Rolex Prince 1930s - dials

[Peter Altman]

Hullo - Is it possible to say from the photo whether this is a re-painted dial?
Many thanks.

[mechachia]

I wouldn't think it's possible to say definitively, but at that time, it's not unlikely that that dial was painted with vitreous enamel, which is finely ground glass in a binder that's then fired in a kiln. So it's basically a ceramic coating instead of the paints that were used later. As such, it's extremely durable and doesn't fade or discolor the way the later paints do. So it's not particularly surprising to find watches from the 30's and earlier with dials that look like they just came out of the factory yesterday.

[watch-guy.com]

My starting point is all dials on Prince are redone- I know that is not true but hear me out. The dial needs to show age- even the enamel kiln fired ones.- a 70 year old dial needs to look as though it has been around that long- if too clean then it hads probably been touched up. I do agree though that the enamel letters are often very clean in these old dials
That dial looks redone though

Also no swiss or swiss made at the bottom is another red flag- although it is sometimes hidden

Finding an all original untouched Prince is becoming very difficult

My opinion only

Jullian

[1watch]

Originally Posted by watch-guy.com

My starting point is all dials on Prince are redone- I know that is not true but hear me out. The dial needs to show age- even the enamel kiln fired ones.- a 70 year old dial needs to look as though it has been around that long- if too clean then it hads probably been touched up. I do agree though that the enamel letters are often very clean in these old dials
That dial looks redone though

Also no swiss or swiss made at the bottom is another red flag- although it is sometimes hidden

Finding an all original untouched Prince is becoming very difficult

My opinion only

Jullian

Would need better resolution pics to really accurately tell. As mentioned by two posters above, the enamel print can be well preserved if the dial was not cleaned or resilvered. If untouched, it should sit above the dial when viewed at an angle. I would also expect to see some signs of age or tarnish in general on the dial. The presence or absence of swiss or swiss made was not consistent among brands in this era and many original ones either have it or don't.

[watch-guy.com]

I still think I would avoid a Prince dial without Swiss at bottom if you were keen on an original piece


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CTech]

There was one watch store in London in the mid to late 1980s which was the source of a lot of hype about Prince models, especially the so called "Doctor's dial" versions. I can't remember the name but I think the shop was between Harrods and the Knightsbridge tube station.

Their business model involved swapping original parts such as movements and dials from cheaper Prince watches into the more valuable or unusual cases; in essence assembling watches out of parts from other watches. This gave them a problem in selling the cheaper watches and they were very creative in modifying similar Aegler/Gruen movements and sourcing replica dials for the more run of the mill models.

The replacement dials they used looked very similar to this one with some details looking authentic and others not quite right.

I can't say for certain that this is one of theirs, but in my opinion there is a strong possibility that this is not just a repainted dial but is a copy, fake, replica, etc.

[R.W.T.]

Originally Posted by watch-guy.com

My starting point is all dials on Prince are redone- I know that is not true but hear me out. The dial needs to show age- even the enamel kiln fired ones.- a 70 year old dial needs to look as though it has been around that long- if too clean then it hads probably been touched up. I do agree though that the enamel letters are often very clean in these old dials
That dial looks redone though

Also no swiss or swiss made at the bottom is another red flag- although it is sometimes hidden

Finding an all original untouched Prince is becoming very difficult

My opinion only

Jullian

Yep I go with Julian.

And if it doesn't say SWISS MADE or FAB. EN SUISSE...it's redone.