Tools
CloseRolex serial and reference decoder
Find roughly when a Rolex was made from its serial number, and what its reference number says about the model, the metal and the bezel. Free to use, whether or not you deal with us.
What you type stays on your device. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else.
Where to find the numbers
Serial number: on watches from about 2005, engraved on the inner ring between the dial and the crystal, at 6 o’clock; on earlier watches, between the lugs at 6 o’clock, under the bracelet.
Reference number: between the lugs at 12 o’clock, and on the guarantee card.
Case back code: stamped inside the case back of many vintage watches. Only a watchmaker should open it.
Good to know
These are estimates from charts compiled by dealers and collectors. Rolex has never published one.
A serial dates the case, not the sale. For a watch made from about 2010, the guarantee card records the date; a card with a five-year guarantee was issued from mid-2015 onward.
A correct serial does not prove a watch is genuine: copies carry real numbers too. For a written opinion on a particular watch, bring it to us for inspection, or read how to tell if a watch is genuine.
Please avoid posting your full serial number online.
The full chart
| Letter | Made |
|---|---|
| R | 1987–1988 |
| L | 1988–1990 |
| E | 1990–1991 |
| X | 1991 |
| N | 1991 |
| C | 1992 |
| S | 1993–1995 |
| W | 1994–1995 |
| T | 1995–1996 |
| U | 1997–1998 |
| A | 1998–1999 |
| P | 1999–2000 |
| K | 2000–2001 |
| Y | 2001–2002 |
| F | 2003–2005 |
| D | 2005–2006 |
| Z | 2006–2007 |
| M | 2007–2008 |
| V | 2008–2009 |
| G | 2009–2010 |
| Serial from | Made about |
|---|---|
| 28,000 | 1926 |
| 37,820 | 1930 |
| 45,000 | 1934 |
| 99,000 | 1937 |
| 164,600 | 1940 |
| 283,000 | 1944 |
| 413,200 | 1946 |
| 543,400 | 1948 |
| 650,000 | 1950 |
| 803,800 | 1952 |
| 868,900 | 1953 |
| 2,163,900 | 1967 |
| 2,952,600 | 1970 |
| 3,741,300 | 1973 |
| 4,539,000 | 1976 |
| 5,482,000 | 1978 |
| 6,434,000 | 1980 |
| 7,386,000 | 1982 |
| 8,338,000 | 1984 |
| 9,290,000 | 1986 |
| 9,766,000 | 1987 |
Six-digit serials exist twice: Rolex restarted its count around 1954. Numbers from 1,000,000 to about 2,160,000 belong to the 1960s, where charts disagree.