Feature: The Vintage Rolexes We Bet You’ve Never Heard Of

Such is the longevity of Rolex models like the Submariner and Daytona that it’s easy to believe they’ve been around since the last woolly mammoth was barbecued by cavemen.

Yet if you were to look at a Rolex catalogue from the 1940s, you’d spot neither of the above models but a whole bunch of vintage watches that are now unrecognisable to all but the nerdiest Rolex scholars—the ones who recite reference numbers in their sleep and know what Hans Wilsdorf’s cat was called.

Over the course of its history, Rolex has pulled the plug on a number of models that either fell out of fashion, got replaced by superior technology or no longer seemed to fit in with the company’s famous ‘tool watch’ ethos.

Let’s look at a few of them, most of which still pop up at auction now and then and often sell for a fraction of the price of a brand-new Oyster Perpetual.

Rolex Viceroy

The Viceroy was an early Rolex model that was discontinued in the 1940s. Image courtesy of Bonhams

Maybe Rolex ditched its Viceroy model of the 1940s due to a slightly grandiose name that conjured up images of British colonialism. With its tonneau shape, this chronometer would have stood out in an era where round or rectangular cases were more common. Adding to the distinctive looks are the ‘California’ dial with thickly lumed numerals, pencil hands and screw-down bubble-back case. The name Viceroy was also used for a TAG Heuer (formerly plain old Heuer) Autavia model in the 1970s. It’s fair to assume Rolex won’t be reviving the Viceroy range any time soon.

Rolex Midas

The Rolex Midas is the brand's only asymmetrically cased watch. Image courtesy of Bonhams

The Midas was the piece de resistance of Rolex’s glamorous Cellini range and in the 1970s was the brand’s costliest watch, presented in either white or yellow 18k gold. Elvis Presley famously wore one and this is now on display at Graceland, his mansion-turned-museum. It’s the only asymmetrically cased watch that Rolex has ever made and it eventually changed to an orthodox rectangular shape, with the name Midas replaced on the dial by Cellini. Production is believed to have stopped around the turn of the millennium.

Rolex Oyster Sport Aqua

Long before the Submariner came the Sport Aqua. Image courtesy of Bonhams

Thanks to record-breaking swimmer Mercedes Gleitze wearing an Oyster Perpetual during her English Channel attempts in 1927, Rolex was unrivalled in the field of watersport watches. From the late 1920s to the 1940s it manufactured the compact Oyster Sport Aqua, reference 3136, a manual-wind waterproof watch that pre-dated the Submariner by a couple of decades. Around fifteen years ago you could still pick these up for silly money. This one sold at Bonhams for the ridiculous price of £235—and no, we didn’t miss out a zero there.

Rolex Prince ‘Tiger Stripe’

Two-tone with a difference! The Tiger Stripe Prince. Image courtesy of Bonhams

Even though Rolex has discontinued its distinctive Prince collection, they were still making them as recently as 2014, so a rectangular Rolex isn’t too much of a shock to the system to watch lovers. Still, we bet you haven’t seen the highly unusual Tiger Stripe version, an 18k yellow and white gold Art Déco delight with Cartier Tank-style Brancard case. Introduced in the late 1920s, it was one of Rolex’s earliest two-tone watches and would have been worn by someone with impeccable taste and a ton of money.

Rolex Tru-Beat

Ticks like a quartz but actually mechanical. Meet the Tru-Beat. Image courtesy of Bonhams

If you’ve ever seen a Tru-Beat in the wild, congratulations—you’ve spotted the watch equivalent of a snow leopard! The rare Tru-Beat is a Rolex anomaly due to its dead-beat second hand, which ticks like a quartz watch instead of sweeps, despite being a self-winding watch. Standard versions are scarce, but even more so are ones with a Tiffany dial like this one, or the ones bearing the words ‘By Official test’, rather than the standard ‘Officially Certified’ beneath the words ‘Superlative Chronometer’. Unlike most of the others in this line-up, a watch like this won’t be found in the auction bargain bin.

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