100 Years of Wristwatches

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Nov 19, 2000

LOT 254

Rolex Oyster Perpetual 'Milgauss', Superlative Chronometer, Officially Certified, Ref. 6541. Production ofthis reference started circa 1958.Fine, water-resistant, center-seconds, self-winding, stainless steel gentleman's wristwatch. Accompanied bya stainless steel Oyster bracelet.

CHF 18,000 - 22,000

USD 11,000 - 13,000

Sold: CHF 27,600

C. three-body, polished and brushed, screwed down case back and crown, graduated black bezel, anti-magneticprotecting cap. D. black soft iron with radium-coated round indexes and steel triangular markers. 'Dauphine'radium-coated steel hands. M. Cal. 1080, rhodium plated, 25 jewels, lever escapement, monometallic balanceadjusted to temperatures and 5 positions, shock-absorber, self-compensating flat balance-spring.Dial, case and movement signed.Diam. 38 mm.


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Grading System
Case: 4

Fair
Movement: 4*

Fair

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 20 - 01

Notes

Ref. 6541The name: 'Milgaus', combines 'Mil', meaning 'mille' (a thousand), and 'Gaus', for the unit of measure ofmagnetism. A normal movement can withstand up to 70-80 Gaus, but over that its working order would becompromised. Most good watches resist magnetic fields of 60 to 70 Gauss, but the 'Milgauss' keeps its astoundingprecision in magnetic fields up to 1000 Gauss, which were intolerable conditions for all. Yet with its dial, ring and thecover of its movement in soft iron -a true 'Oyster'- Rolex created a model which brilliantly resolved the problem.Carl Friedrich Gauss, German Astronomer, Mathematician and Physicist (1777 - 1855).Author of important works on celestial mechanics, geodesy, magnetism, electromagnetism and optics. His modernconception of the abstract nature of mathematics allowed him to extend the field of the theory of numbers. He was thefirst to discover the non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry.Gauss - magnetic induction unit, symbol g in the C.G.S. system.A similar watch is published in 'Collezionare Orologi da Polso Rolex' New Edition, by OSVALDO PATRIZZI, GUIDOMONDANI Editore Genova, 263.