Ever take a good look at your Rollie's windy-crown-thingie? Notice they are not all the same (or at least they shouldn't be)
Even with a solid case and bullet-proof crystal, the Achilles heel of any watch is the winding stem. The winding stem is used to both set the watch’s time and date, as well as to wind the watch. Unfortunately, the winding stem opens the case to dust and potential water penetration. Even with a solid case, the crown and winding stem present opportunities for water and dust to enter the case.
Thats how Rolex got famous - because of their special crown. Rolex, for the first time in the history of watchmaking, created a waterproof winding crown –– a secure interface between the protected, sealed world inside the watch and the harmful elements of the outside world. Rolex started as a "tool" watch. And thanks to the improved crown, Rolex became a better tool to get the job done in harsh environments (and better even for everyday hand washing)
Rolex created, and still produces, two basic types of crowns, depending on the water resistance required for the watch. Rolex Twinlock and Triplock winding crowns use two or three sealed zones to ensure watertight security for the watch movement. The majority of the Rolex line utilizes the Twinlock Crown. Both types are made up of about 10 parts, and is screwed hermetically onto the watch case.
Markings on the crown itself tell you if the crown on your watch is either a Twinlock or Triplock crown. Historically, a twinlock crown was simply identified by a dash (-) or two dots (..) below the Rolex five pointed logo crown. The Twinlock crown is rated to be water tight to 100m/300ft. In contrast, triplock uses two gaskets in the tube, one outside the tube, and one underside the crown, insuring water tightness to 300 meters (not feet) - nice mix of metric and imperial there, Rolex.
Your tripLock crown was historically distinguishable by being larger than the TwinLock crown, and they (usually) have three dots below the five pointed Rolex logo crown. The TripLock system utilizes a larger case tube, and four rubber o-ring gaskets to insure water tightness. With 4 gaskets you might wonder why they didn't call it the "quad-lock". Who knows. I guess trip-lock sounded better - or maybe they just didn't have enough room on the crown for four dots.
Now that Rolex isn't just a tool, it's jewelry, the code is more complicated. Today, these dots and dashes can tell you not just the designed water resistance of the watch, but also tell you both the metal content of the crown as follows:
line = steel or yellow gold twinlock
two dots = white gold twinlock
one dot = platinum twinlock
three small dots = steel or yellow gold triplock
small.LARGE.small dots = white gold triplock
LARGE.small.LARGE dots = platinum triplock
Don't you feel smart now?
You should.
With that info, I'll bet you can play stump a chump with more than half of the counter sales folks at your local AD.
Even with a solid case and bullet-proof crystal, the Achilles heel of any watch is the winding stem. The winding stem is used to both set the watch’s time and date, as well as to wind the watch. Unfortunately, the winding stem opens the case to dust and potential water penetration. Even with a solid case, the crown and winding stem present opportunities for water and dust to enter the case.
Thats how Rolex got famous - because of their special crown. Rolex, for the first time in the history of watchmaking, created a waterproof winding crown –– a secure interface between the protected, sealed world inside the watch and the harmful elements of the outside world. Rolex started as a "tool" watch. And thanks to the improved crown, Rolex became a better tool to get the job done in harsh environments (and better even for everyday hand washing)
Rolex created, and still produces, two basic types of crowns, depending on the water resistance required for the watch. Rolex Twinlock and Triplock winding crowns use two or three sealed zones to ensure watertight security for the watch movement. The majority of the Rolex line utilizes the Twinlock Crown. Both types are made up of about 10 parts, and is screwed hermetically onto the watch case.
Markings on the crown itself tell you if the crown on your watch is either a Twinlock or Triplock crown. Historically, a twinlock crown was simply identified by a dash (-) or two dots (..) below the Rolex five pointed logo crown. The Twinlock crown is rated to be water tight to 100m/300ft. In contrast, triplock uses two gaskets in the tube, one outside the tube, and one underside the crown, insuring water tightness to 300 meters (not feet) - nice mix of metric and imperial there, Rolex.
Your tripLock crown was historically distinguishable by being larger than the TwinLock crown, and they (usually) have three dots below the five pointed Rolex logo crown. The TripLock system utilizes a larger case tube, and four rubber o-ring gaskets to insure water tightness. With 4 gaskets you might wonder why they didn't call it the "quad-lock". Who knows. I guess trip-lock sounded better - or maybe they just didn't have enough room on the crown for four dots.
Now that Rolex isn't just a tool, it's jewelry, the code is more complicated. Today, these dots and dashes can tell you not just the designed water resistance of the watch, but also tell you both the metal content of the crown as follows:
line = steel or yellow gold twinlock
two dots = white gold twinlock
one dot = platinum twinlock
three small dots = steel or yellow gold triplock
small.LARGE.small dots = white gold triplock
LARGE.small.LARGE dots = platinum triplock
Don't you feel smart now?
You should.
With that info, I'll bet you can play stump a chump with more than half of the counter sales folks at your local AD.
