Watch enthusiasts often wonder whether a Rolex is worth its high price. Some argue that Rolex's marketing strategy aims to increase the price to add to the prestige of the watch. However, there are differences that must be mentioned here. The Rolex Oyster case protects the mechanism like none other. The attention to detail in the mechanism is also noticeable. Both escape wheel jewels also have cap jewels and shock springs. The pallet assembly is made a light as possible. The escape wheel has timing screws ("micro-stellar"), the regulator has been omitted (the escapement is "free sprung"), and the alloy (Invar?) hairspring has a Breguet overcoil, all intended to result in the finest timekeeping available in a mechanical escapement. If a regulator with a micrometric adjustment had been added instead, the escapement would be much easier to adjust precisely, however. Overall, there can be no doubt that you get more watch for the higher price.

Below is a photo of a very unusual quartz watch, the Rolex 5035. While the quality and craftsmanship are exceptional, I prefer mechanical watches, like the 1570.

The prestige of Rolex has been greatly diluted by its numbers. The chart below shows the years of production and the watch case serial numbers.

1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1987 1/2 1987 1/2 1989 1990 1/2 1991 1991 3/4 1992 1/4 1993 3/4 1995 1995 1/2 1997 1/2 1999 2000 2001 3/4 2002 3/4 2003 3/4 2005 1/4 2006 1/2 2007 1/2 2008 1/2

25000 28000 30430 32960 35390 37820 40250 42680 45000 63000 81000 99000 117000 135000 164600 194200 223800 253400 283000 348100 413200 478300 543400 608500 673600 738700 803800 950000 999999 200000 400000 600000 800000 1100000 1402000 1480000 1558000 1636000 1714000 1792000 1871000 2163900 2426800 2689700 2952600 3215500 3478400 3741300 4004200 4267100 4539000 5006000 5482000 5958000 6434000 6910000 7386000 7862000 8338000 8814000 9290000 9766000 9999999 R000000 L000001 E000001 X000001 N000001 C000001 S000001 W000001 T000001 U000001 A000001 P000001 K000001 Y000001 F000001 D000001 Z000001 M000001 V000001

Please note that the information on this page is only an introduction. Inexperienced collectors may be tempted to repair their own watches: leave Rolex repairs to the professionals only. A mistake could be traumatic because replacement parts are difficult to obtain and terribly expensive.

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