Rolex Bubbleback 1930s-40s-50s

According to James Dowling, in the late 1980s, Japanese collectors who were eager to get their hands on the most rare variant of a Rolex “Bubbleback” sent the price of a Ref. 3599 skyrocketing to almost US$100,000. This, remember, was at a time when Rolex “Paul Newman” Daytonas were going for US$15,000 at best. This is the watch that really inspired me into collecting vintage Rolex.

Although the Rolex Bubbleback would fetch only a fraction of that price today, make no mistake: this was a timepiece that not only changed the fortunes of the company that created it, but also the watch industry itself. The so-called Bubbleback is the original Oyster Perpetual. Look at the dial of any Submariner, Datejust, Day-Date or Sea-Dweller and on each will be three words: “Oyster”, “Perpetual” and “Chronometer”. The Bubbleback was the first to combine all three of these features in a single timepiece. 

This is one of the watches that the Rolex brand’s stellar reputation was built upon. The watch embodies two of the developments which Rolex perfected: the waterproof case and the automatic winding mechanism.

The waterproof watch case was a priority for watchmakers ever since the watch moved from being an object carried in the pocket, to an item worn on the wrist. On the wrist the watch is subjected to a far harsher environment than the cosseted pocket watch! Rolex’s solution to this problem was twofold: firstly they use a tightly fitted threaded case back, which solved the problems associated with the snap on backs of pocket watches. Secondly they developed a screw-down winding crown, thus addressing the other area of weakness in traditional case design. This is also the first reliable automatic watches produced in Oyster format.

The Rolex Bubbleback is an interesting watch to collect as it has a varieties of case materials  (in Solid gold, steel and half gold) and in a large varieties of dials design.