolex 1491 (1930–1945) — Production & Dial Guide &#124; Rolexopedia
+|title=Rolex 1491 (1930–1945), Production & Dial Guide &#124; Rolexopedia
-|description=The Rolex Prince Brancard Jumping Hour 1491 — Rolex's only catalogued rectangular wrist with a heures sautantes display. Digital hour aperture at twelve, minutes around the dial, sub-seconds at six. Aegler shaped movement (Cal. 350 T.S. / 7½′′′ Extra Prima Observatory) plus Aegler-built jump-hour module. Distinct deeper case than the 1490; HS suffix on factory casebacks (F2149HS, F220) on dressy white-gold and bicolor sub-runs. Production 1930–1945.
+|description=The Rolex Prince Brancard Jumping Hour 1491, Rolex's only catalogued rectangular wrist with a heures sautantes display. Digital hour aperture at twelve, minutes around the dial, sub-seconds at six. Aegler shaped movement (Cal. 350 T.S. / 7½′′′ Extra Prima Observatory) plus Aegler-built jump-hour module. Distinct deeper case than the 1490; HS suffix on factory casebacks (F2149HS, F220) on dressy white-gold and bicolor sub-runs. Production 1930–1945.
 |keywords=Rolex, Prince, 1491, 1491HS, Brancard, Jumping Hour, Heures Sautantes, Aegler, Cal. 350 T.S., Ultra Prima, Bucherer, Beyer, vintage, Art Deco, doctor watch, reference guide
 |image=Ref 1491 hero.webp
@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 <div class="rp-lead">
-[[File:Ref 1491 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 jump-hour Brancard on the wrist, stainless steel, jump-hour aperture at twelve|Stainless steel 1491, Bonhams London, 21 June 2023, auction 28033 lot 75 — jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]
+[[File:Ref 1491 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 jump-hour Brancard on the wrist, stainless steel, jump-hour aperture at twelve|Stainless steel 1491, Bonhams London, 21 June 2023, auction 28033 lot 75, jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]
 </div>
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 |-
 | movement
-| Aegler shaped, 7½′′′ (or 7′′′) base architecture with jumping-hour module mounted on the standard Prince base — the module is Aegler-built, not sourced from a complication specialist
+| Aegler shaped, 7½′′′ (or 7′′′) base architecture with jumping-hour module mounted on the standard Prince base, the module is Aegler-built, not sourced from a complication specialist
 |-
 | caliber labels
@@ Line 102: / Line 102: @@
 The Brancard Prince family runs the 971, 1490, and 1491 in parallel through 1930–1945, with the 1862 and other Classic Princes alongside them on a different case shape. Where the 1490 dominated period Rolex advertising and the 971 carried the chronometer-grade marketing, the jumping-hour 1491 appeared less often in the catalogue and in advertising. The 1491 surfaces in modern auctions at roughly the same depth as the platinum 971 (a configuration documented in single-digit examples), and a Watchprosite collector estimates surviving 1491s in the low hundreds, with the dressier 1491HS configurations surfacing once per decade or less.
-Robb Report identifies a ref. 1571 "Railway Prince" with the same jumping-hour complication in a different Prince case form; the attribution is not corroborated by other primary sources and remains unconfirmed. Phillips's 2016 Beyer-signed silver jump-hour Prince is catalogued as ref. 1490, while Antiquorum's similar-layout examples are catalogued as 1491HS — Phillips and Antiquorum disagree on the reference number for visually identical configurations. The differing catalogue numbers remain unresolved. The omission of HS from some accompanying papers may account for part of the confusion, but does not establish that the Phillips attribution is wrong.
+Robb Report identifies a ref. 1571 "Railway Prince" with the same jumping-hour complication in a different Prince case form; the attribution is not corroborated by other primary sources and remains unconfirmed. Phillips's 2016 Beyer-signed silver jump-hour Prince is catalogued as ref. 1490, while Antiquorum's similar-layout examples are catalogued as 1491HS, Phillips and Antiquorum disagree on the reference number for visually identical configurations. The differing catalogue numbers remain unresolved. The omission of HS from some accompanying papers may account for part of the confusion, but does not establish that the Phillips attribution is wrong.
 ==The jumping-hour mechanism==
-[[File:Ref 1491 18k-glasgow-1930.webp|thumb|right|260px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 18K Glasgow 1930|1491 18K yellow gold, Glasgow Import mark 1930 (Bonhams sale 29152 lot 23) — front view shows the jump-hour aperture at twelve and the sub-seconds register at six]]
+[[File:Ref 1491 18k-glasgow-1930.webp|thumb|right|260px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491 18K Glasgow 1930|1491 18K yellow gold, Glasgow Import mark 1930 (Bonhams sale 29152 lot 23), front view shows the jump-hour aperture at twelve and the sub-seconds register at six]]
-The Aegler shaped-movement family that powered the standard Prince — Cal. 300, Cal. 350, Cal. 7½′′′ T.S. 300 — receives a jumping-hour module on the 1491. The module is Aegler-built, developed in-house instead of sourced from an outside complication specialist such as Audemars Frères, Le Coultre, or one of the period jump-hour module makers like Hahn or Cortébert. It mounts on top of the standard Prince base movement and consists of an hour disc carrying the twelve hour numerals, an instantaneous-jump mechanism that advances the disc one position per hour at the moment the minute hand reaches twelve, and a small aperture cut into the dial at the twelve o'clock position through which one numeral at a time is visible.
+The Aegler shaped-movement family that powered the standard Prince, Cal. 300, Cal. 350, Cal. 7½′′′ T.S. 300, receives a jumping-hour module on the 1491. The module is Aegler-built, developed in-house instead of sourced from an outside complication specialist such as Audemars Frères, Le Coultre, or one of the period jump-hour module makers like Hahn or Cortébert. It mounts on top of the standard Prince base movement and consists of an hour disc carrying the twelve hour numerals, an instantaneous-jump mechanism that advances the disc one position per hour at the moment the minute hand reaches twelve, and a small aperture cut into the dial at the twelve o'clock position through which one numeral at a time is visible.
 The module added enough thickness to the standard movement that the 1491 case is deeper than the 1490 case. Case depth is one check when assessing a claimed 1491. A Brancard claimed as a 1491 that has the same case depth as a 1490 is either a transplant (1490 case fitted with a later jumping-hour module) or a misidentified 1490 with a refinished aperture-style dial. The 1491 case is also distinguished by its case-number sequence. F-prefix factory stamps are documented on multiple HS examples (F2149HS at Antiquorum 2008 lot 693, F220 at Bonhams 2024), and the "HS" letters appear on the caseback even when the same letters are absent from accompanying factory papers.
@@ Line 125: / Line 125: @@
 * Silvered dial with applied Breguet-style minute markers, hour aperture, sub-seconds. Typical on dressier white-gold and bicolor examples.
-[[File:Ref 1491 gold jump-hour detail.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491HS two-color 18K gold jumping hour, Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6|1491HS two-color 18K gold (yellow + white), Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6, c.1930 — jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]
+[[File:Ref 1491 gold jump-hour detail.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Prince 1491HS two-color 18K gold jumping hour, Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6|1491HS two-color 18K gold (yellow + white), Bonhams sale 29152 lot 6, c.1930, jump-hour aperture at twelve, sub-seconds at six]]
 * Two-tone sector dial with hour aperture and sub-seconds. Late 1930s Art-Deco geometric variants.
 * Bucherer-double-signed dial. Antiquorum 2008 lot 692, white-gold 1491 with original 1945 Bucherer invoice. The only documented retailer-double on a 1491.
@@ Line 243: / Line 243: @@
 == Related references ==
-* [[Reference:1527|Prince 1527]] — 1930–1945
+* [[Reference:1527|Prince 1527]], 1930–1945
-* [[Reference:1490|Prince 1490]] — 1928–1945
+* [[Reference:1490|Prince 1490]], 1928–1945
-* [[Reference:1862|Prince 1862]] — 1928–1942
+* [[Reference:1862|Prince 1862]], 1928–1942
-* [[Reference:971|Prince 971]] — Brancard Art-Deco (1928–1938)
+* [[Reference:971|Prince 971]], Brancard Art-Deco (1928–1938)
-* [[Reference:1343|Prince 1343]] — Classic Rectangular (1928–1935)
+* [[Reference:1343|Prince 1343]], Classic Rectangular (1928–1935)
 * [[Reference:3361|Prince 3361]]
@@ Line 268: / Line 268: @@
 * [https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/important-watches-ge1604/lot.135.html "Rolex", Sotheby's "Important Watches" (GE1604), 2016, lot 135]
 * "Rolex Prince 1491 Bicolor 1932 Engraved", Artcurial (no public catalog URL located)
-* "Prince personal journey — 1491 Jumping Hour module thicker", Watchprosite
+* "Prince personal journey, 1491 Jumping Hour module thicker", Watchprosite
-* "Rolex Prince Jumping Hour — population proxy", Watchprosite, 2020
+* "Rolex Prince Jumping Hour, population proxy", Watchprosite, 2020
-* "Rolex Prince 1491 — proposed conceptual ancestor of the 1945 Datejust window", rolexencyclopedie.nl
+* "Rolex Prince 1491, proposed conceptual ancestor of the 1945 Datejust window", rolexencyclopedie.nl
 * [https://www.rolexmagazine.com/2017/05/the-complete-history-of-rolex-prince.html Jake Ehrlich, "The Complete History of the Rolex Prince", Rolex Magazine, 2017-05]
 * [https://quillandpad.com/2019/04/09/the-golden-age-of-rolex-movements-part-i-sowing-the-seeds-of-greatness/ Tim Mosso, "The Golden Age of Rolex Movements Part I", Quill & Pad, 2019-04-09]