The Rolex 6034 was introduced in 1950, and is affectionately known as a “Pre-Daytona” (6239) Rolex. Clearly from an earlier age, the 6034, as well as the 6234 and 6238 with which it shares the “Pre-Daytona” designation, features printing more typical of 1950’s design, lacks a numerical bezel, and has 3-6-9 long marks on the minute counter used for timing international phone calls at 3-minute increments as were charged. The “Pre-Daytonas” all have multi-scale dials, both tachymeter and telemeter.
The manually-wound (Valjoux 72) Rolex 6034 features a screw-down Oyster case and crown.[1] Within the Rolex 6034 family, most well-known is the steel 6034 with white or silver dials, and blue and red (sometimes black) scales to differentiate timing. Less common are 6034 yellow gold and (very rare) pink gold cases, estimated at under 110 pieces manufactured.[2] Regardless of case material, the least common dial is black, which is the focus of this research, shown below.
As with the rest of the 6034s, the steel Rolex 6034 with black dial was produced between 1950 and 1953, based on production tables. Some auction houses reference 1954 as a production date, but without having seen Rolex sales or marketing material from 1954, I’ll leave the end date as 1953.
To place the Rolex 6034 within Rolex Oyster chronograph family history:
Rolex launched the first Oyster chronograph, reference 3481, which featured a screw-back case and crown in 1939 (only 29mm), as well as its larger successor, reference 3668 (35mm; featuring a distinctive reeded pink or yellow gold bezel with rectangular and circular hour markers), which is believed to have produced approximately 30 examples.[3,4] Even more rare was the subsequent 6232 (1940(?)), with an estimated series of just 12 pieces[5]). The two-piece Rolex 4500 was introduced in 1945.[6] These references had only minute counter for timing, lacking a 12-hour register.
The first three button chronograph with 12-hour register Rolex to use an Oyster case was the 5034, introduced in 1949. The 5034 featured a multi-scale dial, with both a tachymeter and telemeter scales overlapping the registers, just as would be seen on the 6034 in the following year.
[1] Rolex
[2] Le Monde Edmond, Past Auction Killer A gold Rolex 6034, 18 June 2019
[3] https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/rolex-a-rare-stainless-steel-and-gold-5731344-details.aspx
[4] Phillips
[5] Christie’s
[6] Christie’s