Reference:3134: Difference between revisions

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex 3134 Bubbleback}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex 3134 Bubbleback}}
The 3134 is a sweep-seconds Bubbleback of the war and early post-war years, built on the 32 mm tonneau Oyster case around a 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic of 17 jewels. It is one of the quieter numbers in the family. Where the 3130, 3133 and 3372 turn up at auction regularly enough to support a market read, the 3134 surfaces rarely, and the handful of documented examples are almost all stainless steel. What the reference does have is a well-attested California dial branch, on two separate examples catalogued c.1941 and c.1945. That is scarce enough at this reference number to be the main reason a collector goes looking for one.
{{#seo:
|title=Rolex 3134 Bubbleback Reference Guide | BezelBase
|description=Rolex reference 3134 Oyster Perpetual Bubbleback: documented cases, subsidiary and centre-seconds movements, dial variants, case construction and auction records.
|image=Ref 3134 hero.webp
|type=article
}}
 
<small>[[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback]] → '''3134'''</small>
 
The 3134 is a 32 mm tonneau Oyster Perpetual from the 1940s and 1950s, fitted with a 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic. Catalogued watches have either subsidiary or centre seconds. Most documented cases are stainless steel; one combines steel with yellow gold. Two documented examples have California dials, though neither source establishes that its dial is original to the watch.


[[File:Ref 3134 hero.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Bubbleback 3134 with pink California dial|Steel 3134 with pink California dial, circa 1941]]
[[File:Ref 3134 hero.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Bubbleback 3134 with pink California dial|Steel 3134 with pink California dial, circa 1941]]
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|-
|-
| documented examples
| documented examples
| c.1941 to 1957 by catalogue dating (see production outline)
| 1940s to 1957 by auction-catalogue dating; one dealer dates an example to c.1941
|-
|-
| case diameter
| case diameter
Line 30: Line 39:
|-
|-
| case construction
| case construction
| contested — three parts per one catalogue, two-piece per the family standard
| three-body / three-part in two catalogues
|-
|-
| bezel
| bezel
Line 42: Line 51:
|-
|-
| movement
| movement
| 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic, 17 jewels, rhodium plated
| 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic; documented descriptions vary by example
|-
|-
| escapement
| escapement
| straight-line lever
| lever; described as straight-line in the 2013 catalogue
|-
|-
| balance
| balance
| monometallic, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring
| monometallic with a self-compensating Breguet balance spring in 1992; Superbalance in 2013
|-
|-
| seconds
| seconds
| centre sweep
| subsidiary and centre sweep both documented
|-
|-
| case materials
| case materials
Line 59: Line 68:
==Where it sits in the line==
==Where it sits in the line==


The 3134 belongs to the run of two-digit-suffixed references — 3130, 3131, 3132, 3133, 3134, 3135 — that Rolex issued on the mature Oyster Perpetual platform from the late 1930s. Within that block the split is functional rather than hierarchical. The 3130 and 3131 carry subsidiary seconds at six; the 3132, 3133 and, on the evidence of its one explicit catalogue description, the 3134 carry centre sweep seconds. A buyer chose a register layout and a case metal, not a grade.
The 3134 belongs to the two-digit-suffixed Oyster Perpetual references 3130 through 3135. The group includes different seconds layouts and case metals. Antiquorum's 1992 and 2013 examples have subsidiary seconds. Exclusive Timepieces lot 227 and the Luxe Auctioneers example have centre seconds; the cited dealer listing does not establish the seconds layout of its c.1941 California-dial watch.
 
Where the 3134 separates from its immediate neighbours is in the market rather than the metal. The 3131 was a precious-metal-only reference. The 3130 was likewise gold-only, and the 3133 spans steel, two-tone and solid gold with a deep enough auction record to map. The 3134's documented population runs the other way: three of four surfaced examples are plain stainless steel, with a single steel-and-yellow-gold example from a 1992 sale. No solid-gold 3134 has surfaced in the indexed auction record at all.


That thinness is measurable. A price index that carries seventeen results for the 3130 and twenty-three for the 3133 carries two for the 3134. Both of those indexed lots, Antiquorum Geneva in 1992 and again in 2013, failed to sell. A reference this lightly traded does not support the kind of variant mapping the 3133 does, and much of what a collector would want to know about the 3134 is not answerable from public records at all.
The documented 3134 cases are predominantly steel. The four auction lots comprise three steel watches and one steel-and-yellow-gold watch; a separate dealer-listed example is also steel. No solid-gold 3134 appears in the cited records.


==Production outline==
==Production outline==


Catalogue datings for documented 3134 examples spread across sixteen years: c.1941, c.1945, "1940s", "1950s" and 1957. No source states a production start or end for the reference, and the band above is the span of surfaced watches rather than a documented window.
Auction catalogues date documented 3134 examples to the 1940s, c.1945, the 1950s and 1957. A dealer dates another example to c.1941. No source states a production start or end for the reference.


The 1957 dating deserves scepticism. It sits well past the point where Rolex's slimmer automatic calibers had made the domed caseback unnecessary, and the Bubbleback family is generally taken to close in the early 1950s. Unpapered Rolex of this era is routinely given approximate dates at auction, and a single late catalogue entry is not enough to extend a family's production run. The honest reading is that the 3134 is a 1940s reference whose latest catalogued example carries a date that does not fit.
These dates are catalogue estimates, not a production window. Exclusive Timepieces dates case 168751 to 1957, while Anthony Traina's 2024 Hodinkee Bubbleback guide places the end of production in the mid-1950s. The sources do not resolve that difference.


==Movement notes==
==Movement notes==


Every documented 3134 carries a 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic. Antiquorum's 1992 catalogue is the most specific: seventeen jewels, lever escapement, monometallic balance, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring, and the detail that settles the reference's family placement: "self winding." A separate lot describes the movement simply as automatic, caliber 9¾. The 2013 Antiquorum entry adds rhodium plating and a straight-line lever escapement but omits the winding type entirely.
Antiquorum Geneva's 1992 lot 181 describes a self-winding 9¾-ligne movement with 17 jewels, lever escapement, monometallic balance and a self-compensating Breguet balance spring. Exclusive Timepieces lot 227 also gives a 9¾-ligne automatic. Antiquorum's 2013 lot 143 records rhodium plating, a straight-line lever escapement and a Superbalance, but does not state the winding type or jewel count.


No documented lot names a caliber number. The 9¾-ligne size and the period place the movement in the cal. 620 and 630 family, and the one catalogue explicit about the seconds layout describes centre sweep seconds, which within that pair points to the 630 rather than the sub-seconds 620. That is an inference from a single description, not a documented fitment, and a later 635 or 645 is not excluded. Anyone matching a movement to a specific 3134 should go by what is under the rotor, not by the number on the case.
No documented lot names a caliber number. The subsidiary-seconds watches are consistent with Cal. 620 or the shock-protected Cal. 635; centre-seconds watches are consistent with Cal. 630 or 645. None of those fitments is confirmed by a movement photograph or catalogue description, so the caliber remains unresolved.


==Dial map==
==Dial map==
Line 83: Line 90:
[[File:Ref 3134 dial-california-chronometer.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=3134 California dial marked Chronometer with centre seconds|The second California example, marked Chronometer and running centre sweep seconds, circa 1945]]
[[File:Ref 3134 dial-california-chronometer.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=3134 California dial marked Chronometer with centre seconds|The second California example, marked Chronometer and running centre sweep seconds, circa 1945]]


Four dial configurations are documented across the surfaced examples.
The five documented examples fall into four dial configurations.


The matte silver dial with applied luminous Arabic numerals appears on the 2013 Antiquorum example, case 104396. The pink dial on case 168751 has aged to a patina and carries luminous Arabic and squared numerals with an outer minutes track. It is the most visually distinctive of the surfaced dials and the one attached to the reference's only confirmed sale result. A black dial sits on the 1992 steel-and-yellow-gold example.
The matte silver dial with applied luminous Arabic numerals and subsidiary seconds appears on Antiquorum's 2013 example, case 104396. Case 168751 has a pink dial with luminous Arabic and squared numerals, an outer minutes track and centre seconds. A black subsidiary-seconds dial appears on the 1992 steel-and-yellow-gold example.


The fourth is the California dial, the half-Roman, half-Arabic layout Rolex patented as "Error Proof." Two separate 3134 examples carry it, one catalogued c.1945 and one c.1941, which lifts it out of one-off territory into a real configuration. The c.1941 dating is the awkward one. The layout is generally dated to a 1942 introduction, so a 1941 California dial either pushes that date earlier or reflects loose dealer dating. Loose dating is the likelier explanation given the source, but the question is open.
Two documented 3134s have half-Roman, half-Arabic California dials. Luxe Auctioneers dates one to c.1945, and a dealer dates the other to c.1941. Neither source establishes that the dial is original. Traina notes that refinished California dials are common on Bubblebacks. Rolex filed Swiss patent CH221643 for the layout in May 1941; it was issued in June 1942.


==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
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[[File:Ref 3134 caseback.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=3134 screw-down caseback|Screw-down caseback with milled edge]]
[[File:Ref 3134 caseback.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=3134 screw-down caseback|Screw-down caseback with milled edge]]


The case is a 32 mm tonneau of roughly 14 mm thickness, with an inclined smooth bezel, an acrylic crystal and a screw-down crown. The 32 mm figure is unusually consistent for a Bubbleback. Records for the 3130 and 3131 scatter across 31, 32 and 33 mm depending on where the tonneau is measured, yet all four documented 3134 examples agree on 32.
Documented cases measure 32 mm across. Antiquorum's 2013 lot 143 is 14 mm thick; no second source gives thickness. The tonneau case has an inclined smooth bezel, acrylic crystal and screw-down crown.


Two case questions are unresolved, and both matter.
Antiquorum's 2013 lot 143 calls the case "three body," and Exclusive Timepieces describes case 168751 as "composed of three parts." Both catalogue descriptions identify a three-part case.


The first is construction. The catalogue for case 168751 describes a case "composed of three parts with curved lugs, inclined bezel, screwed down case back." That conflicts with the surrounding cohort: Rolex moved to a two-piece Oyster case in 1936 with the 3131 and 3132, and every later reference in the block is understood to sit on that platform. Either the catalogue counts bezel, mid-case and caseback by a convention of its own, or the 3134 retained an older construction. Both readings stand; neither is settled.
Antiquorum's 1992 catalogue describes its steel-and-yellow-gold example as having "hooded fluted lugs," while case 168751 has curved lugs. No photograph of the 1992 watch has been located, so the hooded-lug description remains catalogue evidence rather than a visually confirmed sub-variant.


The second is the lugs. The 1992 steel-and-yellow-gold example is described as having "hooded fluted lugs," while case 168751 has plain curved lugs. Those are different case architectures, not two phrasings of one. Hooded lugs are the most sought-after Bubbleback case design, the trait that makes the 3065, 3595 and 3599 desirable, so a genuine hooded-lug 3134 sub-variant would be the most collectible branch of the reference. One example is a lead rather than a rule, and no second hooded 3134 has surfaced to confirm it.
The side-profile photograph shows a domed caseback, although no auction description uses that term. Antiquorum's 1992 lot and Exclusive Timepieces lot 227 describe automatic movements. Exclusive Timepieces and Luxe Auctioneers catalogue the reference as a Bubbleback.
 
One point of honesty about the family label: no documented lot describes the 3134's caseback as domed. The catalogues say "screwed down case back" and "screwed back and crown, waterproof," and neither Antiquorum entry uses the word Perpetual. The reference sits in the Bubbleback family because its movement is a confirmed self-winding 9¾-ligne of the rotor era and because two auction houses catalogue it under that name in their own lot titles — not because any surfaced description records the caseback profile.


==Bracelets, end links, and clasps==
==Bracelets, end links, and clasps==


Only one documented example carries a bracelet: case 168751, on a riveted steel Oyster. That is period-correct for a 1940s steel Bubbleback and nothing more. A bracelet dates itself, not the watch head, and no documentation ties this one to original delivery. The Luxe example came on an associated leather strap with a Rolex steel tang buckle, which is to say on nothing original at all.
Only one documented example carries a bracelet: case 168751, fitted with a riveted steel Oyster. The bracelet is period-correct for a 1940s steel Bubbleback, but no documentation ties it to original delivery. The Luxe example has an associated leather strap and a Rolex steel tang buckle; the catalogue does not claim either as original delivery.


==The suffix question==
==Case-metal suffixes==


Rolex used slash suffixes on Bubbleback references through this period to encode case metal, and the system is real: Colin A. White's ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' documents 172 distinct Bubblebacks, including slash variants of otherwise identical reference numbers, with 1578/7 and 1578/8 as worked examples.
Rolex used slash suffixes on Bubbleback references to distinguish case metals. Colin A. White's ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' documents the system and gives 1578/7 and 1578/8 as examples.


A specific five-rung ladder for the 3134 — steel, rolled-gold cap, gold bezel, pink gold, yellow gold — circulates in secondary compilations. It is not reproduced here, because no documented source ties that ladder to this reference, and the compilations carrying it attribute it to an author who does not exist. The general system is documented. The per-reference ladder, for the 3134 specifically, is not. What the auction record actually shows is two case materials: steel, and steel with yellow gold.
No cited source confirms a complete suffix-to-metal map for reference 3134. The documented cases are steel and steel with yellow gold; the cited records contain no solid-gold example.


==Auction record==
==Auction record==
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| Steel and yellow gold
| Steel and yellow gold
| Black
| Black
| EUR 15,000–18,000
| EUR 15,000–18,000 (secondary conversion)
| Unsold
| Unsold
|-
|-
Line 142: Line 147:
| Steel
| Steel
| Matte silver, applied luminous Arabics
| Matte silver, applied luminous Arabics
| EUR 4,000–6,000
| CHF 4,000–6,000
| Unsold
| Unsold
|-
|-
Line 156: Line 161:
| Luxe Auctioneers
| Luxe Auctioneers
| 2026-01-15
| 2026-01-15
| —
| 118
| —
| —
| Steel
| Steel
| California
| California
| —
| —
| USD 3,250
| USD 3,250 hammer; USD 4,063 total reported by EveryWatch
|}
|}


The record is four lots deep and internally strange. Case 168751 sold at EUR 13,650 against a EUR 6,000–12,000 estimate, a clear over-estimate result on a steel Bubbleback with a patinated pink dial. The California-dial example sold for USD 3,250 in early 2026, roughly a quarter of that, despite carrying the configuration most collectors would name as the reference's draw. Condition explains part of the gap: the Luxe dial was catalogued with toning and minor spotting, and the watch came on an associated strap.
Case 168751 sold for EUR 13,650 against a EUR 6,000–12,000 estimate. Luxe Auctioneers reported a USD 3,250 hammer for its California-dial example; EveryWatch reports USD 4,063 including fees. The Luxe catalogue notes dial toning and minor spotting and describes the leather strap as associated.


The two Antiquorum lots both failed to sell, and the 1992 estimate of EUR 15,000–18,000 for a steel-and-gold example reads as a relic of the period when Bubblebacks were the most sought-after vintage Rolex on the market. That estimate has not been approached since.
Both indexed Antiquorum lots were unsold. Four published results across thirty-four years do not establish a market level for the reference.
 
Four lots across thirty-four years is not enough to state a market level for this reference. It is enough to say that the 3134 does not trade at 3130 or 3133 money, and that the two occasions it was offered with a serious estimate, it did not find a buyer.


== Related references ==
== Related references ==
Line 184: Line 187:


* [https://www.collectorsquare.com/en/watches/rolex/oyster-perpetual/ref-rolex-3134/lpi Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva #140 Lot 181 — Rolex ref 3134 steel and yellow gold, black dial, 1940s", Antiquorum, 1992-10-17]
* [https://www.collectorsquare.com/en/watches/rolex/oyster-perpetual/ref-rolex-3134/lpi Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva #140 Lot 181 — Rolex ref 3134 steel and yellow gold, black dial, 1940s", Antiquorum, 1992-10-17]
* [https://www.collectorsquare.com/en/watches/rolex/oyster-perpetual/ref-rolex-3134/lpi Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva #272 Lot 143 — Rolex ref 3134 steel, matte silver dial, case 104396", Antiquorum, 2013-05-12]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-ref-3134-lot-272-143 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva #272 Lot 143 — Rolex ref 3134 steel, matte silver dial, case 104396", Antiquorum, 2013-05-12]
* [https://everywatch.com/rolex/oyster-perpetual/watch-9107818 EveryWatch, "Exclusive Timepieces Lot 227 — Rolex ref 3134 Bubbleback steel, pink dial, case 168751", EveryWatch]
* [https://everywatch.com/rolex/oyster-perpetual/watch-9107818 EveryWatch, "Exclusive Timepieces Lot 227 — Rolex ref 3134 Bubbleback steel, pink dial, case 168751", EveryWatch]
* [https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/ROLEX-REF-3134-STEEL-BUBBLE-BACK-WITH-CALIFORNIA-DIAL-CIRCA-1945/118-rolex_3134_steel_3134-15.1.26-luxe Luxe Auctioneers, "Luxe Auctioneers — Rolex ref 3134 steel Bubble Back with California dial, circa 1945", Luxe Auctioneers, 2026-01-15]
* [https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/ROLEX-REF-3134-STEEL-BUBBLE-BACK-WITH-CALIFORNIA-DIAL-CIRCA-1945/118-rolex_3134_steel_3134-15.1.26-luxe Luxe Auctioneers, "Luxe Auctioneers — Rolex ref 3134 steel Bubble Back with California dial, circa 1945", Luxe Auctioneers, 2026-01-15]
* [https://www.collectorsquare.com/en/watches/rolex/oyster-perpetual/ref-rolex-3134/lpi Collectors Square, "Collectors Square price index — Rolex Oyster Perpetual ref 3134", Collectors Square]
* [https://www.collectorsquare.com/en/watches/rolex/oyster-perpetual/ref-rolex-3134/lpi Collectors Square, "Collectors Square price index — Rolex Oyster Perpetual ref 3134", Collectors Square]
* [https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/lists/rolex-bubbleback-watches-collector-guide-1931-1950s-1235893131/ Robb Report, "Robb Report — A Collector's Guide to Rolex Bubbleback Watches 1931-1950s", Robb Report, current]
* [https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/lists/rolex-bubbleback-watches-collector-guide-1931-1950s-1235893131/ Robb Report, "Robb Report — A Collector's Guide to Rolex Bubbleback Watches 1931-1950s", Robb Report, current]
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-rolex-bubbleback-and-why-it-still-matters Hodinkee, "Everything You Need To Know About The Vintage Rolex Bubbleback", Hodinkee]
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-rolex-bubbleback-and-why-it-still-matters Anthony Traina, "The Rolex Bubbleback And Why It Still Matters", Hodinkee, 2024-10-07]
* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
* [https://calibercorner.com/rolex-caliber-620/ Caliber Corner, "Caliber Corner — Rolex Caliber 620", Caliber Corner, current]
* [https://calibercorner.com/rolex-caliber-620/ Caliber Corner, "Caliber Corner — Rolex Caliber 620", Caliber Corner, current]
* [https://calibercorner.com/ "Caliber Corner — 630"]
* [https://www.matthewbaininc.com/product-page/rolex-stainless-steel-bubbleback-ref-3134 Matthew Bain Inc, "Matthew Bain Inc — Rolex stainless steel Bubbleback ref 3134 with California dial, circa 1941", Matthew Bain Inc]
* [https://www.matthewbaininc.com/product-page/rolex-stainless-steel-bubbleback-ref-3134 Matthew Bain Inc, "Matthew Bain Inc — Rolex stainless steel Bubbleback ref 3134 with California dial, circa 1941", Matthew Bain Inc]
* [https://perezcope.com/dials/ Jose Pereztroika, "Dials — California dial patent chronology", Perezcope]
[[Category:Bubbleback]]
[[Category:Bubbleback]]
[[Category:References]]

Latest revision as of 04:23, 23 August 2026


Bubbleback → 3134

The 3134 is a 32 mm tonneau Oyster Perpetual from the 1940s and 1950s, fitted with a 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic. Catalogued watches have either subsidiary or centre seconds. Most documented cases are stainless steel; one combines steel with yellow gold. Two documented examples have California dials, though neither source establishes that its dial is original to the watch.

Rolex Bubbleback 3134 with pink California dial
Steel 3134 with pink California dial, circa 1941

Core facts

detail value
reference 3134
family Bubbleback (collector name; never official Rolex usage)
documented examples 1940s to 1957 by auction-catalogue dating; one dealer dates an example to c.1941
case diameter 32 mm
case thickness about 14 mm
case shape tonneau
case construction three-body / three-part in two catalogues
bezel inclined, smooth
crystal acrylic
crown screw-down
movement 9¾-ligne Rolex automatic; documented descriptions vary by example
escapement lever; described as straight-line in the 2013 catalogue
balance monometallic with a self-compensating Breguet balance spring in 1992; Superbalance in 2013
seconds subsidiary and centre sweep both documented
case materials stainless steel; stainless steel with yellow gold

Where it sits in the line

The 3134 belongs to the two-digit-suffixed Oyster Perpetual references 3130 through 3135. The group includes different seconds layouts and case metals. Antiquorum's 1992 and 2013 examples have subsidiary seconds. Exclusive Timepieces lot 227 and the Luxe Auctioneers example have centre seconds; the cited dealer listing does not establish the seconds layout of its c.1941 California-dial watch.

The documented 3134 cases are predominantly steel. The four auction lots comprise three steel watches and one steel-and-yellow-gold watch; a separate dealer-listed example is also steel. No solid-gold 3134 appears in the cited records.

Production outline

Auction catalogues date documented 3134 examples to the 1940s, c.1945, the 1950s and 1957. A dealer dates another example to c.1941. No source states a production start or end for the reference.

These dates are catalogue estimates, not a production window. Exclusive Timepieces dates case 168751 to 1957, while Anthony Traina's 2024 Hodinkee Bubbleback guide places the end of production in the mid-1950s. The sources do not resolve that difference.

Movement notes

Antiquorum Geneva's 1992 lot 181 describes a self-winding 9¾-ligne movement with 17 jewels, lever escapement, monometallic balance and a self-compensating Breguet balance spring. Exclusive Timepieces lot 227 also gives a 9¾-ligne automatic. Antiquorum's 2013 lot 143 records rhodium plating, a straight-line lever escapement and a Superbalance, but does not state the winding type or jewel count.

No documented lot names a caliber number. The subsidiary-seconds watches are consistent with Cal. 620 or the shock-protected Cal. 635; centre-seconds watches are consistent with Cal. 630 or 645. None of those fitments is confirmed by a movement photograph or catalogue description, so the caliber remains unresolved.

Dial map

3134 matte silver dial with luminous Arabic numerals
Matte silver dial, applied luminous Arabic numerals and subsidiary seconds, case 104396
3134 pink California dial
California dial in pink, half Roman and half Arabic, circa 1941
3134 California dial marked Chronometer with centre seconds
The second California example, marked Chronometer and running centre sweep seconds, circa 1945

The five documented examples fall into four dial configurations.

The matte silver dial with applied luminous Arabic numerals and subsidiary seconds appears on Antiquorum's 2013 example, case 104396. Case 168751 has a pink dial with luminous Arabic and squared numerals, an outer minutes track and centre seconds. A black subsidiary-seconds dial appears on the 1992 steel-and-yellow-gold example.

Two documented 3134s have half-Roman, half-Arabic California dials. Luxe Auctioneers dates one to c.1945, and a dealer dates the other to c.1941. Neither source establishes that the dial is original. Traina notes that refinished California dials are common on Bubblebacks. Rolex filed Swiss patent CH221643 for the layout in May 1941; it was issued in June 1942.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

3134 case profile showing the domed caseback
Case profile: curved lugs, inclined bezel, screw-down crown and the domed back the family is named for
3134 screw-down caseback
Screw-down caseback with milled edge

Documented cases measure 32 mm across. Antiquorum's 2013 lot 143 is 14 mm thick; no second source gives thickness. The tonneau case has an inclined smooth bezel, acrylic crystal and screw-down crown.

Antiquorum's 2013 lot 143 calls the case "three body," and Exclusive Timepieces describes case 168751 as "composed of three parts." Both catalogue descriptions identify a three-part case.

Antiquorum's 1992 catalogue describes its steel-and-yellow-gold example as having "hooded fluted lugs," while case 168751 has curved lugs. No photograph of the 1992 watch has been located, so the hooded-lug description remains catalogue evidence rather than a visually confirmed sub-variant.

The side-profile photograph shows a domed caseback, although no auction description uses that term. Antiquorum's 1992 lot and Exclusive Timepieces lot 227 describe automatic movements. Exclusive Timepieces and Luxe Auctioneers catalogue the reference as a Bubbleback.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

Only one documented example carries a bracelet: case 168751, fitted with a riveted steel Oyster. The bracelet is period-correct for a 1940s steel Bubbleback, but no documentation ties it to original delivery. The Luxe example has an associated leather strap and a Rolex steel tang buckle; the catalogue does not claim either as original delivery.

Case-metal suffixes

Rolex used slash suffixes on Bubbleback references to distinguish case metals. Colin A. White's The Vintage Rolex Field Manual documents the system and gives 1578/7 and 1578/8 as examples.

No cited source confirms a complete suffix-to-metal map for reference 3134. The documented cases are steel and steel with yellow gold; the cited records contain no solid-gold example.

Auction record

Venue Date Lot Case no. Material Dial Estimate Result
Antiquorum Geneva #140 1992-10-17 181 — Steel and yellow gold Black EUR 15,000–18,000 (secondary conversion) Unsold
Antiquorum Geneva #272 2013-05-12 143 104396 Steel Matte silver, applied luminous Arabics CHF 4,000–6,000 Unsold
Exclusive Timepieces — 227 168751 Steel Pink with patina EUR 6,000–12,000 EUR 13,650
Luxe Auctioneers 2026-01-15 118 — Steel California — USD 3,250 hammer; USD 4,063 total reported by EveryWatch

Case 168751 sold for EUR 13,650 against a EUR 6,000–12,000 estimate. Luxe Auctioneers reported a USD 3,250 hammer for its California-dial example; EveryWatch reports USD 4,063 including fees. The Luxe catalogue notes dial toning and minor spotting and describes the leather strap as associated.

Both indexed Antiquorum lots were unsold. Four published results across thirty-four years do not establish a market level for the reference.

Related references

See also the Bubbleback family index, movement reference, bracelet & clasp guide, and serial numbers by year.

Sources

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