1955 Rolex Oyster 6480 Watch

Wilsdorf & Davies was founded in 1905 and by 1908 had become one of the leading watch companies in the UK. The famous trademark name 'Rolex' was first coined in 1908, but it wasn't registered until November 5th 1915. Four years later in 1919 the company officially relocated its head office to Geneva, Switzerland.

The 'Oyster' models are so named because Hans Wilsdorf was inspired whilst opening an oyster in a restaurant; opening the casing requires specialist, precision tools and is not dissimilar to opening an oyster.

This example is particularly extraordinary because it's an early 1955 model with the "Brevet" crown.  This means ”made in”, and the cross symbol is actually a patent cross not the cross of the Swiss flag. The Swiss government actually raised a concern with Rolex’s use of the cross symbol on the crown due to potential confusion that the Swiss government was in some way endorsing Rolex. Since then, Rolex stopped using the + marking.

This watch features the Rolex calibre 1210 manually wound movement, lever escapement, 17 jewels, compensation balance, 18,000 BPH, Kif shock absorber.

This watch comes complete with a Rolex 'Philipe Beguin' box.