Reference:3359

1944 SS+pink gold Viceroy, original black dial

{{#seo: |title=Rolex Oyster Viceroy 3359 — BezelBase |description=The 3359 is the Oyster Viceroy, a manual-wind Oyster from roughly 1934 to 1946. The watch is small, angular, and very period in shape, usually in two-tone steel and gold but also seen in full yellow or rose gold. The dial range is unusually wide for the era, which is one reason the reference stays interesting.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	3359
family	Oyster (manual-wind)
production	about 1934–1946 (medium confidence)
case shape	angular tonneau (geometric, not round)
case diameter	29–29.5 mm (two-tone); about 32 mm (solid gold)
lug-to-lug	about 38–39 mm
thickness	about 10 mm
case materials	SS/18K YG (most common two-tone); SS/18K PG; SS/14K PG; SS/10K RG; full 18K YG; full 18K RG
bezel	engine-turned gold, raised above the case
crown	screw-down (gold on two-tone configurations)
crystal	acrylic
movement	manual-wind, Cal. 10½ lignes, rhodium-plated
balance	Rolex Patented Super Balance, monometallic, Breguet spring
escapement	straight-line lever
regulator	micrometer
jewels	15, 17, or 18 depending on grade (see contradictions)

Where it sits in the line

The 3359 is one of the angular, pre-Perpetual manual Oysters that occupied the lower-to-middle rungs of Rolex's mid-1930s catalog. By the time 3359 production began the Perpetual rotor was already established alongside it (the 1858, 3131, and 3372 Bubblebacks were in production), but manual-wind Oysters still had a clear commercial role. They were thinner, less mechanically ambitious, and they could be built into case shapes the rotor could not accommodate. The tonneau form of the 3359 is the clearest example: a Bubbleback caseback in a 29 mm tonneau case would not have worked, while a manual 10½-ligne caliber made it trivial.

The Viceroy name has its own short prehistory. Before 1934 The Vintage Rolex Field Manual's alternate-brand table records Viceroy as a standalone Wilsdorf trench-watch label with RWC casebacks and Viceroy dials, produced roughly 1925–1935 separately from the Oyster line. When 3359 production began, Viceroy was absorbed into the Oyster catalog as a model designation. The earlier trench Viceroys and the Oyster Viceroy 3359 share a name and a Wilsdorf commercial genealogy, but they are not the same watch.

The closest siblings in the 3359's own family are the other 1930s–1940s manual Oysters: 2280 Royal, 3139 Army, 4220 Speedking, and the wider cohort of small-batch references catalogued in the Field Manual. The 3359 sits toward the dressier end of that group. Its engine-turned gold bezel and two-tone configuration are decorative features, not tool-watch features. It is a waterproof Oyster, with a screw-down crown and the three-piece Oyster case architecture, but it was sold as a dress watch to customers who wanted the Oyster patent's waterproofing in a thin, geometric, gold-accented package.

The tonneau case

Viceroy caseback

The defining visual feature of the 3359 is the angular tonneau case with a raised engine-turned gold bezel. Tonneau in the Rolex vocabulary of this period means a barrel-shaped case with straight-flanked sides, not round. The 3359 reads as a geometric rectangle with radiused corners and integrated angular lugs, flat across the top, with the bezel sitting proud of the mid-case. Its gold surface is engine-turned — a finely machined decorative pattern, barleycorn or a close variant, cut radially into the bezel face. On two-tone examples the contrast between polished gold and brushed steel is deliberate and is the single most recognizable element of the reference.

Two-tone is the dominant configuration. A stainless steel mid-case and caseback are paired with an 18K yellow gold engine-turned bezel and matching gold crown. The yellow gold combination is the most frequently surfaced, but rose gold appears in three karat grades on two-tone cases: 18K, 14K, and 10K. The 14K and 10K pairings are a Rolex concession to the North American market, where lower karat grades were the norm for jewelry retail. The 10K rose gold bezel on a steel case is a specifically North American configuration and tends to surface in US-based dealer and auction records rather than European ones.

Solid gold examples exist in both 18K yellow gold and 18K rose gold. These cases run larger — about 32 mm versus the 29–29.5 mm of the two-tone examples — and the proportions read differently on the wrist. The solid gold 3359 is a distinct watch visually, not simply a two-tone in gold clothing. The engine-turned bezel remains, but against a gold case flank the contrast collapses and the bezel reads as a textured detail rather than a two-tone statement.

The crown is screw-down, consistent with the Oyster patent. On two-tone cases the crown is gold to match the bezel. The case is three-piece: bezel, mid-case, caseback, threaded together. Lugs are straight and angular, integral with the tonneau form, and sized for period leather straps rather than bracelets.

Dimensions

The two-tone 3359 measures 29–29.5 mm across the case, lug-to-lug roughly 38–39 mm, thickness around 10 mm. Small by modern standards. In 1934 it was sized as a men's dress watch, comparable to the contemporary Patek Calatrava and Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, and the geometric tonneau form makes it wear slightly larger than its diameter because the lugs push the visual width out toward 39 mm. Solid gold examples at about 32 mm wear noticeably larger and carry more wrist presence.

The Cal. 10½ lignes movement

Under the caseback is a manual-wind Rolex caliber of 10½ lignes, the same broad movement family Rolex used across its 1930s–1940s manual Oysters. The specification is consistent across surviving 3359s on the main architectural points: rhodium-plated finish, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance fitted with a Breguet (self-compensating) overcoil spring, Rolex Patented Super Balance designation on the plate, and a micrometer regulator for fine rate adjustment. Period advertising and movement stampings carry the Super Balance wording, and the micrometer regulator is visible on every documented example.

Sources disagree on jewel count, and the cleanest explanation is that 3359s were delivered in more than one grade. In practice a 3359 can carry 15, 17, or 18 jewels, so the movement should be judged against the specific watch rather than against one fixed spec sheet.

Adjustment positions are a second contested point. A claim of 7 positions (chronometer-grade territory) appears in some secondary listings but is not confirmed by any primary source. Heritage Auctions explicitly documents 2 positions on the examples it has catalogued, and the 7-position figure reads as a carry-over from a different reference's spec sheet or a dealer error that has propagated. The confirmed adjustment specification for surfaced 3359 examples is 2 positions. Higher-grade variants within the Cal. 10½ family did reach 6-position adjustment elsewhere in the Oyster line, so a higher-grade 3359 movement at more than 2 positions is not impossible, but none is documented.

There is no shock protection in any modern sense on these movements. The Super Balance is a stability design, not an Incabloc or KIF system. The 10½ lignes architecture predates Rolex's adoption of shock-protected balances by more than a decade.

Dial variants

Viceroy black dial close-up, applied luminous numerals

The 3359 dial range is wide enough to make the reference feel like several watches sharing a case. Confirmed configurations include:

Sector dials carry a black or copper ground divided by radial sector lines, with rose gold Art Deco Arabic numerals. The layout is distinctly period, and on the 3359 it surfaces most frequently on examples co-signed by Serpico y Laino, the Caracas retailer that held exclusive Rolex distribution for Venezuela from 1925 through 1966. A sector-dial 3359 with "SERPICO Y LAINO" text above six o'clock is one of the most desirable configurations of the reference.

The California dial is the Rolex-patented "Error-Proof" layout (Rolex's own term; collectors call it California), with Roman numerals on the upper half and Arabic on the lower, luminous plots at the cardinal points. The California patent dates to 1941, which places these dials in the later half of the 3359 run. A California-dial 3359 from a 1934 serial range is either a service-era dial installation or a very early production of the California layout.

The dial range breaks into six practical groups.

• Silver or champagne with applied gold batons: the dressiest standard form.
• Black military-style dial with luminous Arabic numerals: more tool-like, and more often seen on two-tone cases.
• Salmon or pink dial: rarer, and prized when the colour is even.
• Glossy gilt dial: scarce, often aged brown.
• Two-tone rose-and-silver dial: a decorative period variant.
• Romabic dial: the rarest surfaced layout.

Dial text also varies. The standard configuration reads "ROLEX / OYSTER VICEROY" across two lines. The 1934 yellow gold examples frequently read "ROLEX / OYSTER PRECISION" rather than Viceroy, evidence that the Viceroy model name was applied progressively rather than from the first batch. Late-run examples (about 1944–1946) carry "VICEROY IMPERIAL" text, elevating the model designation with an additional descriptor that Rolex used elsewhere in its period catalog for upgraded variants. Serpico y Laino co-branding appears on a documented subset of dials, with the retailer name printed above six o'clock in small text.

Hand configurations track the dial. Yellow gold cases typically carry blued or gilt leaf hands. Alpha hands (a gold, pointed-oval leaf variant) appear on higher-grade examples. Mercedes hands are documented on surviving 3359s, but the Mercedes handset is more strongly associated with the Oyster Army and Submariner lineages, and Mercedes-handed 3359s are often suspected of being service replacements rather than period-original. Luminous spade hands appear on military-style luminous-dial examples and are period-correct for that configuration.

Auction and dealer record

The 3359 has a modest but real auction record. Heritage sold a two-tone example in 2015, and that lot is still one of the most-cited references for the movement description. Craft + Tailored documented a 1943 watch with unusual 1983 Rolex Service Center paperwork, which matters because provenance at this level is rare on a 1940s Rolex. Surfaced prices run from about USD 2,100 to USD 15,000, driven mostly by dial originality, condition, and paperwork.

The reference does not trade in the five-figure-plus territory routinely reached by Bubblebacks of the same period. Collectors approaching the 3359 tend to be specialists in early Oysters or in Art Deco dress watches rather than generalist vintage Rolex buyers, and the market reflects that.

Collecting considerations

On a two-tone 3359 the gold bezel should be engine-turned and raised above the case top plane. A flat, smooth polished, or worn-smooth bezel are all signals worth examining: engine-turning on gold wears slowly but visibly over ninety years, and heavily polished examples may have lost the pattern entirely.

Given the width of the dial range, dial originality is the single most important variable in 3359 collecting. Refinished dials are the norm in the surfaced market, and distinguishing a period original from a competent refinish on a 1930s Oyster is specialist work. Serpico y Laino co-signing, the Viceroy Imperial text, and the rare Romabic layout have all been reproduced by refinishers. Matching patina between dial and hands, legible printing under magnification, and consistency between dial and case aging are the primary cross-checks.

Movement grade follows the same principle. With three documented jewel counts (15, 17, 18) and contested adjustment positions, the movement inside a specific 3359 should be matched against the example itself rather than a canonical spec. A 15-jewel movement does not make the watch wrong, and a 17-jewel movement does not make it right. Internal consistency matters: movement finish, stampings, and serial range in line with what the case and dial suggest.

Case size is a useful cross-check. A 3359 at about 29 mm is two-tone; a 3359 at about 32 mm is likely solid gold. Listings describing a two-tone 3359 at 32 mm are worth questioning, either for measurement convention or for a possible case-reference mismatch.

A 3359 co-signed by Serpico y Laino carries a premium and, in condition, reads as one of the most desirable configurations of the reference. The co-signing should be consistent with Serpico y Laino's typographic conventions on documented Rolex dials of the period, not added as a dial-refinisher flourish.

Sources

• The Vintage Rolex Field Manual — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
• Heritage Auctions — 3359 lot56006
• Craft and Tailored — 3359 1943
• Bob's Watches — watches 3359
• Hashtag Watch Co — src hashtag watch 3359
• 1stDibs — 3359