Zell Brothers Rolex Oyster "Turtle DeLuxe"

[collecto6]

I live in Portland, Oregon. Zell Brothers Jewelers was always a wonderful place to shop. In the 1980s, I started collecting watches, and one watch that always eluded me was the Zell Brothers Rolex "Turtle." One of the Zell descendants worked there, and he wore a solid gold Turtle from long ago! I finally found one! Rolex had an agreement with Aegler Watch, the company that produced movements for both Rolex and Gruen. As Rolex's Wilsdorf and the Gruen Brothers sat on the Board of Directors of Aegler in equity positions, Rolex had negotiated the World to sell to, while Gruen had exclusive rights to sell in the United States. No Aegler sourced movement in a Rolex was to be sold in the USA. In the late 1930s, Zell Brothers approached Rolex to sell their Oyster watches in the Pacific Northwest on an exclusive basis. An earlier attempt by Rolex into the U.S. market through Abercrombie and Fitch was a dismal failure. A low end, chromed base metal cushion type piece. Rolex agreed to Zell's overtures! Rolex used a Fontmelon Movement, the FF3,0 with 17 jewels and unadjusted for their Oyster Watch case. It avoided the Aegler proscription on selling in the US. This Zell Bros Rolex mirrored the Eaton Canadian watches, whose Models were generally either the 2764 or 3478. (My De Luxe has the 3478.) Zell Brothers chose the name "Turtle" for these Rolex Oysters. There were five different varieties; Turtle Timer, Turtle De Luxe, Turtle Lipton, Turtle Perpetual, and Turtle Royal. These were in true stainless steel Oyster Cases with screw-down crowns. They are marked "Stainless Steel RWC" on the back. RWC stands for Rolex Watch Group. Inside the caseback it is also present with the "Oyster Watch Co", "RWC Ltd" stampings. So the first true Rolex Oysters sold in the United States were from Zell Brothers in Downtown Portland! Zells sold the Rolex Oysters from around 1938 until around the end of 1942. In 1943, Zells shifted to a Movado sourced watch to carry on the Zell Bros name. I found a Rolex style stainless steel bracelet on a Bubble Back Rolex I bought in 1988. I sold that watch, but kept the bracelet because I was told then they were really hard to find. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was a Zell Bros marked "Firth Staybrite Rustless" bracelet! Perfect for my Turtle De Luxe! So little is written about the Turtles, but for any Rolex collector they loom out of the past to taunt us! All my information I found online, from my watchmaker, books, my personal observations, articles and right out of the wonderful members of this Forum. My thanks and attribution to all who helped me assemble these facts in one place!

[douglasf13]

Cool. Pics??

[collecto6]

My photos are too large evidently. I re-sized them, but still no soap. If you have an Instagram handle, I'll gladly send them to you. My handle there is collecto6.

[collecto6]

Here are the pictures, I hope!

[douglasf13]

[Nick9]

I’m a big fan of the Canadian-market Rolexes and Tudors. So nice to see a write-up on another quirky line from the Rolex-Gruen-Aegler days. Thanks for taking time.

[jdog10]

Great write-up and great watch! Cool piece of Rolex history, especially as a Portland native. Thank you for sharing with the community!

[Boopie]

That looks great! Thanks for the history as well. Very interesting.

[collecto6]

Thanks for the kind words! I wanted to put all the salient information together in one place. Something to help someone trying to understand what the Rolex Turtles were, and are in the history of the brand.

[Jaakkos]

Very good looking watch