1940's Rone Seven 30mm Dress Watch
£45.00Price
A Charming Rone Seven Watch from the late 40's . All Chrome case which has minor wear, there is some plate loss on the sides of the watch and there are scratches and pitting visible, the dial however is perfect - Two-tone, silver and grey, with stylised Arabic numerals - Running well, a lovely vintage watch in excellent original condition,
Rone watches were listed (by Pritchard) as Rone Watch Co. SA, Bole (circumflex on 'o'), Switzerland, and the same source mentions that they were listed again from 1966-1973. Rone watches were seemingly in production from the 1940s until the middle of the 1970s, and I have found references to examples that can be accurately dated for 1946, 1957, 1966, and 1970. A variety of models are found branded, Rone, including some in solid gold, which can have the maker's mark "RWC" or "RWCo" for Rone watch Company. In connection with the designation, RWC, there has been some confusion with Rolex but I can categorically state that Rone watches are not related to Rolex in any way.
The Rone Watch Company also used the brand names, Ronette and Ronet, and it appears that Rone Watch Company did not use its own movements. In the case of two early models, the Rone Seven and the Rone Sportsmans, the movement is marked for Rone with the brand and model names. In the mid-1960s, Rone was certainly using an automatic caliber by Anton Schild for at least some of its watches.
Rone Watch Company has been called a typical "assembler" of watches, and it is probably the case that Rone was not an in-house manufacturer of watches or movements. Nevertheless, the number and variety of surviving Rone branded watches bears testament to a firm that was fully engaged in producing watches for the general public over a long period of time, and it probably had input into the design and componentry decisions of its products.