The Rolex Prince with the two dials is often referred to as a ‘doctors watch’ or ‘duo-dial’. The large seconds dial enabling the wearer to time heart beats, etc more accurately. The Rolex Prince was first commercially produced in 1929
and it has a special movement, initially made by Aegler and Wilsdorf , when in
1927 a patent was filed for a “shaped watch movement with a seconds dial”. In
this new watch the winding barrel and the balance wheel were at opposite ends
of the movement allowing for a larger balance wheel and thus more accuracy. A
larger winding barrel also meant that the watch could run for longer on a
single wind. This allowed most Princes to be chronometer rated and most were
indeed sold with a chronometer certificate.The variation of the Prince models available,
even though most movements were similar (besides the rare Jump Hour model) the
cases came in a few different shapes and metals.
The Brancard case in silver,
gold, platinum and stainless steel, also two colour and ‘tiger-stripe’, the
Railway case with stepped sides and also a straight sided case design. Besides the differences in case shape, in term of material used, we often see vintage Rolex Prince in 9k, 14k, 18k gold watch case or in steel and gold or silver case. Rolex Prince in stainless steel case is produced in very limited number for some reasons. Perhaps, steel watch was not luxurious enough. Rolex say there was a limited number of Prince watches ‘as such fine watches cannot be produced quickly or in large quantities’. This Rolex stainless steel has taken me decades to get everything right starting with an empty steel case only. The serial number indicates that its 01066X with reference 1343A marking it produced in 1926 earlier than the official launch date. The restoration project was fun indeed! Glad that I can revived one old Prince...
There is one similar one Vintage Rolex Prince Observatory Doctor's Stainless Steel Watch, 1930s, but movement is Gruen.
https://www.1stdibs.com/jewelry/watches/wrist-watches/vintage-rolex-prince-observatory-doctors-stainless-steel-watch-1930s/id-j_6810242/
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