Rolex Serial Numbering System

[jonolau]

I've always been curious about Rolex's serial numbering system and found the random lettering very confusing. Below is a list for those who were just as lost as me. If you also notice from 1987 to 1991, the beginning alphabet actually spells R-R-L-L-E-E-X, which is a play on the ROLEX name with omission of the "O" in case it's confused with zero!

Serial Number Year
1871000 1966
1994956 1966
2163900 1967
2426800 1968
2555384 1970
2689700 1969
2952600 1970
3215500 1971
3478400 1972
3741300 1973
4004200 1974
4267100 1975
4538000 1976
5008000 1977
5482000 1978
5958000 1979
6434000 1980
6910000 1981
7386000 1982
7862000 1983
8338000 1984
8614000 1985
9290000 1986
9766000 1987
9999999 1987 1/2
R000001 1987 1/2
R999999 1988
L000001 1989
L999999 1990 1/2
E000001 1990 1/2
E999999 1991 1/2
X000001 1991 1/2
N000001 Nov 1991
C000001 1992
S000001 1993
W000001 1994/5
T000001 1996
U000001 Aug 1997
A000001 Nov/Dec 1998
P000001 Jan 2000
K000001 Mid 2001
Y000001 Mid 2002
F000001 Mid2003
D000001 Early 2005
Z000001 Early 2006 - New
M000,001 Jan 08 - Nov 08
V000,001 Dec 08 - Present

Jonathan

[Oceanklassik]

Tx for sharing.

[jonolau]

Tx for sharing.

No worries, bro!

[zidaneong]

Thanks for sharing.

[jonolau]

Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome!

[jonolau]

Here's a bit more trivia on the serial numbering system, courtesy of "The Rolex Report":

QUOTE

In 1927, Rolex began issuing every Rolex Oyster case a unique serial number to distinguish them from one another. This numbering system is believed to have started at 20,000. Around 1953, the numbers reached the 999,999 mark, at which time Rolex decided against adding a 7th digit, thus continuing into the "millions"--Instead, they started the sequence over. While it was originally believed that this resequence started over at 100,000, or even 20,000, evidence suggests that it actually restarted at 10,000 or possibly lower.

Around this same time, Rolex had initiated another dating system--They stamped the inside of the case back with a code consisting of a Roman numeral and two numbers. The Roman numerals were I, II, III, IV, which represented which quarter of the year the watch was produced. The numbers simply represented the two-digit year in which the watch was produced. Therefore, the code III 53 would represent the 3rd quarter (i.e. July-September) of 1953--this code continued until around 1970.
In the early 1960s, Rolex once again reached the 999,999 mark, but this time added a 7th digit and continued until mid 1987, when the numbering reached 9,999,999. At this time, Rolex elected to start numbering with a letter prefix (e.g. R000001).

The system started with the letter "R", which was then subsequently followed by L-E-X. Thus spelling out the word "ROLEX" with the "O" being omitted, to help avert any possible confusion with the number "0". This sequence continued through November 1991, when a new numbering system was introduced utilizing the letters N, C and S, which took them through 1993. In 1994, Rolex started yet another sequence with the letters: W, T and U, then A, P, and K in subsequent years.

To add to the confusion, many of these prefixes have run concurrently over the past few years, giving the appearance of a random numbering system. Therefore, only Rolex knows exactly when any particular watch was made and they aren't talking.

UNQUOTE