A Discussion of Rolex Movements Going Back to 1950

Over the long history of Rolex watches, there’ve been at least 62 Rolex calibres manufactured since 1950. And they’ve been installed in many times that many references. In fact, some have been installed in dozens of references. The reference 2235, for instance, was introduced in 1999 and has seen service in no less than 108 different Rolex references, all of their versions of the Oyster Perpetual, Datejust, and Lady Yacht-Master midsize. (For the record, calibre means movement, and reference is the model number of the watch.)

Rolex actually first presented a date display well before 1950. The year was 1945, and the calibre was the 740.

A day-date display – actually a day-date-moon phase – first appeared with Rolex’s calibre 780 in 1952. Rolex installed the 780 in their ref. 6062 chronograph.

The Day-Date ref. 6511 (or “President” as the model came to be popularly known) debuted in 1956 with calibre 1055 beneath the dial. The President is the watch made famous by Lyndon Johnson (ref. unknown). There are also reports of Dwight Eisenhower wearing one. However, there is no evidence of this. Instead, he wore a Datejust, Rolex’s 150,000th certified chronometer, which the company awarded him in 1951 for his distinguished service and leadership in WW II.

The “quick set” feature on the Day-Date, allowing rapid setting of the date, debuted with calibre 3055 in ref. 18026 in the late 1970s. The “double quick set” calibre 3155 was introduced in 1988. The 3155 allowed rapid setting of both the day and the date by turning the crown clock-wise or counter-clockwise while in position 2. You can learn more about the functions by reading our Rolex Day-Date Ultimate Buying Guide here.

Besides the flagship President and its history-making calibres, other notable calibres included the 1030, 1530, 1036, 1565, 1575, and 2030.

The Oyster Perpetual began life with the calibre 1030, in 1950. This calibre was also used in several Submariner and Explorer references, 65xx and 66xx.

Calibre 1530 appeared in 1957, succeeding calibre A.260 in the Submariner and was used in Sub references 5512, 5513, 5516, and 5518. A Submariner with a date came on the scene in 1967 with a calibre 1570 beating away inside.

The GMT is the watch originally developed jointly with Pan American World Airways. It came to life in 1954, ref. 6542 with calibre 1036. In that calibre, the GMT hand was directly connected to the hour hand. The wearer set the second time zone by rotating the bezel. Ref. 1675, which used calibres 1565 and 1575, was the first with a GMT hand able to be set independently.

The smaller calibre 2030 and its derivatives have been used in the Lady Oyster Perpetual, Lady Datejust, Lady Midsize, and Lady Yacht-Master. The 2030 first appeared in 1970.

Automatic Movements Quick Reference Guide

*Table courtesy of Oysterworld

Obviously, this is far from an exhaustive discussion of Rolex calibres. That is the subject for a future extended article and cross-referenced tabulation.