Rolex Admiralty history
On December 1, 1922, Wilsdorf registered the brand name "Admiralty," but there is evidence of watches bearing the Admiralty brand that predate this registration.
It appears that the Admiralty brand was closely associated with Northern Goldsmiths, a renowned jewelry shop located in Newcastle Upon Tyne. This shop has an impressive showroom on the corner of Pilgrim Street and Blackett Street, where it has been situated since 1892. Many watches are found bearing both the "Northern Goldsmiths" and "Admiralty" branding, indicating that Admiralty was likely originally a brand owned by Northern Goldsmiths.
Today, Northern Goldsmiths is part of the UK-wide Goldsmiths chain. They claim to have opened their first showroom in Newcastle in 1778 and assert that they were "the UK's first appointed stockist of Rolex watches in 1919." However, the exact meaning of this claim is not entirely clear. Wilsdorf registered the Rolex name in 1908, and watches featuring Rolex branding on the ratchet wheels of Aegler movements were in existence
prior to World War One. It's important to note that during this time, Wilsdorf and
Davis did not sell Rolex watches directly
to the public. Ironically, it seems that today, Goldsmiths wishes to assert that
Northern Goldsmiths was one of the first
Rolex stockists, even though at the time, the company preferred to use its own
Admiralty branding.
Northern Goldsmiths was certainly a significant jeweler in the early twentieth
century. They commissioned Sidney Better, a springer and timer based in Arnold
Circus, London, to create several tourbillon watches for entry into the Kew watch trials. Between 1918 and 1922, Better's best watches consistently received marks of over 90. Only one watch timed by Better was submitted for the 1921-1922
trial and received an impressive score of 94.2, the highest ever awarded for an English watch.
One notable example of an Admiralty-branded watch is a wristwatch equipped with an Aegler Rebberg movement with "Admiralty" engraved on the ratchet wheel. This watch was sold as an "Antique 1914 Silver Rolex Admiralty Wrist Watch." The inside back of the silver case was not shown in the photograph, but the description indicated that it featured import hallmarks for London 1914/15, with the W&D sponsor's mark for Wilsdorf & Davis and "the Rolex stamp." These markings can be faintly observed in the photograph, with the W&D sponsor's mark located just above the serial number and the underlined "Rolex" at the top. The London Assay Office import town mark, the sign of Leo, is also partially visible.
This watch is notable for several reasons. It boasts a 15-jewel Aegler Rebberg movement, the same type used in Rolex wristwatches of the era. The presence of the W&D sponsor's mark suggests that it was Wilsdorf and Davis that submitted the case for hallmarking, indicating they were the importers of the watch.
One particularly interesting feature is a two-headed arrow with a circle at its center, located below the word "Admiralty" on the ratchet wheel. The same symbol was employed on the ratchet wheel of 7-jewel Aegler movements with "Rolex" on the ratchet wheel. If this watch had been branded as "Rolex," there would have been "15 Jewels" in place of this arrow. However, it appears that due to the longer Admiralty name, there was not enough space to include "15 jewels," so the arrow was used to fill the otherwise blank area.
Although there is no explicit mention of Northern Goldsmiths on the watch, it is likely that this wristwatch, featuring the Aegler movement branded as Admiralty in a case with Wilsdorf and Davis marks, was supplied to Northern Goldsmiths by Wilsdorf and Davis. This suggests that Northern Goldsmiths was an important enough customer that Wilsdorf agreed to have their Admiralty brand placed on the ratchet wheel instead of Rolex.
It's important to note that this 1914/15 Northern Goldsmiths Admiralty-branded wristwatch predates Wilsdorf's official registration of the name "Admiralty" as a brand on December 1, 1922.