

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

1948 Roland

The 1948 Roland was only made for one year.  I think one of the best parts of this watch is just saying the name, Roland, Roland, Roland, keep them doggies Roland.  (No offense to all those Rolands out there).

As far as the design goes, it has an interesting case.  I don't know how to describe it... a bunch of rounded figures at the top and bottom between the fixed lugs.  It's quite similar to another model from slightly earlier - the 1940 Russell, except the Russell has flexible lugs.  Both models use the same crystal.

You're going to find a 17 jewel 987A under the hood unless someone made a swap over the past 60+ years.  They're relatively easy to come by considering they were only available in 1948 and tend to wear a lot to the rounded ball-section of the front bezel, so getting a nice case is the key to this model.

All cleaned up I think it's a pretty sharp looking watch, plus it has a fun name.


  1. Thank you for your valuable information.
    Please how much this watch worth now days?

    Thank you

    1. If it's recently serviced and doesn't show a lot of wear to the bezel then it's probably in the $200-$250 range. It's a fairly common model. If it's not in good shape, considerably less.

  2. How often do I wind the Roland? I’m afraid to over wind it. It runs for 6 hrs before stopping. I’m not used to a manual wind watch.

    1. You wind it until it stops turning. You can't overwind it. Overwind is a term for a fully wound watch that doesn't work. Once it's fully wound it should run about 30+ hours, assuming the mainspring is in good shape.

  3. Thank you. I’m taking it to be looked at and cleaned up today.