Cellini Prince: Why Rolex is More than just the Submariner

Think of Rolex and there’s a good chance your thoughts will drift to the eponymous symbol for quality- the Submariner. If you’re of an older vintage, it’s also likely that the Explorer or President’s Datejust would come to mind. But there’s one timepiece which has set quietly in Rolex’s retinue of robust creations which deserves greater air time. I’m taking about the Cellini Rolex Prince.

Though it’s not the Rolex that most are familiar with, the Cellini Prince occupies a treasured place in horological history. Birthed in 1928, the Prince was an avant-garde trailblazer, a rectangular timepiece in a realm of round watches. It’s distinctiveness extended beyond aesthetics and into the Hermann Aegler movement produced for Hans Wilsdorf: a patented “shaped watch movement with seconds dial with winding barrel and balance wheel on opposite ends of the movement” – foundationally, the two vital mechanisms set apart meant that a Aegler could equip the calibre with a larger balance wheel thus attain more accuracy and likewise, a larger barrel on the other end, meant longer power reserves. In short, it became the first elegant dress watch with the wherewithal to become chronometer certified.

Though discontinued by the turn of the 50s, the Prince was the world’s first serially produced timepiece to achieve chronometer certification, as an industry icon, it was Rolex at the intersection of stylish sophistication and technical perfection. Today, the Cellini Rolex Prince is a homage to that emblematic art deco timepiece, marrying technology with the purity of fine watchmaking, powered by a manually-wound in-house Rolex calibre 7040-1 with Paraflex shock absorbers and a power reserve of 72 hours, much as Wilsdorf himself had intended.

[Look out for more 1930s time-keeping icons in our May issue of The Millenary Post available first week of the month at book stores and petrol stations]