The Story of One of the Most Underrated Vintage Rolexes
A vintage Rolex Oyster Commander / Credit: Watches to Buy
Rolex has made a lot of interesting timepieces. It has also had several sub-brands or subsidiaries over the years, with Tudor being the most prominent. One of those subsidiaries, although its products are often considered a ‘Rolex’ like any other, was the Oyster Watch Company.
The Rolex Oyster Commander was made to the same high standard of Rolex but marked with ‘Oyster Watch Company’. These particular Rolex Oysters were meant to be sold in the Canadian market. Rolex has a long and interesting relationship with the Canadian market, with Rolex focusing on Canadian sales in the mid-20th century, supposedly because of an agreement with its supplier, Aegler. The famous department store in Toronto, Eaton’s, sold Rolexes at the time and often changed the name themselves to try to make them more appealing. Rolex endorsed this and made unique models like the Oyster Junior Sport and Oyster Recorda for the Canadian market, in trying to tailor their products to this new audience. There were also others like the Oyster Pioneer, the Oyster Aqua, and the Oyster Raleigh.
The Unique Features of the Rolex Oyster Commander
A beautiful gold Rolex Oyster Commander / Credit: Watches to Buy
What’s really attractive about the Oyster Commanders is the dials of the watch, which are so symmetrical and very aesthetically pleasing, with large Arabic numerals and “Oyster Commander” written beautifully on the dial. I often appreciate the ‘military look’ for this symmetry and its focus on legibility. In fact, many Rolex Oyster Commanders were destined for the wrists of Canadian soldiers fighting in the Second World War, and the Oyster Commander was manufactured to that standard. It was fitted with a FHF Caliber 59 manual winding movement made by Fabrique d'Horlogerie Fontainemelon, with the movement coming in 15 and 17 jewels versions, having 40 hours of power reserve, with a 18,000 bph rate. It was meant to be a reliable and durable timepiece, and was often used accordingly by the Canadian soldiers that were given them as part of their equipment during WWII. Of course, the Rolex Oyster Commander also came in a water-resistant Oyster case, usually gold-filled and ref. 3478; which was also used on several other Rolexes and Tudors at the time. Unfortunately, however, these ‘Canadian’ vintage Rolexes were only made mostly in the 1940s, and many were taken overseas by soldiers and either damaged or lost. Thus, vintage Rolex Oyster Commanders in collectible condition can be somewhat rare.
By: Andres Ibarguen
A vintage Rolex Sky-Rocket that was recently serviced, for sale on Toronto Vintage Watches.