Hello Jinzhe Li,
Thank you for sending your Rolex pocket watch to mearto for an appraisal. I will try to assist you with that today.
TITLE:
Art Deco, silvered steel, pendant wound and pendant set, keyless, open face pocket watch, “22 world Records” model, made by Rolex, Geneva, Switzerland, circa 1930.
Accompanied by a Ulysse Nardin fitted pocket watch jeweler’s box.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: (Size not provided) This is a white metal (silvered steel / nickel / coin silver), three leaf, open face pocket watch case with the fluted ball pendant and round bow placed at the twelve position. The covers are not shown in the photos. . .
Dial: Art Deco silvered, triple sunk dial with applied silvered stylized Arabic hours, silvered dotted minute ring, subsidiary seconds ring@6, the upper dial is marked “Rolex, 22 world Records”. The silvered hands are skeletonized cathedral hands. . .
Movement: A traditional Swiss movement of the 1920’s era combining a half plate having exposed ratchet and crown wheels, with curved center wheel bridge and two other smaller curved bridges, fully jeweled with rubies, some in gold pivot settings, bi-metallic balance wheel, Breguet hairspring and Swiss style index regulator with the rule-measure marked with English initials for Faster and Slower. The center bridge is marked for Rolex but I cannot make out what is written beneath the name. . .
Condition: The casing does not appear to be a precious metal such as gold or silver, and this would not be unusual for the Art Deco years. The dial is in very good condition but appears darkened from oxidation in the photo suggesting a silvering process used on the dial. The hands are also partially oxidized. However, there are no dial fractures. The movement is well made and fully jeweled and assumed to be functional. The watch box is made by a competitor of Rolex, Ulysse Nardin. As far as I am aware the two companies never had a business relationship, so that the box is wrong for this watch.
ROLEX WORLD RECORD MARKED WATCHES:
Rolex case backs sometimes have a reference to a certain number of "World's Records". It is not known what records these claims refer to, but the number of records claimed increases in steps from seven to twenty and then twenty five. Knowing when the increment occurred can help to identify when a watch was made.
~No Records: Prior to 1923/24 hallmark year there were no claims to any World's Records in Rolex watch case backs and on dials.
~7 World's Records: first appears in the hallmark year 1923/24.
~16 World's Records: I have seen case backs hallmarked in Glasgow in 1927/28 and 1928/29.
~20 World's Records: first appears in the hallmark year 1927/28. There is some overlap between the hallmark dates of 16 and 20.
~25 World's Records: first appears in the hallmark year 1933/34.
I have compared your pocket watch to other Rolex examples from the 1920-1940 era and most of them sell in the $1500-$1750 range, unless they are solid gold. I dated the watch from the 1928-1933 era. I did not reduce the value because the Rolex is fitted into the wrong Jewelry box.
I hope to have been of some help to you today.
My best wishes,
David