One Of The Rarest Rolex References Of Them All: The Oyster Zerograph Monopusher Flyback Chronograph Reference 3346
Watch auctions have evolved from relatively staid events for die-hard collectors into ever increasingly well-hyped media events for the ultra-wealthy.
And while that’s not a bad thing in itself, the excited rhetoric, stratospherically high estimates, and hammer prices often attract attention away from the watches themselves, making it easy to lose track of what made these watches so desirable in the first place.
So now that the dust has settled on the recent Phillips Start-Stop-Reset auction of stainless steel chronographs in Geneva, which saw all 88 of its lots sold, I’d like to focus on a watch that I thought stood out from the very strong field.
Rolex Oyster Zerograph monopusher flyback chronograph Reference 3346 from 1937
In the spirit of go big or go home, let’s look at one of the most desirable timepieces ever to come up at auction: a Rolex Reference 3346 in stainless steel from 1937.
This Rolex was lot 36 in the 2016 Phillips Start-Stop-Reset auction, and it ended up hammering for 389,000 Swiss francs at the May sale.
This is what makes this 80-year-old timepiece so desirable:
- It’s one of the rarest Rolex references ever with only this one model having surfaced
- It was the very first Rolex chronograph in an Oyster case.
- It was a calibrated rotating bezel, the template for all Rolex sports watches that followed.
Rolex Oyster Zerograph monopusher flyback chronograph Reference 3346 from 1937
This flyback chronograph was the most complicated movement that Rolex had ever made at the time, is was developed in-house and was patented.
It is the only flyback chronograph that Rolex has ever made.
It also happens to be the very first Oyster-cased chronograph that Rolex has ever made.
Rolex Oyster Zerograph monopusher flyback chronograph Reference 3346 from 1937
It includes the very first revolving bezel Rolex outfitted a watch with. This feature would not become a serial element at the brand until the 1950s.
Its California dial is a feature that is found on only one of two Rolex models. Ever.
The hammer price of 389,000 Swiss francs was near the middle of its estimate, which was between 250,000 and 500,000 Swiss francs.
Rolex Oyster Zerograph monopusher flyback chronograph Reference 3346 from 1937
For more information, please visit www.phillips.com/detail/ROLEX/CH080016/36.
I’d like to thank Paul Boutros and Alex Ghotbi from Phillips for their help in helping to select this exceptional and interesting piece from an auction consisting entirely of exceptional and interesting pieces.
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[…] it so valuable, but using that principle, it does remain a bit of mystery to me as to why this Rolex Reference 3347 Oyster Zerograph Monopusher Flyback Chronograph from 1937 in Phillips’s May 2016 Start-Stop-Reset auction “only” achieved a hammer price of […]
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Is this a split second or a flyback chronograph? You say both… The Phillips catalog only says flyback…
That was an error that has now been corrected. Thank you, Britt.
It is not known how many Zerographs in total were made or even if any more were made. This is the only known example.
Something about the California dial that draws me in. Very cool.
How is a monopusher flyback chronograph supposed to work? Is there an additional flyback pusher in the crown? I can’t quite get myself to understand this.
And wouldn’t the 3346 be equally rare as the 4113 which was also only manufactured in twelve examples according to Mr. Goldberger.
The Zerograph was quite a primitive chronograph. The flyback was developed to be able to quickly measure successive intervals, but not very precisely.
The second hand did not stop when you pushed the monopusher, you had to glance at the time/position of the second hand and then press the monopusher to start timing a new event.