1930 Gold Rolex Hides ‘Absolutely Gorgeous’ Movement Worth Thousands | Antiques Roadshow UK

This is indeed fairly valuable and the magic name for those that don't recognise the case is Rolex and it is in two colour gold. We've got the white gold here and then we've got the yellow gold and typical Rolex serial number on the back. So just that little nib up okay and there we have it. Now be honest with me, do you think anything's been done to that dial? Yes because when I inherited the watch it was foxed and almost impossible to read so I understand it's been replaced. Which is slightly disappointing but let us have a look at the movement. Right. Oh it's lovely. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's observatory quality times six positions. Right. It is absolutely top of the range Rolex quality. And what sort of date would it be? Well all Rolex watches should when they're imported into the UK be properly assayed and this particular one again the case fully signed and it's got the back-to-back F of Glasgow and the H of 1930. Right. So it was actually imported by Rolex through Glasgow to be retailed in the UK in 1930. Yes I thought it was about that period but I wasn't at all sure. Well I have to say that you've basically got a nice early Rolex. Yes. Even in that state which is not the finest. No no. I'm going to quote you between three and four thousand. Really? Yeah. All right. It's a legacy of my grandfather's days he was in the merchant navy and used to collect ceramic items. I don't know too much about it. It's a lovely piece. I love the translucent effect and the colours but I'm fairly ignorant about its background and certainly it's worth. Okay. Well you said ceramics but this is of course glass and it's glass in many layers. When you actually stroke the surface of this you can feel the layers. Those layers have been added subtracted using acids and engraving tools and as part of all that process we actually have the name of the place it was made. Nancy. Nancy which is famous for its creative schools in the late 19th century early 20th century and the most famous glass maker of all at Nancy. Emile Gallet. An absolute genius when it came to producing coloured glass. His glass was extremely expensive and soon some of his neighbours discovered that they could probably achieve similar effects to Gallet by other and more less expensive techniques and this is one of them. This is the Dome brothers. His name appears there. Dome. They set up a rival factory and they produce this sort of glass. Now this is not as good as the best of Gallet but there is something about Dome which is particularly wonderful. I love the dryness of the textures and the terrific range of colours. You've got these wonderful blue berries and then you've these russet coloured leaves with flushes of green and the shape of the glass itself. It's it looks like a what what the French call an objet trouvé. It looks as though that grew doesn't look as it was made by human hand and of course that is the whole secret to the Art Nouveau period and I think Dome is fantastic. The other wonderful thing about Dome glass is the colours you see when you're looking at light that's reflected off the surface. Very different to the colours you actually see when you when you hold it up to the light. Now if you hold it up to the light you'll see how light going through the glass gives you a fantastic range of colours. It's just absolutely wonderful. So although it's poor man's Gallet which is bad news I'm afraid, I think if you were to put that up sale today it would fetch somewhere between £700 and £1,000. That's a pleasant surprise.