Vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual Bubbleback reference 3131 features a white dial with applied gold Arabic numerals, blue dauphine hands, and "Chronometre" designation, housed in an 18K yellow gold case with domed Bubbleback case back. Aftermarket Steelinox stainless steel bracelet.

Automatic, 31mm, circa 1946, 73.76 grams total, 7.5-inch bracelet, 9/10 condition.

The Rolex Bubbleback is one of the most historically significant and beloved vintage Rolex families ever produced, the first generation of Rolex's self-winding Oyster Perpetual watches, introduced in the 1930s and produced through the late 1940s, named for the distinctive dome-shaped case back that accommodated the larger early Perpetual rotor mechanism before miniaturization allowed the flat case back of later references. Reference 3131, produced in the mid-1940s, represents the Bubbleback at its most refined, the full-sized automatic movement in an 18K yellow gold case, with the Chronometre designation on the dial confirming that the movement passed the stringent precision testing of the era. The white dial with gold Arabic numerals and blue steel hands is one of the most sought-after and visually distinctive Bubbleback dial configurations, the blue hands providing an elegant contrast against the white ground that reads as both instantly legible and beautiful. A circa 1946 Bubbleback in 18K gold with a 9/10 condition presentation and a documented 73.76-gram total weight represents a genuinely remarkable survival of one of the most important chapters in Rolex's history. For the serious vintage Rolex collector, no reference carries more historical weight than the Bubbleback, the watch that proved automatic winding was commercially viable and set the trajectory for every self-winding Rolex that followed.