Rolex 4453 Oyster Royal
Oyster → 4453
The 4453 is a manual-wind Oyster Royal documented in two genuinely independent watches. One, retailed by Asprey of London with a white enamel dial, was catalogued by Antiquorum in 2013 as having belonged to Charlie Chaplin. The other, a plainer steel example with a printed silvered dial, sold at Bonhams a decade later after failing to sell five months earlier. The two results, detailed in the Auction record below, span a wide gap driven almost entirely by provenance rather than by any documented rarity difference between the two dial types.
Core facts
| detail | value |
|---|---|
| reference | 4453 |
| family | Oyster (manual-wind) |
| documented examples | circa 1945 (Antiquorum); c.1958 (Bonhams) |
| case shape | round Oyster case with straight lugs, per photography of both examples |
| case diameter | 31mm (Antiquorum); 32mm (Bonhams) |
| crown | screw-down |
| winding | manual |
| seconds | centre, on both documented examples |
| movement | 17-jewel Cal. 10½-ligne (Antiquorum example); 15-jewel, No. 68224 (Bonhams example) — no shared caliber number stated |
| case material | stainless steel (both documented examples) |
| notable provenance | Antiquorum catalogued its example as having belonged to Charlie Chaplin |
Where it sits in the line
Rolex sold manual-wind Oyster Royal watches alongside the automatic Perpetual Bubbleback line through the 1930s to 1950s, aimed at buyers who wanted the waterproof Oyster case without the automatic movement's added cost. The 4453 belongs to that manual branch. Its numerical neighbor, ref. 1873, is another Oyster Royal already documented on this wiki with a similarly thin two-lot corpus — both references share the pattern of a scarce, individually distinctive population rather than a well-documented production run.
Production outline
Antiquorum dates its example "circa 1945." Bonhams dates its example "c.1958." Thirteen years apart, these are two data points on two individual watches, not a production window for the reference.
Movement notes
The two documented examples carry different jewel counts. Antiquorum's watch has a 17-jewel Cal. 10½-ligne movement, rhodium-plated, with a straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, flat balance spring, and index regulator. Bonhams' watch has a 15-jewel manual-wind movement numbered 68224. Neither catalogue names a shared caliber, and the jewel-count difference is documented without explanation in either source.
Dial map
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Bonhams example: silvered dial printed "ROLEX OYSTER ROYAL" and "SHOCK-RESISTING," gilt Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9
The two documented examples show two very different dials. Antiquorum's watch has a white enamel dial with painted radial Arabic numerals, an outer 1/5th-seconds track with five-second Arabic markers, blued steel spade hands, and a retailer signature reading "Asprey." Bonhams' watch has a two-tone silvered dial printed "ROLEX OYSTER ROYAL" and "SHOCK-RESISTING," gilt baton markers with luminous dots, gilt Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9, luminous-filled hands and a blued centre-seconds hand.
With two documented examples this is recorded as the reference's full known dial range rather than a settled variant table.
Case, bezel, crystal, and crown
Both documented cases are round Oyster cases with straight lugs and a screw-down back and crown, confirmed by photography of both examples. Antiquorum's watch measures 31mm with concave lugs; Bonhams' measures 32mm.
Bonhams' own catalogue text calls its example's case "brushed and polished tonneau form" — but the lot's own photography, both the dial shot and the on-wrist shot, shows a round case, not a tonneau shape. That is a catalogue-description discrepancy rather than a documented tonneau variant; the photograph is the more reliable evidence, and the mismatch is reported here rather than silently corrected.
Auction record
| Venue | Date | Lot | Case/movement no. | Dial | Estimate | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antiquorum, "Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces," New York | 2013-04-10 | 300 | Case 340362 | White enamel, Asprey signature | USD 8,000–12,000 | USD 51,250 |
| Bonhams, "Watches Online" | 2023-12-05 | 37 | Movement No. 68224 | Silvered, "SHOCK-RESISTING" | — | USD 1,280 inc. premium |
The Bonhams watch was first offered, unsold, as lot 28 of "Watches: A Private Canadian Collection" in June 2023 (estimate USD 1,500–2,500), then re-consigned and sold five months later — the same physical watch across two listings, not two examples.
The forty-fold gap between the two results tracks provenance and dial condition, not a documented rarity difference between dial types. Two results from two individually distinctive watches are not enough to establish a price pattern for the reference as a whole.
Notable provenance
Antiquorum's 2013 catalogue attributes the lot to Charlie Chaplin, noting it is "accompanied by 4 photos and various authenticating correspondence." The lot photograph shows the watch alongside family photographs and a typed letter from "C.R. Frost & Son" of Hatton Garden, London, returning "Mr Chaplin's Rolex watch" after service. The watch's dial is signed by Asprey, the retailer named in Antiquorum's lot title; the Frost & Son letter documents a repair, not the original sale, so the two names describe different commercial roles rather than a contradiction. Antiquorum's lot title also describes the watch as a left-handed configuration.
This is Antiquorum's own documentation and attribution. This project has not independently traced the chain of ownership beyond what the auction house published, and presents the Chaplin association as a catalogued claim rather than an independently confirmed fact.
Related references
- Oyster Royal 1873 — sibling Oyster Royal reference, also a thin two-lot corpus
- Oyster Chronometer 2765
- Oyster Chronometre Scientific 3009
See also the Bubbleback family index, movement reference, and serial numbers by year.