Rolex antique Oyster straps

Aug 29, 2022

The Rolex Antique Oyster Strap, like the antique bezel, is also an important accessory that affects the atmosphere and value of antique watches. I hope it can serve as a reference for friends who plan to buy antique watches. Although they are both called Oyster straps, in fact it covers rivet straps from the 1950s (1954-1971), folding straps mainly from the 60s to the 70s (1967-1976) and later solid straps (1976 ~) and other types. Depending on the model, the matching straps are also different, and it is almost difficult to find information on which straps are matched with which watches, which is also a problem that professionals will worry about.

In fact, there are many senior collectors who like to collect antique straps, and some of them even own more straps than watches, which shows that it is a very attractive watch part. Depending on the straps that the watch is matched with, the overall atmosphere will change immediately, and even some will greatly affect the actual value of the watch, resulting in a gap of thousands or even tens of thousands. It is easy to fail if you rashly sell those antique straps, because there have been many fake straps from the past, and their workmanship can be said to be fake, so be very careful. In addition, it is also very difficult to grasp which strap to match with your watch, so this part also needs to be selected carefully. Sometimes there are some watches sold with straps that do not match the era or straps of completely different styles. This is because the straps are consumables. When they are brought to the manufacturer for maintenance, most of them will be damaged. Ask for a new one. Therefore, the original watch straps are very few and have a high scarcity value. When buying an antique Rolex, it is recommended that you first have a certain understanding of the strap before buying it.

The Rolex antique watch strap was not actually produced by Rolex before, and there must be many friends who know it. It is made by Gay Freres Company (the above picture shows the characteristics of the bracelet), which started out in the production of pocket watch bracelets in 1830. Founded by a company with a long history, it has produced watch straps of many brands such as the famous Zenith, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, and Rolex is said to be its original customer, and its superb technology is highly praised by Rolex. On the road to producing practical watches, Rolex undoubtedly relied on the technical support of the Gay Freres company. In 1950, Rolex produced and popularized the sports watches that everyone knows now. To be able to gain such popularity, I think a large part of it is the practicality of the watch, and the deeper part is the credit of the Oyster bracelet. After that, Rolex acquired the Gay Freres company in 1998 and achieved large-scale efficient production.

There are three types of straps produced by Gay Freres, namely the [rivet strap] from 1954 to 1971, the [folding strap] from 1967 to 1976, which is called [Folded Link] in foreign countries, and 1976. In the future [solid watch straps], whether the [solid watch straps] can be classified as antique watch straps is subject to discussion, but here the production of the 4-digit model sports models, that is, the last year of low vibration, will be produced until 1990. of watches are classified in the category of antique watches.

In addition, about Rolex’s antique straps, everyone must know that there are also [WAB] [England straps] in the 1940s (top left in the picture above), and [American straps] produced in places other than Switzerland in order to avoid customs duties ( Above right), in addition to [Mexican strap] (below left above) and [Japanese strap] (below right above).

This time, I will mainly introduce the straps produced by the Swiss Gay Freres company, but because the [rivet strap] (right picture) in the [American strap] is very similar to the Gay Freres strap (left picture), so before introducing Briefly talk about the difference between them. For friends who are new to antiques, this is a place where it is easy to mix things up. For the convenience of comparison, the ones produced by Gay Freres are called [Swiss straps] and [American straps].

The difference between Swiss (left picture above) and American style (right picture above) When viewed from the top, the size of the middle section is different. The 20mm strap is clear at a glance. The section in the middle of the Swiss strap is designed to be large, American style. The strap is much narrower than the Swiss strap. The 19mm strap also has the same tendency. Compared with the 20mm, the strap itself is narrower, and it is not easy to see.

If you want to distinguish them at a glance, you can judge from the shape of the rivets on the side. The rivets protruding are the Swiss straps (above left), and the center of the rivets on the American strap (above right) is hollow.