Art Deco Rolex "Marconi" watch - Exploding Dial - Alice in Wonderland - serviced with warranty

STOP! READ THIS! Here is what we know about it:

• men's/unisex Art Deco "Marconi" watch—Switzerland, circa 1930s
• Handmade steampunk-style leather band with brass buckle fits wrists up to 6.5"
• Runs great for everyday use
• Serviced, cleaned, and adjusted by a master watchmaker
• "Exploding" dial clearly refurbished by a previous owner
• Alice in Wonderland on your wrist!
• Hand-winding Swiss-made mechanical movement, with 15 jewels—rubies!
• 48mm tall, including the wire lugs
• 27mm wide, including the winding crown
• Six month warranty for the mechanical workings

During their early years, Rolex made watches under various names, including Tudor, Oyster, Unicorn, and Marconi. According to the markings on the movement, this appears to be a Rolex "Marconi" watch. I acquired it from a collector in Mason, Tennessee, USA. I bought it for my personal collection because it looked, simple as that!

The gold filled case is curved rectangular with wire lugs. It's BIG! The 46 mm lug to lug height will work on the biggest of wrists. It appears to be from the "transitional period"—when the timepiece market was shifting from pocket watches to wrist watches. Transitional cases have vestigial features left over from pocket watches. For example, this watch has a hinged front—allowing easy access to the dial and movement. (Why do you need easy access to the internal workings? I seriously have no idea.) I'm not certain about the provenance of the movement, but it appears to be a Swiss made Beguelin 15 jewel "13 ligne", which was the standard movement used in Rolex watches in this period.

This case is signed internally in large upper case letters as “RWCLtd” (Rolex Watch Company Limited) and has a Glasgow import hallmark. This case type is very unusual—and so very cool!

It's in good, used condition. The case has very minor wear commensurate with age—a cleaner example would probably be impossible to find. A similar comment can be applied to the very clearly refurbished dial, signed in black letters as "MARCONI”. There is subtle, but visible wear to the gold plating on the back of the case and the winding crown. The crystal has been polished, and is perfectly smooth and without scratches. It is not water resistant. Purists might complain because the dial isn't original. But, who cares? It looks GLORIOUS. I love this watch, it's just so cool looking, and it runs fine! I've worn it every single day for weeks.

It was fully serviced by a master watchmaker in 2019, and is in excellent mechanical condition. Service included full disassembly, cleaning, reassembly, calibration, and very careful polishing.

My photos are very high resolution, showing tiny specks of dust and micro-scratches that aren’t noticeable to the naked eye. Please inspect the photos carefully to be sure the condition is up to your standards.

The text below is from the previous owner:

As a collector and fan of Rolex, it's easy to overlook the fact that the early success of the Rolex Watch Company was founded on use of the innovative cutting edge technologies that were available at that time. Rolex constantly pushed back the boundaries of what could be achieved in watchmaking. The very early Rolex models from this period were sold largely as watches that were superior in reliability when compared to the other makers at this time.

Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of the Rolex, was not shy and was constantly trumpeting the accuracy levels to which his Rolex were tuned and by associating his products with pioneering figures of the time, including scientists, sports figures such as land speed record challengers. This idea of selling by association was relatively new in the early 1900’s and it is indicative of Rolex and but it was mainly Wilsdorf’s vision that he chose to register the “Marconi” name in January 1911 (registration number 28769 at the London trademarks office). This was actually before he officially patented the Rolex name in 1915. However, the Marconi name was never used on its own, and first appeared on dials as “Rolex Marconi” in 1920's.

An explanation should be given as to why Rolex chose to acquire the Marconi brand name for his watches. In 1901 Gugliemo Marconi successfully demonstrated the first use of radio waves as a means of communication. In 1909, Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics and his business had become a great commercial success. Radio communication was “state of art technology" and this was very exciting to the general public. Rolex assumed that by registering the Marconi name and using it on their watches, he could benefit from this enthusiasm and once again, associate his products with this innovation and progress.

It is worth noting that the very best that Rolex manufactured was made for the Marconi line. Rolex did not just put the Marconi name on the standard Rolex models but on the more expensive models that Rolex were manufacturing. The majority of these Marconi models, due to the enormous amount of work required producing them and their very high prices, were sold through a very small group of Fine London jewelers whose customers could afford the high prices. The hand assembled movement present here is fully signed “Marconi” and is a beautiful 15 jeweled lever item. It was the early movements like this one that went on to establish Rolex as the finest wristwatch maker in the world, and the detail that went into creating them forged a legendary reputation for accuracy and reliability that is still the basis of Rolex marketing strategy today. Watches of this grade were produced in small numbers for customers whom price mattered little and quite literally wanted “the best of the best”. Every surface on Rolex Marconi movements was hand finished to perfection.

The moving, internal mechanical parts are guaranteed to run for six months from the date of purchase—except water damage. If it stops working, just contact me and we will arrange for you to ship it back to me. I'll fix it up and send it right back. Easy!

I can fix this watch out of warranty—or any other watch. I also buy vintage watches. Contact me for more info.

I will ship globally.

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About Me
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Who gave you your first watch? How old were you? Where were you? Everybody I ask has a very unique, intimate story to tell. Why? Your first watch is magic. It’s the first time you gain agency over your most precious, limited resource: time. I wanted to feel that magic again. So, I started buying vintage watches that made me feel romantic and nostalgic—for moments I’d lived, and for moments I might have lived if things had turned out just a tiny bit differently.

Collecting (and wearing) vintage timepieces is truly a rich man’s game. A nice, mid-century Rolex will cost at least a few thousand bucks; a vintage Patek Philippe will set you back ten times that! I’m no rich man. My budget for my personal watches is more like $50-300. There must be low-priced watches that Swiss-watch-snobs with deep pockets don’t care about, right?

Turns out the answer is YES! There are plenty of extremely rare, conversation-starting, iconic timepieces out there. You just need to know where to look and what to look for. They’re frequently made by the same Swiss horologists—often with some of the same exact parts as the prestige brands. I scour auctions, estate sales, and curio shops around the world to find them. I taught myself to clean and repair them so I could keep my costs down—and teamed up with a watchmaker for issues I can’t figure out on my own.

But, I can’t keep them all. My Etsy shop lets me keep my collection ever-changing—while bringing you a curated collection of the coolest watches around.