Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Rolex Sterling Silver Officer Trench Watch, 1918
- Maker / attribution
- Rolex (maker)
- Date
- 1918
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Materials / technique
- silver
- Stock no.
- RLXSTOF
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Craft & Tailored (RLXSTOF)
- Catalogue title (original)
- 1918 Rolex Sterling Silver Officer Trench Watch (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Craft & Tailored (dealer), Los Angeles (stock number RLXSTOF), this is a wristwatch by Rolex, dated 1918. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Craft & Tailored
Before Hans Wilsdorf created the first waterproof watch the Rolex "Oyster" in 1926, the Rolex brand made high-quality wristwatches and pocket watches. During the first world war, Rolex manufactured "Officer Trench watches" that were issued to various armies around the world. Stock # RLXSTOF Brand Rolex Style Officer's Trench Watch Model N/A Serial 70XXXX Size Men's Material Sterling Silver Dial White Porcelain Millimeters 34 Bracelet Canvas Single-Pass NATO Strap CASE & BRACELET The sterling silver pocket watch-style case is both charming and in great condition, the back opens to reveal the movement and the top of the watch opens to show the dial. The large onion crown is believed to be an early replacement which is common on these watches. The watch features its original engraving. The watch comes supplied on a canvas single-pass NATO strap. DIAL & HANDS The white porcelain enamel dial is a beautiful representation of early Rolex watchmaking and is well preserved for its age. The porcelain dial does show some hairline cracks which is expected for a watch from this era and features a more substantial crack underneath the crystal, which is only visible when the top of the case is open. ACCESSORIES None. The watch is running, previous service history is unknown.
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Military, pilot and travel watches
The wristwatch owes much of its adoption by men to warfare and aviation. Wristlets — small pocket watches soldered with lugs and worn on a strap — were used in colonial campaigns and became standard equipment in the First World War, with protective grilles over the crystal ('shrapnel guards'). Louis Cartier's Santos (1904), designed for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, is often cited as an early purpose-made pilot's watch.
In the Second World War governments specified watches in detail: the German B-Uhr observation watches, the American A-11, and the British 'W.W.W.' (the 'Dirty Dozen' set of 1945). After the war, jet travel brought GMT and world-time watches, which show two or more time zones at once — Louis Cottier's world-time mechanism and the Rolex GMT-Master (1955) are examples.
What to look for
- Military markings on the case back: broad arrow, issue numbers, 'W.W.W.', 'A.T.P.'
- High-legibility black dials with luminous Arabic numerals; oversized crowns for gloved hands.
- 24-hour hands and rotating 24-hour bezels or city rings on GMT/world-time watches.
- Wire lugs on early wristlets converted from pocket watches.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug wristlets: c. 1900–1925.
- Military specifications of the Second World War: 1939–1945.
- GMT and world-time wristwatches: mainly after 1950.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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