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Home > Glossary of Rolex Terminology

Rolex Accessories: Various Styles Available in Bracelet

 

Acrylic Crystal: Plastic crystal found in the early Rolex watches until synthetic sapphire crystals were introduced.

Aftermarket Rolex Parts: Non-Rolex-made parts that do not bear counterfeit Rolex trademarks, logos, or hallmarks.

Aperture: Small opening on the dial of a watch for displaying the day, date, or hour.

Arabic Numerals: The numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, and so on) that can be found on the dial of some Rolex models.

Atmosphere: Used as a measure of the water-tightness of a watch case. One atmosphere equals an air pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch under water.

Automatic Winding: Also known as self-winding. A kind of movement that causes a weight inside the watch to rotate backwards and forwards. The weight is connected by a gear train to the barrel arbor, which is hooked to the mainspring, thus winding it and keeping it in constant tension.

Auto Rotor: The first self-winding perpetual movement patented by Rolex on Jan 14, 1932.

Baguette: Thin rectangular or oval shape.

Bakelite: The transparent acrylic material used on the bezel of early GMT-Master models in 1954.

Balance: Known as the controller of a watch, it consists of a metal wheel made of a heat and humidity-resistant steel and is mounted with a hairspring.

Balance Spring: The hairspring of the watch, which controls the swing of the balance.

Balance Wheel: A portion of the escapement, which divides time into equal sections.

Bark Finish: The finish that looks like the bark of a tree. Some Rolex bracelet links come with bark finish.

Barrel: A circular box, connected to a gear, which holds the mainspring. Also known as the "Mainspring Barrel."

Beat: The number of times per second or hour that the balance wheel goes through a full arc of motion in either direction. All current Rolex models have 28,800 Beats Per Hour (BPH).

Bezel: The round outer ring fitted around the crystal which holds the crystal to the case.

Bi-Directional Rotating Bezel: A bezel that can be rotated clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Boy’s Size Watch: A watch that is 2mm smaller than the usual men’s watch.

Brancard: Taken from a French word that means "stretcher," it stands for the Rolex Prince model with flared ends.

Breathe: Expansion and contraction of the hairspring.

Brevet: Means "patent" or "certificate" in French.

Bridge: Any movement plate secured by at least two screws.

Bubbleback: A term used to describe some early Rolex Perpetual models due to their thick-sized case. The thick case size was due to the large Auto Rotor movement.

Calendar Watch: Primarily the Date and Day-Date models--featuring the date and the day. Some watch models also display the month and year.

Caliber: The term used to describe the size, style, or shape of a watch movement.

California Dial: A dial featuring Roman numerals on the top half and Arabic numerals on the bottom half.

Center Seconds: Sweep seconds, mounted on the center post of the watch.

Chronograph: A time-telling device that performs the additional function of a "stop watch".

Chronometer: A highly accurate timepiece, which has been certified by the official Swiss timing bureau, COSC.

Cock: Any retaining device secured by a single screw.

Comex: A French commercial diving company that actually helped lead to the development of the Rolex Sea-Dweller. It was Comex's request that led Rolex to create the diver's watch.

Complications: The additional functionalities (apart from basic timekeeping) found in many watches.

Concealed Clasp: A unique feature of the Rolex President bracelet wherein the buckle of the clasp is concealed under the bracelet’s links, providing the appearance of a continuous, flowing bracelet.

Co-Branded Watches: Some early Rolex watches bearing two names, one of the manufacturer and the other of the retailer.

COSC: The official Swiss testing bureau for testing watches to give them chronometer ratings. The abbreviation stands for Controle Officiel Suisse Des Chronometers.

Cosmograph: A term coined by Rolex to refer to watches similar to their early chronograph models, but with slight cosmetic differences.

Crown: The button at the end of the winding stem for setting the time of the watch.

Crown Guards: Protective rails protruding from the watch’s case on either side of the crown for the purpose of protecting it from damage.

Cyclops: A magnifying lens that looks like a glass bubble, which is placed over the date aperture so that it can be read easily.

Dial: The face of the watch with hour indices and hands attached.

Diver’s Extension: A hinged extension within the bracelet for elongating it so that the bracelet can easily fit over a wet suit. Found in divers’ watches.

Double Quick Set: A feature allowing both the date and the day to be set rapidly via the winding stem.

Ebauche: A blank movement with no mainspring or balance installed inside.

Elapsed Time Rotating Bezel: A graduated rotating bezel found on the Submariners and Sea Dwellers, designed to help divers keep track of elapsed time while diving.

End Piece: The small, hollow piece of metal that allows the bracelet to be attached to the case via tiny spring bars.

Escapement: Allows the power stored in the mainspring to be released through the gears at regular intervals.

Escape Wheel: The last gear in the lever escapement for regulating the motion of the watch in a controlled manner.

Flip-Lock Clasp: Clasp featuring a buckle that utilizes a flip lock safety clasp to prevent accidental loss. Found on Oyster bracelets of divers’ models.

Gas Escape Valve: Also known as helium escape valve, it is a one-way valve found on one side of the case of Sea-Dweller models--allowing helium particles to escape from the watch’s case during decompression.

Gauss: The centimeter-gram-second electromagnetic unit of magnetic flux density.

Gilt or Gild: Gold-plated.

Guilloche: A French word meaning “engine turned;” used to describe the honeycomb-textured dial found on some Rolex models.

Hacking: A feature wherein the second hand comes to a halt as soon as the winding stem is pulled out to set the time.

Hermetic: A complete seal to protect the case of the watch from humidity, moisture, dust, and other foreign particles.

Hunter Case: A case used on pocket watches with its front and back protected by hinged covers that tend to be spring loaded.

Indices: Hour markers on the dial.

Jeweled Movement: Refers to the precious stones, usually synthetic sapphires or rubies, which are used by Rolex in the internal movement in key pivot points to reduce friction, resulting in less wear and tear.

Jump Hour: A watch where the hour hand is replaced with a tiny aperture at the 12 o’clock position displaying the numbers 1, 2, 3…12. When the minute hand passes the 60-minute mark, you can see the number indicating the start of the next hour through the aperture.

Lever Escapement: Consisting of an escape wheel, lever, and a balance wheel; the lever, when initiated by the balance wheel, locks and unlocks the escape wheel--thus transferring power through the gear train in an even and uncontrolled motion.

Loupe: A jeweler’s magnification lens used to inspect fine detailed markings or miniscule parts.

Lugs: Also known as horns, the two pointed edges on either end of the case by which the bracelet is attached to the case through the end pieces.

Luminova: The luminous material used in the hands and hour markings on the dial. It is non-radioactive and organic. It replaced the previously used Tritium, a radioactive material.

Mainspring: The principal spring of a watch that supplies the force of motion to the gear trains.

Mechanical: Hand-wound movement found in many vintage models.

Mercedes Hands: Referred by Rolex as skeleton hands; used to describe a particular style of hands where the hour hand features a round emblem, resembling the logo of the German automobile manufacturer "Mercedes Benz."

Micro-Stella: Tiny Screws used for adjustment of the balance.

Mid-Sized Watches: Any watch that is 80% of the size of the Rolex men’s models.

Milled Edge: The grooved or coined edge found on the back of Rolex Oyster cases.

Octagon Case: A watch case having eight sides.

Oersted: The centimeter-gram-second electromagnetic unit of magnetic intensity.

Officially Certified Chronometer: Found on the dials of many Rolex models, indicating that the watch is chronometer rated.

Ovettone: Used for Rolex Bubbleback models. It means "little egg" in Italian.

Precision: Rolex used this term for all its models that were not rated as chronometers.

Perpetual Movement: A term for a self-winding or automatic-winding movement with a winding rotor that travels a complete 360 degrees.

Pivot: The turned-down part of an arbor.

Plate: The portion of the movement that supports the bridges and other plates.

Quick Set: A feature that allows the date to be set rapidly via the winding crown.

Radium: The radioactive luminous material used in the hands and hour markers of some early Rolex models.

Reference Number: The case or model number of a Rolex watch that can be found engraved between the lugs, or inside or outside the case back.

Registers: This term is used for the subsidiary “extra function” dials found in Chronograph models such as the Rolex Daytona.

Rolesium: A patented term coined by Rolex to describe the combination of stainless steel and platinum.

Rolesor: A patented term used to describe the combination of stainless steel with any variety of gold.

Rotor: The oscillating weight used in an automatic movement.

Shock Absorber: A system where the jewels on the balance staff are spring-mounted to protect the balance staff from damage in case the watch is dropped.

Skeleton Case: A case with transparent front or back, which allows a view of the internal workings of the watch. Rolex watches made with transparent cases are extremely rare, although some Rolex replicas have a skeleton case.

Spring Bar: A small spring-loaded pushpin, which passes through the end piece into either side of the lugs, thus holding the bracelet onto the case.

Subsidiary Seconds: Also known as the sunk seconds, it is a small seconds dial at the 6 o’clock position. Sunken (hollow) so as not to impede the hour or the minute hand.

Super Balance: Balance Wheel design for the Auto Rotor Perpetual movement. This term was patented by Rolex in 1935.

Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified: Since 1957, all Rolex watches are engraved with these terms, replacing the previously used terms "Officially Certified Chronometer".

Sweeping Movement: A special feature of Rolex watches where the second hand ticks at a rate of 5-8 times per second giving the illusion of sweeping.

Tachymeter: Also known as a Tachometer, a special scale printed on the bezel to calculate the average speed traveled over a measured distance.

Telemeter: A special scale printed on the outside of a chronograph to determine the distance of an object from the wearer by measuring how long it takes sound to travel that distance.

Thunderbird Bezel: Refers to the Turn-O-Graph bezel found in some current Datejust models.

Tool Watch: A watch created for specific sports or professional activities.

Tonnueau Case: Barrel-shaped case where the ends are squared and the sides bow out in a rounded convex shape.

Travel Clock: Also known as portfolio or purse watches, they were very much in use in the early 1900s. These watches were covered, folded, or protected clocks.

Triplock: A screw-down crown featuring a triple seal against water and dust, found in current Rolex models.

Tritium: A radioactive luminous material used in hands and hour markers.

Twinlock: A screw down crown featuring a twin seal against water and dust.

Two-Tone: Refers to all those Rolex watch cases that feature a combination of stainless steel and any one variety of gold (yellow/white/pink).

Uni-Directional Rotating Bezel: The elapsed time bezel that can move only counter-clockwise. Such a bezel is a common feature of divers' watches.

Winding Stem: Shaft on which the winding crown is fixed on one end. An integral part of a watch because it not only allows for winding of the crown, but also aids in setting the time.