Okay, so you might find this interesting. You're right about it being inter-war. I know that my great aunt gifted it to her husband in 1937 (and as you can see from the wear on the back, he apparently wore it pretty constantly until his death in 1987). There is no serial number between the lugs on the watch. When I pull it out of the case, it looks pretty. The inside back of the case has a number, but 51177 doesn't seem to match up with the site you linked to. Then, when holding it in the light, you see another number, scarcely discernible. Looks like N1925, but that doesn't get me anywhere, either. A few numbers appear to have been scratched in there, actually (none of which are easily distinguishable). Edit: Of course the date on the inscription may not have been the year Phyllis actually gave Charl the watch. 51777 puts it bang in 1938, and she might have given it to commemorate their first year anniversary or similar. That would make perfect sense. Thanks for your help. Edit 2: It actually looks remarkably like this one circa 1930 (albeit much more loved).
Jonathan Dillon April 13, 1861 Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon April 13, 1861 Washington and thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon. Watchmakers do this thing? when they service your watch, they scratch whatever the fuck they feel like in the case back. Or they used to. I don't know anyone who does anymore. But fuckin' hell back in the day you were lucky if they restrained themselves to the year and their initials. I became known for not throwing away ladies' watches. That got me bags and bags and bags of ladies' watches. I probably have fifty? Seventy? And I've taken a half-dozen apart in an attempt to fix them and get them back together (I have failed each time; working on a pocket watch is one thing, working on a wristwatch is quite another, but working on a ladies' watch is something that every watchmaker I know except two refuse to do). And this one? Angie wore it for more than 20 years. I know 'cuz there's more than 20 years between the service marks. She had it overhauled at least three times. It was never worth more than a couple hundred bucks. And that right there was where I decided the proletariat needed watches too - something they could keep, something worth hanging on to. That, and the bracelet I restored on something worthless that belonged to someone's grandmother. That and the 1972 Lorus I painstakingly refurbished because someone's dad wore it for 35 years. That's a Rolex Prince, by the way. They're Collector favorites because they're one of the few examples of Rolex stepping outside of their box (recently, anyway).
Fucking fascinating. There's a PhD waiting on watch inscriptions that needs to be written. You've now taught me a lot about my increasingly awesome Rolex watch and I've decided I'm going to wear it a lot more than I have been (it works fine in terms of accuracy - provided I wind it daily). Part of my reluctance to wear it has been the erosion on the back - you can see in the image that there's a hole in the case, and I'm anxious about sweat or rain getting in and corroding the mechanism. Presumably I could get a goldsmith or someone to electroplate the back, but I don't want to damage the inscription. Also money, but in the past couple of years that's been less of an issue.
I think you owe it to yourself to take it to the local Rolex dealer and say "this was my grandfather's watch, I think it's awesome, I would like to wear it in a responsible way that will not harm it, what should I do to keep it happy" and they will say "welcome to the family you are our favorite form of customer excuse us while we all geek out about your watch go over there and look at new rolexes for a few minutes and then come back so we can all be excited about this marvelous ancient treasure together." An overhaul should be $400-$600. Fixing the back shouldn't be more than a couple hundred. The oil used in watches gets kinda funky after 10 years; it won't hurt anything but a 10-year overhaul cycle is de rigeur.
You've convinced me. This place is right around the corner from the office I'm supposed to be working at today, so I'll put on a proper pair of trousers and head out. Also, you've had what sounds like a colossally shit week. I can't say much other than that I'm always grateful for the chat and I hope things turn around for you asap. Next time I'm in the US we seriously need to have beer.