Rolex DIDN'T make the first self winding watch!

[bobbee]

I like Rolex, and have nothing but respect for (most!) collectors of them, but I see and hear their claims of inventing the automatic wrist watch first, and laugh quietly to myself.
This is their patent, from 1933: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publ...&locale=en_EP#

We can see that it was applied for in Aug. 1931, registered on 31st. Oct. 1932, and published 2nd. Jan. 1933.

Rolex claim on their website to have "invented and patented the world's first self winding mechanism with a perpetual rotor" in 1931.

This is not the truth.

Here is a patent I found in 2015, posted elsewhere.

https://www.google.co.uk/patents/US1...ed=0CCoQ6AEwAg

https://patentimages.storage.googlea...S1853637-0.png

As can be seen in both the description and the images, the patent was for a self-winding movement, "This invention relates to watches and more especially to wrist watches", that worked in the same (similar) fashion to a Rolex Aegler movement!
Yet amazingly was applied for in Jan. 1929, and granted in April 1932, long before Rolex.

I would like to take a moment here to point out this: A certain watch museum curator has claimed that the Rolex patent is not for a self-winding mechanism at all. He claims it is actually for a manual winding mechanism.
I and many others took him at his word at first, but my later research found this to be false.
I came to this conclusion by reading the patent claims in English, here: http://translationportal.epo.org/emt...=fr&TRGLANG=en

Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the ratchet wheels is connected to a usual rim of the retainer while the other meshes with a gear operated by a mass which moves relative to the ratchet Built during the accelerations imposed on the watch.

As can be seen, it mentions a gear operated by a mass which moves relative to the ratchet, and this means a rotor as the mass.
I was still not believed by the curator, but I will leave it to yourselves to decide who may be correct.

Back to the topic in hand, and we can also see in the patent that the company backing Max Reiner is the Perpetual Self Winding Watch Co. Operating out of New York and owned/run by Emil Frey, the company went on to market a pendulum-type self winding wrist watch, which did not prove popular.
Other companies that predate Rolex include John Harwood, who patented and marketed several self winding watches. First in 1923 with his bumper movement, for which Rolex were required to publish an apology in British newspapers in the 1960's. Rolex changed their claim from "First self winding watch" to "first self winding perpetual rotor watch".

Even earlier than Harwood was the L. LeRoy self winding watch, several examples have been found of these pendulum powered wrist watches, which date - according to LeRoy's records - to 1922.

Harwood watch.





LeRoy watch.









Max Reiner actually had five different patents regarding self-winding watch movements, a very busy and inventive mind.


Rolex didn't even have the first marketed waterproof watch with the Oyster in 1927, this was predated by well over a decade by the same company that marketed Harwood watches at the time, Walter Vogt, later to become Fortis. Their watch was called the "Aquatic", and each watch was kept under water for 14 days before being placed on sale, and featured a hinged metal hook end that held down the crown.


Aquatic watch.







So, don't believe everything you hear!

Thanks, Bob.