Sonning Vintage Watches

Rolex made some of the most beautiful dress watches in the world during the 1940’s and 1950’s. They have become some of the most collectable and sought after watches in our range. Many were 30mm across the case, known as mid-size, and 33mm known as full size. Just a few are known as oversize which is 34 or 35mm across the case excluding the winding crown. Even fewer were made in steel and this case style, the teardrop lug, is just about the most desirable of them all.

This example was made in 1947 and is an amazing looking watch. The solid steel case is in excellent condition – please note the Rolex crown and serial number on the caseback. This is extremely rare as they’re usually polished off over the years. Please also note the genuine ‘Thimble’ winding crown; in those days Rolex didn’t sign their crowns but used the thimble style, super rare. The original and untouched silver Rolex signed dial is in overall excellent condition for its age – we often have to refinish dials from this period but when we can we keep them original. We use macro photography which shows all the marks but in real life they are a lot less visible – I have taken a wrist video and please advise your WhatsApp number if you’d like a copy. The design of the dial is stunning with the indented gold circular hour batons with numbers in between along with the gold hands and sub-second dial to create a classic art-deco look. All Rolex designs are great but now and again they excel themselves and this design along with the teardrop lug case is just such a watch. The Rolex signed manual wind ‘Precision’ movement is again in excellent condition and has just been fully serviced by our professional watchmaker – we will give a 12 month guarantee on the movement. To complete this watch we’ve put a new, super high quality, black Hirsch ‘London’ alligator strap with Hirsch buckle.

Please bear in mind this watch is nearly 80 years old and whilst robust isn’t an everyday watch and the time-keeping will be a minute or so plus or minus.

This is an extremely rare and stunning watch from one of the World’s greatest watchmakers.

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The solid steel case is in excellent condition – please note the Rolex crown and serial number on the caseback. This is extremely rare as they’re usually polished off over the years. The case measures 34.5mm across, excluding the thimble crown and 43mm long including the tear drop lugs. The outside case shows the Rolex crown and the serial number (480480). The inside case has the original Rolex crown and the words ‘Rolex Geneve Suisse’ and the case number is ‘4560’.

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The Rolex signed manual wind ‘Precision’ movement is again in excellent condition and has just been fully serviced by our professional watchmaker – we will give a 12 month guarantee on the movement. The movement is signed ‘Rolex Precision’, ’17 Rubis’, ‘Swiss Made’ and ‘Patented Superbalance’.

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As with the majority of pre-owned watches that are 10 years or older, this particular watch does not come with its original box or paperwork. The watch is 100% genuine and rest assured we provide a lifetime guarantee on the authenticity and provenance of all the watches we sell.

Although there is no original paperwork, we do provide a written invoice and 3 page insurance valuation with the pictures of the watch and all available reference numbers. We also give a 12 month warranty on all our watches. We also stock a good selection of vintage watch boxes to help complete your purchase.

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Sonning Vintage Watches are one of the largest prestige brand vintage watch retailers on the Internet carrying stock of around £700,000; we’ve sold over 3,000 vintage watches across the world since our formation in 2009. We’re based in Berkshire and Nottingham and spend 1- 2 days a week in London. Whilst we’re an Internet business we do ‘show’ 90% of our watches prior to sale and travel across England to meet prospective buyers.

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We provide a lifetime guarantee on the authenticity and provenance of all our watches and come with a full printed Receipt of Sale and Insurance Valuation. Purchasing from SVW gives you the protection and reassurance of buying from an incorporated company with outstanding customer testimonials.

We provide a high quality box and use the Royal Mail Special Delivery for the UK and DHL for overseas sales. They are insured for the full purchase value.

See what our customers say – 100% positive feedback on all our sales sites and over 40% of our customers buy again or refer us!

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We use the Royal Mail’s Guaranteed next day service for UK sales and DHL for all overseas shipping. All our watches are fully serviced, but prior to couriering each one will undergo a 3 day pre-delivery check to ensure the watch is in perfect condition.

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This is a beautiful example of a watch from one of horology’s most famous names and will, if history is any judge, provide an excellent financial investment as well as a possession to treasure and enjoy. I will provide an insurance valuation in excess of my asking price. Please appreciate the difficulty of photographing this piece, it looks even better in real life. Subject to your location I’ll happily show the watch.

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