ROLEX REF 6422 OYSTER

Description This simple and unadorned Rolex reference 6422 dates from 1955, and has a wonderful feeling of understated elegance. Item description: The case, typically in polished stainless steel. The watch with a standard champagne dial, bearing the Rolex crown and name in silver finish, along with silver finished hour batons. The crown with Rolex logo in relief. Reverse with milled edge case-back. The 17 jewel movement fully signed Rolex, and with high quality regulation, including screw in weights to the balance. The case-back fully signed Rolex, and bearing the case reference 6422, along with the date code 1.55 January 1955. The watch complete with a black leather strap, along with stainless Steel buckle. Case size: 40mm x 34mm Condition report: Case in very good to excellent condition. Original Rolex dial with a nice ‘soft’ age patination. The movement remaining in very good to excellent condition and is in fully working condition (no warranty implied). The timepiece has been opened, so it should not be used near moisture or water without being checked by a qualified watchmaker. The strap and buckle new and unused. Background to Rolex: Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded Wilsdorf and Davis, the company that would eventually become Rolex SA, in London, England in 1905. Wilsdorf and Davis’ main commercial activity at the time involved importing Hermann Aegler’s Swiss movements to England and placing them in high-quality watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked “W&D” inside the caseback. In 1908 Wilsdorf registered the trademark “Rolex” and opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and by 1914, Kew Observatory had awarded a Rolex watch a Class A precision certificate, a distinction normally granted exclusively to marine chronometers. In 1919 Wilsdorf left England for Geneva, due to wartime taxes levied on luxury imports as well as to export duties on the silver and gold used for the watch cases driving up costs. Once established in Switzerland, Wilsdorf traded as the Rolex Watch Company, later changing the name to Montres Rolex SA, and finally Rolex, SA. Upon the death of his wife in 1944, Wilsdorf established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private trust, in which he left all of his Rolex shares, making sure that some of the company’s income would go to charity. Wilsdorf died in 1960, and since then, the trust has owned and run the company. Special notes: n/a Provenance: n/a Ordering: [email protected] or telephone: 1694-781354 ROLEX REF 6422 OYSTER – £1950