Reference:3135: Difference between revisions

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Fact correction: expanded auction record, 3136 catalogue error, provenance and clasp dating
 
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex 3135 Bubbleback}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex 3135 Bubbleback}}
<small>[[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback]] -> '''3135'''</small>
{{#seo:
|title=Rolex 3135 Bubbleback Reference Guide &#124; BezelBase
|description=Rolex reference 3135 Bubbleback: documented 1938–1945 examples, movement evidence, dial variants, case details and auction records.
|image=Ref 3135 hero.webp
|type=article
}}


The 3135 is a 32mm Perpetual tonneau from the 313x block, the run of reference numbers
<small>[[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback]] → '''3135'''</small>
through which Rolex moved the Bubbleback onto a two-piece case in 1936. Four lots document
 
it, which is thin. One of those four is a multi-tone silvered sector dial dated 1938 that
The 3135 is a steel Oyster Perpetual Bubbleback from the late 1930s and 1940s. Auction
cleared its Phillips estimate several times over, which is not thin at all. That single result
catalogues document centre-seconds and subsidiary-seconds watches, with stated diameters of 32
is the reference's whole public reputation, and it is a fair one. Sector dials on Bubblebacks
or 33mm. The best-known example has a multi-tone silvered sector dial. Phillips described its
are scarce, and this one arrived unpolished, with the blued steel hands its dial design
case as unpolished, but did not certify the dial or hands as original to the watch.
calls for.


The reference number is not the caliber. Rolex numbers references and movements in separate
The reference number is not the caliber. Rolex numbers references and movements in separate
series, and both series happened to reach 3135 about fifty years apart. The 1988 movement
series, and both series happened to reach 3135 about fifty years apart. The automatic caliber
that powered the Submariner for the next three decades has nothing to do with this watch, and
introduced in 1988 is unrelated to this reference. One Antiquorum listing assigns ref. 3135 to
a search for one will mostly return the other. A second complication is harder to dispose of. One catalogued 3135
a manual-wind Oyster Standard, but the broader record and a documented 3135/3136 catalogue error
describes a manual-wind Oyster instead of a Perpetual, and that conflict is unresolved rather
make that assignment doubtful.
than dismissed.


[[File:Ref 3135 hero.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex 3135 Bubbleback with multi-tone silvered sector dial on a rice-grain bracelet|The 1938 sector-dial 3135, case 115'200, on its rice-grain bracelet]]
[[File:Ref 3135 hero.webp|thumb|right|340px|alt=Rolex 3135 Bubbleback with multi-tone silvered sector dial on a rice-grain bracelet|The 1938 sector-dial 3135, case 115'200, on a later-period rice-grain bracelet]]


==Core facts==
==Core facts==
Line 31: Line 34:
| family
| family
| Bubbleback (collector name; never official Rolex usage)
| Bubbleback (collector name; never official Rolex usage)
|-
| block
| 313x, the 1936 two-piece case generation
|-
|-
| documented examples
| documented examples
| dated 1938 and "1930s"
| auction houses date secure examples from 1938 to circa 1945
|-
|-
| case diameter
| case diameter
| 32mm (Phillips gives 33mm)
| 32–33mm; one disputed manual listing gives 31mm
|-
|-
| case thickness
| case thickness
Line 48: Line 48:
|-
|-
| case construction
| case construction
| two-body
| two-body on one catalogued example
|-
|-
| lugs
| lugs
| curved
| curved on one catalogued example
|-
|-
| caseback
| caseback
Line 63: Line 63:
|-
|-
| movement
| movement
| 9¾′′′ Perpetual family; no lot names a caliber number
| automatic Perpetual family; 9¾′′′ stated on several examples; no lot names a caliber number
|-
|-
| jewels
| jewels
| 19 on the one lot that counts them
| 17 or 19, both documented
|-
|-
| balance
| balance
Line 81: Line 81:
|-
|-
| case materials
| case materials
| stainless steel on every documented example
| stainless steel on secure examples; one possible two-tone listing lacks movement and reference photographs
|}
|}


==Where it sits in the line==
==Where it sits in the line==


The 313x numbers are where the Bubbleback stopped being an experiment. The first-generation
Antiquorum describes one 3135 as a two-body case with curved lugs. Collector literature links
references, the 1858 and the 3458, used a four-piece case with a separate movement-holder
nearby refs. 3131 and 3132 to Rolex's mid-1930s case simplification, but the auction record does
ring. In 1936 Rolex simplified that to two pieces on the 3131 and the 3132, and every working
not establish a formal 313x generation or date that construction change for the 3135. Nearby
Bubbleback afterwards used the simpler architecture. The 3130 is the 18K yellow gold companion
numbers also include manual-wind Oysters, so the numbering alone cannot define a movement family.
to the 3131; the 3132 is the centre-seconds version running Cal. 630; the 3133, 3134 and 3135
fill out the block.
 
The 3135's own case is described as two-body with curved lugs, which places it inside that
generation rather than alongside the older architecture. That is structural inference from the
numbering and one case description, not a sourced production statement. No published source
dates this reference, and the two Antiquorum lots say only "1930s".


The 3135 shares that construction with its immediate neighbours. What sets it apart is the
The sector-dial watch dominates modern coverage of the reference. Hodinkee reproduced the
dial that turned up on it. Hodinkee's 2024 survey of the family reproduces two sales as the
Phillips result in its Bubbleback survey, and Phillips called the dial one of the rarest versions
headline Bubbleback results, and the sector-dial 3135 is one of them. For a reference with four
found on Bubblebacks. That describes one watch, not the whole reference.
documented lots, that is an unusual amount of weight resting on a single watch.


==The manual-wind problem==
==The manual-wind catalogue error==


[[File:Ref 3135 disputed-oyster-standard.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Oyster Standard catalogued under reference 3135, black dial with concentric 24-hour track|The "Oyster Standard" lot catalogued as a 3135, with its concentric 24-hour graduation]]
[[File:Ref 3135 disputed-oyster-standard.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Oyster Standard catalogued under reference 3135, black dial with concentric 24-hour track|The "Oyster Standard" lot catalogued as a 3135, with its concentric 24-hour graduation]]
Line 112: Line 104:
appear. The dial and case are listed as signed; the movement is not. The case measures 31mm.
appear. The dial and case are listed as signed; the movement is not. The case measures 31mm.


That is a manual Oyster specification. A Perpetual of this era runs 9¾ lignes with 17 or 19
That is a manual Oyster specification, unlike every secure 3135 in the auction record. Colin A.
jewels and a Breguet overcoil, and the other three 3135 lots match that on every point they
White's ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' lists 3135 as Perpetual and adjacent 3136 as manual.
state. So
A 2025 auction supplied a useful control: its title called a watch ref. 3135, while the photographed
either the reference field on that lot is wrong, or Rolex used 3135 for a manual Oyster as
caseback clearly reads 3136. The exact error had therefore occurred in another catalogue.
well as a Perpetual.


The second reading is harder to dismiss than it looks. The adjacent 3136 is a manual-wind
The 2000 Antiquorum watch is best treated as miscatalogued, though its correct reference cannot
Oyster, as are 3059, 3078, 3096, 3116, 3121 and 3140, and several of them have been catalogued
be recovered from the published dial photograph. It should not be used as evidence that ref. 3135
as Bubblebacks at one time or another. The 313x block demonstrably contains both kinds of
spanned manual and automatic movements.
watch, and reference numbers in this period were assigned to cases rather than to movements.
A case number shared across two winding types is an ordinary outcome of that system.
 
What can be said cleanly is that three independent lots across two houses describe a
self-winding 3135, and one lot describes something else. This article is about the Perpetual.
Anyone offered a 15-jewel manual watch as a Bubbleback 3135 should treat the caseback stamp as
the beginning of the question rather than the end of it.


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


There is no documented production window. Antiquorum dates both its Perpetual examples as
Auction houses date secure examples to 1938, 1941 and circa 1945. Those dates establish the
"1930s" without narrowing further. Phillips dates the sector-dial watch to 1938 and places the
catalogued range, not a factory production window. The numbered examples also do not form a simple
sector style generally in the late 1930s to early 1940s across the Swiss industry. The 1936
sequence: Christie’s case 115'487 and Phillips case 115'200 are both dated 1938, Piguet case 114939
two-piece transition on the 3131 and 3132 gives a plausible earliest bound for the block.
is dated circa 1941, and Sotheby's case 342043 is dated circa 1945.


Beyond that, dating a 3135 means dating the individual watch. Pre-1948 Rolex has no
Pre-1948 Rolex dating often relies on assay marks or delivery papers, but steel cases have no assay
year-letter chart to work from, and on a steel case there are no assay marks either, so a
marks. Without papers, a precise year remains an auction-house attribution rather than a factory date.
confidently stated production year on an unpapered example is inference presented as fact.
Case numbers on the documented set — 115'200 on the Phillips watch, 124X02 on the 2011
Antiquorum lot — are too few to build anything from.


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


The two Antiquorum Perpetual lots describe the same movement: rhodium-plated, lever
Auction catalogues describe automatic movements throughout the secure 3135 record. The 1995
escapement, self-compensating Breguet hairspring. The 1995 lot counts 19 jewels at 9¾ lignes
Antiquorum watch has a 9¾-ligne, 19-jewel movement. Christie's 2009 watch has 17 jewels at the same
and calls the balance monometallic; the 2011 lot is graded Chronomètre and names the Super
ligne size. Several descriptions name the Super Balance, and both Chronometer and Chronomètre
Balance. Phillips gives its watch an automatic Super Oyster at 9¾ lignes and stops there.
dials appear.


No lot names a caliber number, and this article does not supply one. The temptation is
No lot names a caliber number. Cal. 620 has subsidiary seconds and Cal. 630 centre seconds, so
obvious. Cal. 620 is the subsidiary-seconds Perpetual of this era and Cal. 630 its
those assignments fit the documented layouts, but remain inference without a movement photograph
centre-sweep counterpart; the 3135 exists in both layouts, so 620 and 630 respectively is the
or catalogue entry naming the caliber.
natural reading. It is also unsupported. Nothing in the documented record attributes a caliber
to this reference, and the family's caliber attributions have been wrong in print often enough
that an inference this tidy should stay labelled as one.


Both seconds layouts are attested. The 1995 lot is a centre-seconds watch with a black radium
Both seconds layouts are documented. Centre-seconds examples include the 1995 Antiquorum watch
dial; the 2011 lot has a subsidiary register at 6.
and Christie’s 2003 and 2009 watches. Antiquorum 2011 and Piguet 2024 document subsidiary seconds.


==Dial map==
==Dial map==


Three documented examples carry three different dials, with no pattern to draw from at a
The enlarged auction record includes silvered sector, ivory Roman, black radium, pink Arabic,
reference this thinly recorded.
silvered 24-hour and plain silvered dials. The small sample does not establish an early-to-late
sequence.


The multi-tone silvered sector dial on the Phillips watch is the one that matters. Sector
The Phillips watch has a signed multi-tone silvered sector dial divided into concentric zones.
dials divide the face into concentric zones with geometric dividers, a design language
Phillips called the design one of the rarest Bubbleback dial versions and considered its blued
Phillips places across many distinguished makers between the late 1930s and the early 1940s,
steel hands correct for the design. The catalogue did not certify either as original to the watch.
and it called this among the rarest dial versions found on Bubblebacks. The watch carries the
blued steel hands the design calls for, which on a watch this age is most of the value.


[[File:Ref 3135 dial-variant-ivory-roman.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex 3135 ivory dial with Roman numerals and subsidiary seconds at 6|Ivory Roman dial with subsidiary seconds at 6, case 124X02]]
[[File:Ref 3135 dial-variant-ivory-roman.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex 3135 ivory dial with Roman numerals and subsidiary seconds at 6|Ivory Roman dial with subsidiary seconds at 6, case 124X02]]
Line 177: Line 154:
outer minute track, and a subsidiary seconds register at 6, paired with blued steel baton
outer minute track, and a subsidiary seconds register at 6, paired with blued steel baton
hands. The 1995 lot has a black dial with radium indexes and Arabic numerals and radium baton
hands. The 1995 lot has a black dial with radium indexes and Arabic numerals and radium baton
hands, with centre seconds.
hands, with centre seconds. Christie’s added a pink dial with applied Arabic numerals in 2003
and a silvered matte dial with a red 24-hour display in 2009.


==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==


Two-body construction, polished and brushed, with curved lugs and a screwed-down caseback and
Antiquorum describes case 124X02 as two-body, polished and brushed, with curved lugs, a screw-down
crown. Thickness on the 2011 lot is 13mm against a 32mm diameter, which is the Bubbleback
caseback and a screw-down crown. It measures 32mm across and 13mm thick. Other secure examples are
profile stated in numbers rather than adjectives. The caseback domes to clear the Perpetual
catalogued at 32 or 33mm and use the domed caseback associated with the Bubbleback name.
rotor, and that dome is the whole reason the family has its nickname.


Diameter is given as 32mm by Antiquorum on both Perpetual lots and as 33mm by Phillips. The
Antiquorum gives 32mm for its secure examples. Phillips, Christie’s and Sotheby's give 33mm on
disputed manual lot reads 31mm. The 32mm figure is both the consensus and the standard
others. The disputed manual Antiquorum listing gives 31mm.
Bubbleback case size.


Condition is what sets the Phillips example apart. The case is
Phillips described its case as unpolished and its diamond-polished bezel as retaining a mirror
unpolished, the diamond-polished bezel still holds its mirror finish, and the original crystal
finish. The house said the crazed acrylic crystal appeared original. Crazing alone does not prove
is crazed. Crazing on a period acrylic crystal is normal and, left alone, is evidence of an
that a watch is untouched.
untouched watch.


==Bracelets and packaging==
==Bracelets and packaging==


One fitment is documented, and it works better as an illustration of a general rule than as a
The Phillips watch came on a stainless steel Rolex rice-grain bracelet with a folding clasp stamped
fact about the reference. The Phillips 3135, a 1938 watch, came on a stainless steel Rolex rice-grain
4.51. Under the conventional quarter/year reading, that means the fourth quarter of 1951. The stamp
bracelet — grain de riz, the beads-of-rice pattern collectors prize on Bubblebacks — with a
dates the clasp, not necessarily every bracelet component, and does not establish whether Rolex
folding deployant clasp stamped 4.51, which dates the clasp to 1951. The clasp
delivered the bracelet with the watch.
dates the bracelet and not the watch head, and a thirteen-year gap is wide enough to state the
conclusion outright: period-correct rather than original delivery.


The same watch came with a fitted Rolex presentation box. Bubbleback packaging of this era is
The same watch came with a fitted Rolex presentation box. Phillips did not call it original to the
period-based rather than reference-specific, so the box speaks to when the watch was sold and
watch or use it to date the initial sale.
not to what it was.


==Auction record==
==Auction record==
Line 216: Line 188:
! lot
! lot
! example
! example
! estimate
! result
! result
! status
|-
|-
| 2015-05-10
| 1995-04-22
| Phillips, The Watch Auction ONE
| Antiquorum, Geneva
| 207
| 300
| 1938, case 115'200, multi-tone silvered sector dial, rice-grain bracelet
| 1930s, 32mm, black radium dial, centre seconds, 19 jewels
| CHF 25,000–50,000
| CHF 2,990
| CHF 82,500
| secure automatic 3135
|-
|-
| 2000-04-02
| 2000-04-02
| Antiquorum, Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues
| Antiquorum, Geneva
| 148
| 148
| "Oyster Standard", black radium dial with 24-hour graduation, 31mm — the disputed manual lot
| 31mm manual Oyster Standard, black 24-hour dial
| CHF 3,000–3,500
| CHF 3,910
| CHF 3,910
| probable catalogue error; exact reference unknown
|-
| 2003-11-18
| Christie's, Geneva
| 193
| case 169676, movement 96816, pink dial, centre seconds
| CHF 3,346
| secure automatic 3135
|-
| 2009-05-11
| Christie's, Geneva
| 71
| case 115487, red 24-hour display, centre seconds, 17 jewels
| CHF 4,375
| secure automatic 3135
|-
|-
| 2011-11-13
| 2011-11-13
| Antiquorum, Geneva
| Antiquorum, Geneva
| 133
| 133
| Chronomètre, case 124X02, ivory Roman dial, subsidiary seconds
| case 124X02, ivory Roman dial, subsidiary seconds
| CHF 2,500–3,000
| CHF 3,000
| CHF 3,000
| secure automatic 3135
|-
|-
| 1995-04-22
| 2015-05-10
| Antiquorum, Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues
| Phillips, The Watch Auction ONE
| 300
| 207
| centre seconds, black radium dial, 19 jewels
| case 115200, sector dial, rice-grain bracelet
| CHF 2,600–2,800
| CHF 82,500
| CHF 2,990
| secure automatic 3135
|-
| 2023-10-26
| Aspire Auctions
| 348
| case 289334 visible; possible two-tone case
| USD 1,291.50 incl. premium
| probable 3135; movement and reference not shown
|-
| 2024-03-14
| Piguet, Geneva
| 2676
| case 114939, movement 91981, subsidiary seconds
| CHF 5,000 hammer
| secure automatic 3135
|-
| 2025-03-19
| Sotheby's, Hong Kong
| 8856
| case 342043, silvered dial, 33mm
| HKD 19,000 hammer
| secure automatic 3135
|}
|}


The gap between the top line and the rest of the table is the reference in a sentence. Three
The secure record contains seven automatic examples, plus the probable Aspire watch. The 2000
ordinary steel 3135s have changed hands at major houses for around CHF 3,000 between 1995
manual Oyster remains in the table because Antiquorum sold it under ref. 3135, but it does not
and 2011. One extraordinary one made twenty-seven times that. Dial and condition carry this
support a manual-wind branch. A separate 2025 auction listing is excluded: its title said 3135,
reference completely, and a plain 3135 has no premium attached to the number itself.
while the photographed caseback reads 3136.


Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams have no 3135 in their published results, so the four lots
Non-sector results span different dates, conditions and currencies. The CHF 82,500 Phillips sale
above are the documented market rather than a sample of it.
shows a large premium for that specific sector-dial watch, but the sample is too small for a general
price rule.


== Related references ==
== Related references ==


* [[Reference:3131|Bubbleback 3131]] — first two-piece Oyster case, 1936
* [[Reference:3131|Bubbleback 3131]] — first two-piece Oyster case, 1936
* [[Reference:3132|Bubbleback 3132]] — Cal. 630 centre-seconds companion, 1936
* [[Reference:3132|Bubbleback 3132]] — nearby two-body Bubbleback reference
* [[Reference:3134|Bubbleback 3134]] — sweep-seconds sibling in the same block
* [[Reference:3134|Bubbleback 3134]] — nearby Bubbleback reference with both seconds layouts
* Oyster 3136 — adjacent manual-wind Oyster, often confused with 3135
* [[Reference:3372|Bubbleback 3372]] — peak-era production reference
* [[Reference:3372|Bubbleback 3372]] — peak-era production reference
* [[Reference:3458|Bubbleback 3458]] — first-generation four-piece case, 1934–1948
* [[Reference:3458|Bubbleback 3458]] — first-generation four-piece case, 1934–1948
Line 273: Line 282:
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-118-300 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Lot 300 — Rolex Oyster Perpetual Ref. 3135, 1930s", Antiquorum, 1995-04-22]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-118-300 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Lot 300 — Rolex Oyster Perpetual Ref. 3135, 1930s", Antiquorum, 1995-04-22]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-59-148 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Lot 148 — Rolex, Oyster, "Standard", Ref. 3135, 1930s", Antiquorum, 2000-04-02]
* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/rolex-lot-59-148 Antiquorum, "Antiquorum Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Lot 148 — Rolex, Oyster, "Standard", Ref. 3135, 1930s", Antiquorum, 2000-04-02]
* [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4180846 Christie's, "Christie's Geneva Lot 193 — Rolex Oyster Perpetual Chronometer ref. 3135, case 169676", Christie's, 2003-11-18]
* [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5195933 Christie's, "Christie's Geneva Lot 71 — Rolex Oyster Perpetual Chronometre ref. 3135, case 115487", Christie's, 2009-05-11]
* [https://www.aspireauctions.com/catalog/403/2671/lot/145614 Aspire Auctions, "Aspire Auctions Lot 348 — Rolex Oyster Perpetual ref. 3135, case 289334", Aspire Auctions, 2023-10-26]
* [https://live.piguet.com/lots/view/4-CVRR9R/rolex-perpetual-rf-3135-montre-bracelet-petite-seconde-en-acier-circa-1941mouvement-automatique-n91981botier-n114939-diam Piguet Hotel des Ventes, "Piguet Geneva Lot 2676 — Rolex Perpetual ref. 3135, case 114939", Piguet Hotel des Ventes, 2024-03-14]
* [https://www.sothebys.com/buy/4aa6a1d2-96fc-4c36-9458-2cf8485df2cd/lots/34643480-b7bf-49e7-b50e-8035585c0b89 Sotheby's, "Sotheby's Hong Kong Important Watches II Lot 8856 — Rolex Bubbleback ref. 3135, case 342043", Sotheby's, 2025-03-19]
* [https://live.millerandmillerauctions.com/lots/view/4-II3NGM/rolex-ref-3135-wwii-era-oyster-standard Miller & Miller Auctions, "Miller & Miller Lot 25 — Oyster Standard mislabelled ref. 3135, photographed caseback marked 3136", Miller & Miller Auctions, 2025-11-06]
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-rolex-bubbleback-and-why-it-still-matters "Buying, Selling, & Collecting: The Rolex Bubbleback And Why It Still Matters", Hodinkee]
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-rolex-bubbleback-and-why-it-still-matters "Buying, Selling, & Collecting: The Rolex Bubbleback And Why It Still Matters", Hodinkee]
* [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]
* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
* [https://www.everestbands.com/blogs/bezel-barrel/the-rolex-bubbleback-history-facts Everest Bands, "Everest Bands — The Rolex Bubbleback: History and Facts", Everest Bands, current]
* [https://www.everestbands.com/blogs/bezel-barrel/the-rolex-bubbleback-history-facts Everest Bands, "Everest Bands — The Rolex Bubbleback: History and Facts", Everest Bands, current]
[[Category:Bubbleback]]
[[Category:Bubbleback]]
[[Category:References]]

Latest revision as of 17:29, 23 August 2026


Bubbleback → 3135

The 3135 is a steel Oyster Perpetual Bubbleback from the late 1930s and 1940s. Auction catalogues document centre-seconds and subsidiary-seconds watches, with stated diameters of 32 or 33mm. The best-known example has a multi-tone silvered sector dial. Phillips described its case as unpolished, but did not certify the dial or hands as original to the watch.

The reference number is not the caliber. Rolex numbers references and movements in separate series, and both series happened to reach 3135 about fifty years apart. The automatic caliber introduced in 1988 is unrelated to this reference. One Antiquorum listing assigns ref. 3135 to a manual-wind Oyster Standard, but the broader record and a documented 3135/3136 catalogue error make that assignment doubtful.

Rolex 3135 Bubbleback with multi-tone silvered sector dial on a rice-grain bracelet
The 1938 sector-dial 3135, case 115'200, on a later-period rice-grain bracelet

Core facts

detail value
reference 3135
family Bubbleback (collector name; never official Rolex usage)
documented examples auction houses date secure examples from 1938 to circa 1945
case diameter 32–33mm; one disputed manual listing gives 31mm
case thickness 13mm
case shape tonneau
case construction two-body on one catalogued example
lugs curved on one catalogued example
caseback screw-down, domed
crown screw-down
crystal acrylic
movement automatic Perpetual family; 9¾′′′ stated on several examples; no lot names a caliber number
jewels 17 or 19, both documented
balance Super Balance, monometallic
hairspring self-compensating Breguet
seconds both centre seconds and subsidiary seconds at 6 documented
grade Chronomètre on at least one example
case materials stainless steel on secure examples; one possible two-tone listing lacks movement and reference photographs

Where it sits in the line

Antiquorum describes one 3135 as a two-body case with curved lugs. Collector literature links nearby refs. 3131 and 3132 to Rolex's mid-1930s case simplification, but the auction record does not establish a formal 313x generation or date that construction change for the 3135. Nearby numbers also include manual-wind Oysters, so the numbering alone cannot define a movement family.

The sector-dial watch dominates modern coverage of the reference. Hodinkee reproduced the Phillips result in its Bubbleback survey, and Phillips called the dial one of the rarest versions found on Bubblebacks. That describes one watch, not the whole reference.

The manual-wind catalogue error

Rolex Oyster Standard catalogued under reference 3135, black dial with concentric 24-hour track
The "Oyster Standard" lot catalogued as a 3135, with its concentric 24-hour graduation

Antiquorum sold a watch in April 2000 catalogued as reference 3135 and titled "Rolex, Oyster, Standard". Its movement is described as 10-ligne, 15 jewels, rhodium-plated with fausses côtes decoration, running a self-compensating flat balance spring. The words self-winding never appear. The dial and case are listed as signed; the movement is not. The case measures 31mm.

That is a manual Oyster specification, unlike every secure 3135 in the auction record. Colin A. White's The Vintage Rolex Field Manual lists 3135 as Perpetual and adjacent 3136 as manual. A 2025 auction supplied a useful control: its title called a watch ref. 3135, while the photographed caseback clearly reads 3136. The exact error had therefore occurred in another catalogue.

The 2000 Antiquorum watch is best treated as miscatalogued, though its correct reference cannot be recovered from the published dial photograph. It should not be used as evidence that ref. 3135 spanned manual and automatic movements.

Production outline

Auction houses date secure examples to 1938, 1941 and circa 1945. Those dates establish the catalogued range, not a factory production window. The numbered examples also do not form a simple sequence: Christie’s case 115'487 and Phillips case 115'200 are both dated 1938, Piguet case 114939 is dated circa 1941, and Sotheby's case 342043 is dated circa 1945.

Pre-1948 Rolex dating often relies on assay marks or delivery papers, but steel cases have no assay marks. Without papers, a precise year remains an auction-house attribution rather than a factory date.

Movement notes

Auction catalogues describe automatic movements throughout the secure 3135 record. The 1995 Antiquorum watch has a 9¾-ligne, 19-jewel movement. Christie's 2009 watch has 17 jewels at the same ligne size. Several descriptions name the Super Balance, and both Chronometer and Chronomètre dials appear.

No lot names a caliber number. Cal. 620 has subsidiary seconds and Cal. 630 centre seconds, so those assignments fit the documented layouts, but remain inference without a movement photograph or catalogue entry naming the caliber.

Both seconds layouts are documented. Centre-seconds examples include the 1995 Antiquorum watch and Christie’s 2003 and 2009 watches. Antiquorum 2011 and Piguet 2024 document subsidiary seconds.

Dial map

The enlarged auction record includes silvered sector, ivory Roman, black radium, pink Arabic, silvered 24-hour and plain silvered dials. The small sample does not establish an early-to-late sequence.

The Phillips watch has a signed multi-tone silvered sector dial divided into concentric zones. Phillips called the design one of the rarest Bubbleback dial versions and considered its blued steel hands correct for the design. The catalogue did not certify either as original to the watch.

Rolex 3135 ivory dial with Roman numerals and subsidiary seconds at 6
Ivory Roman dial with subsidiary seconds at 6, case 124X02
Rolex 3135 black radium dial with Arabic numerals and centre seconds
Black radium dial with Arabic numerals and centre seconds

The 2011 Antiquorum lot has an ivory dial with painted baton indexes and Roman numerals, an outer minute track, and a subsidiary seconds register at 6, paired with blued steel baton hands. The 1995 lot has a black dial with radium indexes and Arabic numerals and radium baton hands, with centre seconds. Christie’s added a pink dial with applied Arabic numerals in 2003 and a silvered matte dial with a red 24-hour display in 2009.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

Antiquorum describes case 124X02 as two-body, polished and brushed, with curved lugs, a screw-down caseback and a screw-down crown. It measures 32mm across and 13mm thick. Other secure examples are catalogued at 32 or 33mm and use the domed caseback associated with the Bubbleback name.

Antiquorum gives 32mm for its secure examples. Phillips, Christie’s and Sotheby's give 33mm on others. The disputed manual Antiquorum listing gives 31mm.

Phillips described its case as unpolished and its diamond-polished bezel as retaining a mirror finish. The house said the crazed acrylic crystal appeared original. Crazing alone does not prove that a watch is untouched.

Bracelets and packaging

The Phillips watch came on a stainless steel Rolex rice-grain bracelet with a folding clasp stamped 4.51. Under the conventional quarter/year reading, that means the fourth quarter of 1951. The stamp dates the clasp, not necessarily every bracelet component, and does not establish whether Rolex delivered the bracelet with the watch.

The same watch came with a fitted Rolex presentation box. Phillips did not call it original to the watch or use it to date the initial sale.

Auction record

date house and sale lot example result status
1995-04-22 Antiquorum, Geneva 300 1930s, 32mm, black radium dial, centre seconds, 19 jewels CHF 2,990 secure automatic 3135
2000-04-02 Antiquorum, Geneva 148 31mm manual Oyster Standard, black 24-hour dial CHF 3,910 probable catalogue error; exact reference unknown
2003-11-18 Christie's, Geneva 193 case 169676, movement 96816, pink dial, centre seconds CHF 3,346 secure automatic 3135
2009-05-11 Christie's, Geneva 71 case 115487, red 24-hour display, centre seconds, 17 jewels CHF 4,375 secure automatic 3135
2011-11-13 Antiquorum, Geneva 133 case 124X02, ivory Roman dial, subsidiary seconds CHF 3,000 secure automatic 3135
2015-05-10 Phillips, The Watch Auction ONE 207 case 115200, sector dial, rice-grain bracelet CHF 82,500 secure automatic 3135
2023-10-26 Aspire Auctions 348 case 289334 visible; possible two-tone case USD 1,291.50 incl. premium probable 3135; movement and reference not shown
2024-03-14 Piguet, Geneva 2676 case 114939, movement 91981, subsidiary seconds CHF 5,000 hammer secure automatic 3135
2025-03-19 Sotheby's, Hong Kong 8856 case 342043, silvered dial, 33mm HKD 19,000 hammer secure automatic 3135

The secure record contains seven automatic examples, plus the probable Aspire watch. The 2000 manual Oyster remains in the table because Antiquorum sold it under ref. 3135, but it does not support a manual-wind branch. A separate 2025 auction listing is excluded: its title said 3135, while the photographed caseback reads 3136.

Non-sector results span different dates, conditions and currencies. The CHF 82,500 Phillips sale shows a large premium for that specific sector-dial watch, but the sample is too small for a general price rule.

Related references

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

Sources

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