Rolex 1873 Oyster Royal

Oyster → 1873

The 1873 is a manual-wind Oyster Royal represented by four auctioned watches: three in steel and one in 9K gold. Some collector lists place it among the Bubblebacks, but all four catalogue descriptions identify manually wound movements. Antiquorum's 2021 title also calls its example a flat back.

Antiquorum wrote in 2024 that only a handful had appeared publicly in thirty years and that it had previously offered one other example. Bonhams catalogued two more at Knightsbridge in 2021 and 2023. The 2021 Bonhams watch carries a London import mark for 1937 and documents the 9K-gold case.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	1873
family	Oyster (manual-wind)
production	no documented range; one 9K-gold example has a London import mark for 1937
case diameter	31–32mm across four catalogued examples
case shape	tonneau
caseback	screw-down; one Antiquorum title explicitly says flat back
bezel	smooth, polished
crystal	material not established by the cited catalogues
crown	screw-down
winding	manual
movement	17-jewel Extra Prima; 18-jewel chronometer or manual (4 documented movements, one numbered 11250). No caliber number published
case materials	stainless steel (3 of 4 documented examples); 9K gold (Bonhams 2021, London import mark for 1937)
dial designations	Oyster Royal; Oyster Royal Chronometre
notable dial	salmon dial catalogued by Antiquorum as "Scientifical," with black round indexes
documented case numbers	48634; 37029; 81343; 100498

Where it sits in the line

Rolex continued making hand-wound Oysters alongside the automatic Perpetual line. Hodinkee's Bubbleback collecting guide calls these parallel manual-wind watches “flatbacks.” Ref. 1873 belongs to the manual branch; none of its four auction descriptions identifies an automatic movement.

The catalogues use Oyster Royal and Oyster Royal Chronometre. The Hong Kong watch has a 17-jewel Extra Prima movement; Antiquorum describes the Geneva watch as an 18-jewel ultra prima chronometer. Bonhams also calls the 9K-gold watch Oyster Royal Chronometre.

Its numerical proximity to ref. 1858 does not establish shared case construction or movement. The movement descriptions provide the useful distinction: ref. 1858 is automatic, while every catalogued ref. 1873 in this record is manual.

Production outline

Antiquorum dated both of its examples only to "circa 1930s". Bonhams is more useful. It dated its steel example circa 1939, and it dated the gold one by a London import mark for 1937, which is a hallmark rather than a catalogue estimate and puts at least one 1873 in a named year. The 1933 start year that circulates for this reference comes from the same collector list that assigns it to the wrong family, and carries no independent support.

Four case numbers are on record: 37029 on the gold Bonhams example, 48634 on the 2021 Hong Kong example, 81343 on the 2023 Bonhams steel example and 100498 on the 2024 Geneva example. Bonhams also published movement number 11250 on the gold watch. Four case numbers do not define a production range, and no production total has been published.

Three documented watches are steel. The fourth is 9K gold, with a presentation inscription and a London import mark for 1937. No two-tone example has been documented.

Movement notes

All four documented movements are manually wound, and the catalogues describe different grades.

The Hong Kong 2021 example carried an Extra Prima with 17 jewels. The Geneva 2024 example carried an 18-jewel chronometer movement that Antiquorum's catalogue note identifies as an ultra prima, which puts both of the hierarchy's upper grades on this one reference. Bonhams adds two more movements. Its 1939-dated steel example is described only as a jewelled manual wind. The 9K gold Oyster Royal Chronometre carries an 18-jewel manual wind with a screwed balance, timed to six positions, numbered 11250. None of the four catalogues names a caliber number, and no other published source supplies one.

“Extra Prima” and “Ultra Prima” are movement grades, not caliber numbers. David Boettcher's history of the Rolex and Aegler grade hierarchy dates Wilsdorf's Ultra Prima registration to 9 December 1930 and notes that the distinction between the top grades is unclear. None of the four 1873 catalogues names a caliber, so the attribution remains open.

Dial map

Four dials are documented. Two come from Antiquorum, one described at length in the catalogue and one legible only from the lot photography, and two more from Bonhams.

Antiquorum put “Scientifical” in the Geneva 2024 lot title and described the salmon dial as an extremely rare original, with black round indexes and original hands. That originality claim is the auction house's assessment, not independent proof.

The catalogue photography settles what the word is doing there. The dial reads ROLEX OYSTER ROYAL over a CHRONOMETRE marking above the subsidiary seconds, and nothing else. "Scientifical" appears in Antiquorum's lot title and in quotation marks, never on the dial. The house hedges it in the note as well, calling the dial a "so called" scientifical and tying the name to the black round indexes, and its own subtitle for the lot calls the watch a salmon "dot" index dial. The term is a descriptor the trade has attached to this layout, not period Rolex dial text.

Bonhams also catalogued ref. 2765 watches as Oyster Scientific. That is a catalogue model label, not proof that Rolex printed Scientific or Scientifical on those dials. The photographed 1873 dial does not carry either word.

The Hong Kong 2021 example carried a patinated dial that Antiquorum described as having original hands. The catalogue says no more than that. The lot photography fills in the layout: a two-tone silvered dial with a sunk outer track, gold-toned Arabic numerals at 12, 3 and 9, applied bâton indexes at the remaining hours, luminous plots around the chapter ring, and a subsidiary seconds register at 6, with blued steel hands carrying luminous inserts.

The two Bonhams dials extend the range without breaking it. The 1939 steel example carries a silvered dial with black alternating baton and Arabic numeral hour markers, subsidiary seconds at 6, and blued steel dagger hands with luminous inserts. The gold Oyster Royal Chronometre is silvered with an applied gilt minute track, applied luminous Arabic numerals, subsidiary seconds and blued leaf-form hands with luminous inserts. Subsidiary seconds at 6 is the one constant across all four.

That is the whole documented dial range for the reference. Anything more specific about 1873 dial configurations would be extrapolation from sibling references.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

Three-quarter view of case 100498, showing the tonneau flank and the screw-down crown.

The four catalogued watches have tonneau cases with screw-down backs and crowns. Three are steel and one is 9K gold. The cited catalogues do not establish the crystal material. Measured at 31mm in the 2024 catalogue, 31.5mm in the 2021 catalogue, 31mm on the gold Bonhams example and 32mm on the steel one. The catalogues therefore support a 31–32mm observed range.

Antiquorum's 2021 Hong Kong title explicitly says “FLAT BACK.” The other three catalogue records describe manual movements but do not explicitly state the back profile. The evidence supports a manual-wind Oyster classification and one documented flat-back example; it does not prove that every ref. 1873 used the same back.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

The 2021 Hong Kong example was accompanied by a Rolex stainless steel rivet bracelet measuring roughly 170mm overall. Antiquorum did not present it as original delivery. The Geneva 2024 example came on a beaded steel bracelet of roughly 175mm, catalogued as a "Private Eyes" bracelet. Antiquorum did not put the Rolex name on that one, and whether it left the factory on the watch is not established. Neither Bonhams example came on a bracelet at all: the 1939 steel watch was on an associated brown leather strap with an associated gilt buckle, the gold one on brown leather, again with an associated gilt buckle. No end-link or clasp reference is documented for the 1873 anywhere in the published record.

Auction record

Venue	Date	Lot	Case No	Dial	Movement	Result
Antiquorum, Hong Kong	2021-04-25	233	48634	Patinated, original hands	Extra Prima, 17 jewels	Est. HKD 40,000–60,000; result not published
Bonhams, London Knightsbridge	2021-09-07	51	37029	Silvered, applied gilt minute track, luminous Arabic (9K gold)	18-jewel, screwed balance, 6 positions, No. 11250	GBP 2,167.50 incl. premium
Bonhams, London Knightsbridge	2023-11-22	54	81343	Silvered, alternating baton and Arabic, dagger hands	Jewelled manual wind	GBP 1,280 incl. premium
Antiquorum, Geneva	2024-11-09	282	100498	Salmon "Scientifical", black round indexes	18-jewel chronometer	CHF 10,625 (est. CHF 8,000–12,000)

Three realised prices are on record. The Geneva 2024 salmon-dial chronometer took CHF 10,625 against a CHF 8,000–12,000 estimate. Bonhams sold the 9K gold example for GBP 2,167.50 including premium in September 2021 and the 1939 steel one for GBP 1,280 including premium in November 2023. The Hong Kong 2021 estimate of HKD 40,000–60,000, which the catalogue itself converts to CHF 4,800–7,200, did not produce a published result. Different currencies, dial conditions, case materials and sale dates make the three results unsuitable as a price series.

Antiquorum states that only a handful of ref. 1873 watches had appeared publicly in thirty years and that it had offered one other example. The Geneva watch came from a Japanese collection.

Related references

Oyster Chronometer 2765 — manual-wind contemporary catalogued under several model names
Oyster Royal 2574 — pre-war manual Oyster, boy's size
Bubbleback 1858 — the first Oyster Perpetual, 1933
Oyster Perpetual 2240 — self-winding contemporary with provisional Bubbleback classification
Bubbleback 2764 — Cal. 620N "Super Precision"

Sources