Lot Essay
Fuerza Aérea del Perú
Rolex sports watches, particularly the Submariner model, have always been the watch of choice of diver's organisations and several armed forces; the most renowned certainly COMEX and the British Royal Navy (see the preceding lots 145 and 146), highly coveted collectors items in today's market.
It is however much less known that small series of watches were also supplied to forces such as Fuerza Aérea del Perú, consequently rendering the few models appearing in public extremely rare.
It is thought that as of the early 1960s, the Peruvian Air Force commissioned Rolex with the supply of watches for their personnel, mainly different Cosmograph Daytona models but also references 6238, the celebrated Pre-Daytona, and 1680, the Submariner with date, which were issued to the superior Officers. The case backs were engraved with the inscription Fuerza Aérea del Perú to the outside, the serial number was repeated to the inside - the numbers in the case back of the present watch read 6263 and 4017220.
Reference 6263 was introduced into the market in 1971. Different versions of the model are described and illustrated in I Cronografi Rolex - La Leggenda, Pucci Papaleo Editore, pp. 328-335.
Rolex sports watches, particularly the Submariner model, have always been the watch of choice of diver's organisations and several armed forces; the most renowned certainly COMEX and the British Royal Navy (see the preceding lots 145 and 146), highly coveted collectors items in today's market.
It is however much less known that small series of watches were also supplied to forces such as Fuerza Aérea del Perú, consequently rendering the few models appearing in public extremely rare.
It is thought that as of the early 1960s, the Peruvian Air Force commissioned Rolex with the supply of watches for their personnel, mainly different Cosmograph Daytona models but also references 6238, the celebrated Pre-Daytona, and 1680, the Submariner with date, which were issued to the superior Officers. The case backs were engraved with the inscription Fuerza Aérea del Perú to the outside, the serial number was repeated to the inside - the numbers in the case back of the present watch read 6263 and 4017220.
Reference 6263 was introduced into the market in 1971. Different versions of the model are described and illustrated in I Cronografi Rolex - La Leggenda, Pucci Papaleo Editore, pp. 328-335.