Rolex Movements

MOVEMENTS

Since the beginning, Rolex used Aegler’s movements , so the firsts ones were powered by jewelled lever movements from Jean Aegler’s factory placed on Rebberg street which later gave the name to the movement. Rebberg movement was introduced in the early years of this century and was initially available with both lever and cylinder escapements.

In 1912, Hans Wilsdorf convinced of the imminent arrival of the wristwatch, gave Hermann Aegler the largest order the firm had ever received. The Rebberg was produced in two different grades, 15 and 7 jewels. The “Rolex 15 Jewels” model featured an all over machined finished to the plates and featured a main winding wheel.

Later, the Rebberg movement was replaced for the Hunter one which production would run almost twice as long. It was first introduced in 1923 in a 10 – ½” size not being recognizable to most of the people because the center wheel bridge is completely different from the later, a more common version. All Hunter movements have a polished rhodium finish. The initial version of the 10 – ½” Hunter was made in 3 different grades: Prima, Extra Prima and Ultra Prima; all of them with 15 jewel movements. The Hunter was the first Rolex movement capable of being timed to chronometer precision. These, were 16, 17 or 18 jewel movements with capped escape jewels, and always had a “Chronometer” sign on its dial.






In 1935 a new Rolex came up with a new patent, the 188077 model: the Superbalance in which timing adjustment screws were recessed from the external surfaces of the balance wheel. The introduction of the Superbalance produce the abandonment of the three grades previously used. The differences were now in the quality of the jewelling.

A visible way of judging the quality of the movement was by looking at the number of adjustments engraved on the main plate. The simplest movements had only two adjustments while better grade movements could have between five to seven adjustments.

From 1935 to 1969, the company produced two iterations of the same 10 – ½” Hunter Calibre: the first one has a much simplified balance wheel and the movements are usually 17 jewels and, the second one, also used this simplified balance wheel and is signed “Rolex 15 jewels Swiss made” on the winding wheel.

The earliest Perpetual models had three immediate factors: the engraving, the rotor and a small slot in the top plate of the frame in order to facilitate the adjustment of the regulator without removing the rotor and its accompanying plate. It was replaced by the “Swiss Made”, engraved around the center retaining screw.
The last original movement was replaced by one that reaches to the edge of the case and it has no longer a movement ring: the Chronometer. By 1944, it changed again adding the signature “oyster Perpetual” for the first time. Then, it changed again from being based on the 9 – ¾” Hunter to the 10 – ½” Hunter. This last version was launched as the calibre 720 and it continued till 1950 when it was changed for the calibre 1030. This last one had a flat rotor, two angled cuts ending in circles and a Rolex coronet engraved on the rotor with the legend “Rolex Perpetual”. The model 1030 wasn’t based on a Hunter movement and it was also the first to wind in both rotor directions. Even though the calibre 1030 was a very successful model for Rolex, because of technology developments, it was replaced in 1957 by the new calibre 1530.

The calibre 1530 featured a flatter rotor with five complete annular cuts and two open cuts. The movement was equipped with a free sprung balance produced by Stella for Rolex and it was timed by screws on the wheel rather than the traditional regulator.




Between 1957 and 1977 the 1500 series was introduced. The first one was the calibre 1535 with a progressive calendar mechanism. This model was followed by the 1555 calibre launched which was then followed by the 1565 GMT. In 1964, with the introduction of the faster beat train, meant the rename of the all the previous ones. The new Milgauss featured the calibre 1580. In 1977, the Datejust was introduced; calibre 3035, capable of improving the exactness of the watches. The calibre 3035 was the first one to be fitted with a “quick set” date wheel.












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Rolex Lady's Watches

THE LADY’S ROLEX

At the very beginning, when Wilsdorf and Davis established the original company, the wristwatches they produced were exclusively for ladies. All of these watches used Aegler movements signed “Rebberg” below the dial. The simple early lady’s watches are classic “transitional” pieces and were tonneau, baguette and rectangular models introduced around 1920. The first ones to incorporate the movement made exclusively for Rolex by Aegler.


During the war years Rolex focused on the production of man’s steel Oyster and the lady’s one were ignored till the Rolex Jubilee in November, 1945, when Rolex introduced two Jubilee models in which was included the lady’s version of the Perpetual, model 4487. Ten years later, at Basel Spring Fair, an Oyster Perpetual Chronometer lady’s version was introduced.














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Rolex Quartz Watches

QUARTZ

(Rolex Oyster Quartz 19018)

Even though Quartz watches are much more accurate than mechanical movements, strangly Rolex produced a few. Strangely, Rolex was one of the first companies to develop quartz movement.
The Quartz Rolex was launched on June 5, 1970 as model 5100, It was the first Rolex production to have a Sapphire crystal and it featured hacking seconds and quick date change. It was an angular shaped and not and Oyster one. It was available in 18 kt gold, both yellow and white.
It is the only model that Rolex ever signed their name on as Rolex was not involved in the construction of the movement.












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Rolex: THE PRESIDENT or DAY-DATE

THE PRESIDENT or DAY-DATE

The Day-Date model 6511 was introduced at Basel fair in 1956. It features a window at 12 spelling the day out in full, allied to the Cyclops date window at 3 o’clock. Even though as the Datejust model, this one was available only in 18 Kt gold or platinum but it was a introduced with a new matching “President” bracelet and that is why it was significantly more expensive than the previous models. The Day-Date model features automatic movement and an additional day and date discs and screwed back. When model 6511, was replaced by 6611, the Day-Date started featuring the new calibre 1055, which, with its free sprung Micro-Stella balance, enabled the new watch to become the first Rolex model to bear the legend “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified” on its dial.
When Rolex gave on of these with the designed concealed clasp bracelet to the then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Day-Date started being called the “President”. In order to complete the creation of this major watch Day-Date or by this time President model, Rolex introduced a new case reference number system which is still used nowadays. This new 5th digit added to the model delineated the materials in the watch as it left the factory enabling potential buyers to determine that the timepiece was not a replica.

0 = Stainless steel (not stainless and gold)
1 = Yellow gold – filled
2 = White gold – filled
3 = Steel and tallow gold
4 = Steel and white gold
5 = Gold shell
6 = Platinum
7 = 14 kt gold
8 = 18 kt yellow gold
9 = 18 kt white gold

The newest Day-Date model was introduced at the en of the 90s: the Double Quick Set feature that made possible aligning both the day and date into their proper positions easily. The “Crown collections” are the most expensive watches in Rolex production featuring an expanding variety of precious stones.












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Rolex: THE GMT-MASTER

(Rolex: THE GMT-MASTER)

Pan American Airways was the first airline to make intercontinental flights with the 707 aircraft. Pan- American was worried about the effect of “Jet-Lag” on its pilots to commission a research and as a result, the company asked Rolex to develop a watch that could keep their pilots knowing their home time and the local time to which they had reached. In remarkably short order the task force produced the “G.M.T. Master” (model 6542), named after Greenwich Mean Time, the world’s standard time. The GMT Master featured a 1035 calibre movement upgraded with the addition of a supplementary 24 hour driving wheel. This new movement was called calibre 1065 powered now four hands where the new hand was complemented by a rotable 24 hour bezel. In 1976, approximately, the GMT Master started featuring the hacking second’s movement and a few years later the “quickset” attribute was also added. Finally, the sapphire crystal was added.
The second and newest model was the GMT-Master II, model 16710, featuring the new calibre 3085 movement which allowed the hour hand to be moved forward and backwards in precise one hour jumps without losing the precise accuracy which was usually the reason the watch was bought in the first place.












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ROLEX: THE KEW “A”

In the 50s Rolex undertook the challenge of submitting its watches to the Royal Observatory at Kew for chronometer testing. Almost all of the tested watches passed and received the coveted Kew “A” certificates and the distinction of “especially good results” meaning that they produced rating in the top 20% of the accuracy needed to obtain a Kew “A” certificate. It was confirmed that the daily variation was less than half a second.

After obtaining their certificates, the movements were returned to Switzerland and cased prior to sale. Some of them required multiple testing so it was quite common for watches with sequential movement numbers to have case numbers all over the place

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Rolex Sea Dweller Watch

THE SEA DWELLER

While the Submariner was capable of working at the depths the divers did, the long exposure to high pressures had not been anticipated by its designers. The Subamriner was designed to be waterproof and airtight and to survive the pressures of the deep water.

Rolex and Comex (COmpagnie Maritime d’EXpertise) started working together in order to design a watch that would be efficient enough to work properly under the conditions the industrial deep-sea diving as Comex is the world leader in sub-sea engineering and in manned and unmanned sub-sea interventions, scoured all the seas on earth and worked at depths of over 300 meters. Although both companies working together first took one normal Submariner and modified it till they reached the perfect model: “The Submariner 2000 Sea Dweller”. The divers require the best equipment that is available because precision and perfection according to watch quality can mean the difference between life and death. The Sea Dweller differs from a regular Submariner by being much thicker and heavier. It has no “Cyclops” date lens because the glass because of the glass thickness placing the lens at a greater distance from the date disc. According to its bracelet it is machined from solid metal.

The advantage of the Sea Dweller over a Submariner is its ability to undergo repeated compression/decompression cycles in a helium-oxygen atmosphere.

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