How Accurate Is A Rolex? Posted by Clyde Roper on 4/19/2011

How Accurate Is A Rolex? First time Rolex owners who aren?t really watch collectors sometimes assume that the new Uber Watch they just purchased is somehow much more accurate than the cheap old quartz watch they had been wearing. Unfortunately, this is probably not the case. So what?s the deal? Aren?t Rolex watches the most accurate in the world? How accurate are they? The short answer to the last question is they?re accurate enough. For more specifics and ?the rest of the story? as Paul Harvey used to say, read on?

The vast majority of the Rolex watches you will encounter are mechanical watches, the Rolex Oysterquartz being a low production and fairly rare beast. That means that most of them work the old fashioned way: a spring inside is the power source and a mechanical movement plays out the stored energy of the spring which is then transmitted to the watch hands in measured intervals that are then read by us on the watch face as seconds and minutes and hours. This is the really simple version of how a mechanical watch or clock works, but I thought it worth mentioning. I am always amazed at the number or ordinary ?non-watch geek? people who have no clue how watches really work. Maybe I shouldn?t be so surprised. After all, I use a smartphone everyday but I would be hard pressed to tell you how it actually works! But then, I?m not a smartphone or tech writer, either.
Quartz watches changed the watch industry in the 1970s and use a battery or other high tech power source (like a photoelectric cell that is charged by sunlight) in conjunction with a tuning fork-shaped quartz crystal. Quartz vibrates at a steady rate (just like the spring in a mechanical watch is un-wound or ?played out? at a steady rate to provide a means of timekeeping) and is much, much more accurate than old mechanical watches. Even inexpensive quartz watches can be accurate to just a few seconds a month or more.

So how accurate is a mechanical high-end watch like a Rolex? If you?ve ever noticed the words superlative chronometer on the face of a Rolex, that?s a good clue. In Switzerland a mechanical watch has to be tested by an independent testing agency and proven to meet a certain standard to be called a chronometer, or highly accurate watch. Basically, the chronometer standard can be described as being a watch that falls between -4 seconds and + 6 seconds a day under varying temperatures and positions.? All Rolex chronometers meet or exceed this standard when they leave the factory, and most can do much better with proper regulation.
I keep a spreadsheet on my laptop that I use to periodically record the accuracy of various watches in my collection. Yes, I know that is a just a tad OCD. But it sure helps answer questions like how accurate are Rolex watches?
I have been tracking my vintage Submariner Reference 1680 this week. I took it off the winder (where it was losing about three seconds a day) and started wearing it. This week?on my wrist as opposed to being on the mechanical winder?it has consistently gained three seconds a day with monotonous regularity. My 1680 was made in 1978 and was last serviced in 2008. That means a watch almost 35 years old and serviced three years ago is still running superbly and well within chronometer specs. A watch running within this range of accuracy is good enough for navigation at sea, which is a very demanding standard indeed. Before GPS, that meant even more than it does today.
So if anybody asks you how well your Rolex keeps time, just tell them what I do: it?s good enough.
And that?s the truth.
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