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Old 15 April 2020, 04:05 AM   #1
eliasnilfgaard
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Icon4 Unusual case: WWI Rolex trench watch. Any thoughts?

Hi gents!

Have a question regarding this lovely WWI piece of history.

I've got this beauty quite recently, mostly thanks to the lockdown and the watch looks 99% legit to me but I can't find a similar case in the web. This one seems to be made of silver as most of Rolex trench watches of that era but doesn't have typical hallmarks. Could you please help me to ID this case? Do I need to be worried?

Also, I will need a new (old) pair of hands and maybe someone has experience with restoring such kinds of watches and knows where one can get one without breaking a bank.





Cheers!
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Old 15 April 2020, 04:41 AM   #2
N2theCAPE
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Looks like a pocket watch wrist watch conversion that I've seen some time on eBay but I am no expert at all on the topic. Looks cool, definitely get a nato strap for it.

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Old 15 April 2020, 06:50 AM   #3
vintagewatch
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The watch movement looks correct for a 1915ish "Trench Watch" The George Gordon book "Rolex Hans Wilsdorf and the Revolution of Time 1905 - Present" has a few examples of these, however the cases are marked. My guess is that the watch was re-cased at some point. 92.5% silver (.925 hallmark) is not a very resilient material and the case probably required replacement.

Borrowed Images:






Last edited by vintagewatch; 15 April 2020 at 07:01 AM.. Reason: add pictures
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Old 15 April 2020, 10:50 PM   #4
eliasnilfgaard
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Thanks David!
Yes, that was my initial thought that the case isn't original, however it fits so well that it's hard to believe that it was taken from another watch. Probably will need to do more research on this. I've seen some similar ones with HW (Hans Wilsdorf obliviously) marks only but not like this one.
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Old 16 April 2020, 01:27 AM   #5
WCHROLX
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Really quite old, how old is it?
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Old 16 April 2020, 02:29 AM   #6
vintagewatch
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WCHROLX View Post
Really quite old, how old is it?
I believe these watches were made from 1914-1920 or so.
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