Officers trench watch from First World War. "Rolex Jewels" markings.

[bdarcy]

I have an officers trench watch from 1916-18, most likely bought in Canada before going overseas. It has a case labelled on the inside "Fortune" "Gold Filled" One one of the wheels inside it has "Rolex Jewels" engraved on it. but there is no brand name that I can see on the movement or face. It is working and in fine condition. Did Rolex manufacture movements for resale? Is this a Rolex Movement?

[Keeperoftime]

Interesting piece. It looks like a Rolex Aegler/Rebberg movement. I'm sure someone will chime in with more info.

P.S Read this for a great history of Rolex. This talks about not all watches were branded etc.: http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/myrolexpage.htm

(Below copied from above site:)

The First World War
With the outbreak of World War 1, soldiers wanted reliable and accurate wristwatches and, as they were not issued with them as standard equipment, they bought their own. This presented an opportunity for Wilsdorf to sell more wrist watches, but the war also led directly to some serious problems. In 1915 the British Government imposed an ad valorem duty of 33.⅓% on imported luxuries including clocks and watches to conserve foreign currency reserves as part of the war effort. This meant that any watches imported into London, even if only for checking with subsequent export abroad, would be subject to this high rate of tax. To avoid paying this tax on watches not destined for the British market, Wilsdorf moved his Swiss office from La Chaux de Fonds into the Aegler factory and expanded its function to include checking all the watches he purchased from Aegler, whether they were bound for London or elsewhere, so that watches bound for countries other than Britain did not need to pass through London. For the time being the head office of Rolex remained in London.

In 1919 Wilsdorf decided to relocate the headquarters of Rolex from London to Geneva. 1919 also witnessed another major development in the history of Rolex when Wilsdorf and Davis gave nearly 15% of equity in their company to Herman Aegler. With this exchange, Aegler became the sole supplier of movements to Rolex and in exchange the company's name was changed to Aegler S.A. Rolex Watch Co.

By the way in regards to the gold filled watch case, (taken from a NAWCC site http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?9...e-Watch-Case):

The Fortune name was a grade of gold filled case made by the American Watch Case Co., located in Toronto, Canada. They were in business starting in 1893 and continued well into the 20th century. Fortune cases were usually 20 year cases, meaning that the manufacturer guaranteed that the gold would not wear through to the central brass layer underneath for 20 years of use by the purchaser.
To save on import duties, many watch movements from both the U.S. and Europe were sold in Canada in Canadian made cases.
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So maybe this is all original. If so, pretty AWESOME!!

P.S Welcome to TRF!

[s4dan]

Great watch bdarcy and welcome ....and great info there Jeremy

[bdarcy]

It is an original. I is engraved with the name of my grandfather who was an officer in the Candadian expeditionary forces in WW1. he must have worn it in the field between 1917 and 1918, which was when he was oversees. I have a portrate of him at the front wearing it. I aslo have a sterling model as well with the same movement.

[bdarcy]

It belonged to my grandfather. He was in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW1. It is engraved with his name and rank.

[Paul]

I think that's a 15 jewel Rebberg Aegler movement in your handsome watch - a quality movement used by Rolex and other quality watch manufacturers back in the day.

Your movement has Rolex branded components - here's a pic of another one branded up as a Mercer.
Common practice back then for watchmakers to personalise the movements when they were being out-sourced to another provider.

A common example of another Aegler movement popping up in different watches is the early Rolex Prince and Gruen Prince watch (essentially the same watch with different branding).

[bdarcy]

For insurance purposes?

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by bdarcy

For insurance purposes?

Great looking watch.

No idea, but you going to need to get a jeweler to give you an official written document anyway.

Just because it's old and it has Rolex parts doesn't mean it's valuable. Although it certainly has a lot of meaning to you and your family.

Maybe somebody else can provide an idea if this watch would even be worth going thru the trouble of doing that.

[Keeperoftime]

I would think this piece is not very valuable, with that being said I would love to own it. I am sure other collectors would agree.

Thanks for sharing.