Rolex Square Chronograph Yellow Gold Ref. 3529, circa 1939

Price upon request

Identity

Rolex square “Anti-Magnétique” chronograph, 18-carat yellow gold, Ref. 3529, circa 1939. Manual-winding mechanical movement, Valjoux 23 calibre, signed Rolex Genève, 17 jewels. 18-carat yellow gold case, square, 34 × 34 mm, two-body assembly, stepped bezel, snap-on back, four straight soldered lugs, reference and case number struck inside the back. Signed crown between two rectangular pushers. Two-tone dial, champagne centre and silvered outer zone, painted black Arabic numerals, running seconds at 9 o'clock and 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock, leaf hands. Plexiglas crystal. Alligator strap, Rolex yellow gold pin buckle of later date than the watch.

Horological context

Founded in London in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis, Rolex moved to Geneva in 1919 and built its reputation on the waterproof Oyster case, patented in 1926, then on the Perpetual rotor in 1931. The chronograph long stood apart: until the mid-1940s the maison housed it in shaped cases made in very small series, most often without the Oyster, in a period when the design was not yet settled. Rolex signed only three square-cased chronographs: Ref. 3529, the stepped 3830 of the early 1940s, and the 8206 known as the "Gabus", from 1949 to 1952. The 3529 opens the series.

Character

The dial carries its wording in French — CHRONOGRAPHE beneath the crown, ANTI-MAGNETIQUE above the six — and it has been left as it is: the central disc has taken on a fine patina, the silvered outer zone keeps a real contrast.

This exceptionally rare example escapes what is known of the reference. The available public registers describe Ref. 3529 in a single format: twenty-five to twenty-seven millimetres across, with the ten-and-a-half-ligne Valjoux 69 calibre. This one measures thirty-four millimetres and houses a thirteen-ligne Valjoux 23, twenty-nine millimetres in diameter: the smaller case could not take it. The back nonetheless carries the reference 3529 and case number 55011, struck beneath the Swiss assay office's fineness mark and the case maker's lozenge. The reference therefore exists in two formats, and this is the more singular of the two.

Serviced. Normal patina and wear consistent with age. Delivered with the Contre-Temps box and the Contre-Temps 12-month warranty certificate.