In 1928 Rolex introduced the
Prince which almost instantly became known as the doctor’s watch. The
rectangular watch had a bigger dial on top for the hours and the minutes and
below that a smaller dial for the seconds. That made it easy for a doctor to
measure a patient’s pulse rate.
In the history of watches the
Rolex Prince is seen as one of the most groundbreaking watches. After it came
on the market in 1928 it immediately set new standards for accuracy and ease of
use for luxury watches.
After it’s introduction the
Price was for sale in two different styles for the case, one a more rectangular
(Classic) and the other one a much more round design (Brancard). Rolex used
several materials to manufacture a Prince, yellow gold, sterling silver,
platinum and two-tone combinations (later steel also became available). The
Classic was Model 1343 and the Brancard Model 971. Soon after it’s introduction
the manual wound movement was replaced by an automatic one, the Rolex
Bubbleback.
The Gruen doctor’s watch and
the Rolex Prince both have the same movement. The former was made for the
American market, the latter for the rest of the world and therefore they were
not sold as competitors. Still, the price of the Gruen watch was only 30% of
the price of a Prince. Once again Rolex proved to be brilliant in their
marketing and showed how strong the brand was.
Gruen Doctor's jump hour watch
This is a much rarer Gruen
doctor's watch jump hour. The jump hour can be seen as early attempt for the
watch company to create a "digital" watch. I was offered a Rolex
Prince jump hour in 1988 but I was unable to afford as I was still in
university studying. After more then 22 years, I have finally found a jump hour
( even though it's only a Gruen) with original dial .
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