Rolex Trench Watch - Enamel Dial - An Early Rolex of the Great War - circa 1914-1919

By the middle of the First World War, the ingenious world that had raised towers and illuminated the cities now gave itself to the war. The factories that had been building cities were now turning out artillery and machine guns by the trainload. A generation of young men sat in trenches across France and Belgium. Four empires were dying in that mud. The map of the world was being ripped up and redrawn, and the old order that had held Europe together for a hundred years was going down with the men who had believed in it.

It was the first war run by time. Pocket watches and wristwatches timed an attack to the minute. The infantry went forward behind a creeping barrage, a line of shellfire that walked across no man's land on a fixed schedule, and each man kept pace with it. If he fell behind, the barrage moved on and left him to an enemy who had time to reach his guns. The margin was a matter of seconds, and an officer held it by the watch on his wrist or the pocket watch in his pocket.

Rolex was young then, a small Swiss maker betting its future on the wristwatch just as the trenches were proving it right. It would go on to become the most storied name in watchmaking. Its wristwatches from this period were among the first it made, and they are highly collectible. It is signed in three places, on the dial, on the movement, and inside the dust cover, where it reads Rolex Swiss.

The dial is white enamel. The hours are bold Arabic numerals outlined in gilt and filled with luminous compound, and the cathedral hands carry the same. It is a face built for function, made to be read at a glance in poor light or in the dark. I believe the dial may have been relumed at some point in the last 100 years as the condition of the lume is exceptional.  The enamel carries stable fine hairlines these fired dials almost always develop, with a little loss on the edges of the dial.

Under the dust coer the movement carries beautiful age with warm gold brassing typical of movements from this time. 

The case is plated brass, the plain sturdy kind these watches came in, with wire lugs and a knurled onion crown. The plating, nickel or silver, has worn through on the raised edges to the aged brass beneath in several spots. The bezel and back carry tarnish and scratches signs of a long life. With many watchmaker marks inside the dust cover. None of it has been polished back to a shine. A domed crystal sits over the dial.

It rides today on a custom hand made bund strap, a perfectly sized piece of dark leather with two steel studs and amber stitching that lifts the case off the wrist. A century on from the war that made it, the watch still runs. Its service history is unknown.

Terms: Please review all photos carefully as they are a part of the listing. This is a vintage timepiece. Accuracy, power reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Vintage watches may require periodic service. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position.

All sales final.