Watch terms, defined the way they are used in an offer.

General terms

The words that describe what a watch is and how it is bought and sold.

• Reference number. The model code shared by every watch of one model, bezel, and metal, engraved between the lugs at 12 o'clock on a Rolex and printed on the papers. The first filter on an offer.
• Serial number. The number unique to one watch. On a Rolex it dates the case up to 2010; after that only the card gives the year.
• Full set. The watch with its box, warranty card or papers, booklets, hang tags, and every spare link. Earns more, and the card does most of that work.
• Authorized dealer. A retailer appointed by the brand, whose stamp is on the card.
• Grey market. New watches sold outside the brand's network. Genuine, but the warranty runs from the original sale.
• Pre-owned. Any watch that has had an owner. Unworn means pre-owned with its stickers and no wear; it is still pre-owned.
• Discontinued. A reference the brand no longer makes. Demand on a discontinued colour or dial can run above the current model.
• Comparables. Recent dealer-to-dealer transactions for the same reference and condition. Offers here are priced against these, not against asking prices on listing sites.
• Sourcing. Finding a specific reference through a private dealer network rather than from stock. A trade can be credited against a sourced piece.

Deeper: the Rolex reference guide.

Movements and complications

What is inside the case, and what it can do beyond telling the time.

• Movement, or calibre. The mechanism inside, named by number: Rolex 3135 and 3235, Omega 8800 and 3861, Zenith El Primero. The calibre sets the generation.
• In-house. A movement designed and made by the brand itself. Rolex, Patek Philippe, and modern Omega are in-house; many vintage chronographs are not.
• Supplied movement. A movement bought from a specialist maker: Valjoux in a vintage Daytona, Zenith's El Primero in the Daytona 16520. Not a fault; it is the watch's history.
• Automatic. Wound by a rotor as the wrist moves. Hand-wound: wound at the crown, as on the Speedmaster Moonwatch.
• Chronometer. A movement that passed an accuracy test: COSC, Rolex's own Superlative Chronometer test, or METAS for Omega's Master Chronometer.
• Co-Axial. Omega's escapement design, used across its modern calibres. The Master Chronometer card goes with it.
• Chronograph. A stopwatch built into the watch, run by pushers: Daytona, Speedmaster, Navitimer, El Primero. Not the same thing as a chronometer.
• Rattrapante, or split-seconds. A chronograph with two seconds hands, one of which stops and catches up, to time two events. A high complication from Patek Philippe and A. Lange & Söhne.
• GMT. A second time zone shown by a fourth hand against a 24-hour bezel or scale: GMT-Master II, Explorer II.
• Annual calendar. A calendar that knows the 30 and 31 day months and needs setting once a year, at the end of February. The Sky-Dweller has one.
• Perpetual calendar. A calendar that handles leap years and needs no correction until 2100. Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Lange.
• Power reserve. How long the watch runs fully wound. Current Rolex calibres run around three days; an eight-day Panerai calibre runs over a week.

Materials

What the case, bezel, crystal, and bracelet are made of, and the brand names for each.

• Oystersteel. Rolex's name for the 904L stainless steel it uses across the range. Most other brands use 316L. Both are steel; 904L polishes brighter.
• Rolesor. Rolex's name for steel and gold on one watch: steel case, gold bezel, crown, and centre links. Two-tone, in plain words. Rolesium is steel with a platinum bezel, on the Yacht-Master.
• Everose. Rolex's own rose gold alloy. Sedna is Omega's. Both resist fading; older rose gold can drift toward yellow.
• Cerachrom. Rolex's ceramic bezel insert, on sport models since the 2000s. Does not fade; chips only under hard impact.
• Aluminium insert. The painted bezel insert on older Submariners and GMT-Masters. It fades, which collectors like, and gets replaced at service, which they do not.
• Ceratanium. IWC's ceramised titanium. Titanium itself is light, dull grey, and scratches easily: Tudor Pelagos, some Panerai and IWC.
• Sapphire crystal. The scratch-resistant glass on most modern watches. Chips rather than scratches.
• Hesalite. Acrylic crystal, on the Speedmaster Moonwatch and vintage Rolex. Scratches easily and polishes out; cracks rather than shatters.
• Precious metals. Yellow, white, and rose gold, and platinum, which carries the ice blue dial on Rolex. On a Day-Date the metal is the floor of the offer, not the offer.
• Lume. The luminous material on dial and hands: tritium up to the late 1990s, Luminova and Super-LumiNova after, Chromalight on modern Rolex. The type should match the watch's era.
• Jubilee, Oyster, President. The three Rolex bracelets: five-link, three-link, and the semi-circular link reserved for the Day-Date and some gold Datejusts.

Condition and paperwork terms

The words in an offer that move the number most.

• Unpolished. The case has never had metal removed to hide wear; edges and bevels as they left the factory. Priced above polished examples of the same reference.
• Polished. Metal removed at least once, usually at service. Not a fault when disclosed. Priced below unpolished; over-polished further below.
• Honest wear. Scratches and small dings from use with the edges intact. Priced as wear, not as damage.
• Service parts. Dial, hands, bezel insert, crystal, or clasp replaced at service with current parts. The watch runs well and loses collector interest, most of all on vintage sport references.
• Service dial. A factory replacement dial fitted at a brand service. Correct for the watch, not original to it. A redial is a dial repainted outside the factory, and is priced as a replacement.
• Tropical, patina. A black dial aged evenly to brown, or lume and dial aged evenly. Collector traits when genuine. Spotting and moisture damage are not patina.
• Bracelet stretch. Hollow links worn where the pins sit, so the bracelet sags. Common on older Jubilee and President bracelets; priced as a bracelet that needs work.
• End links and clasp code. The pieces joining bracelet to case, and the stamped code inside a Rolex clasp. Both date the bracelet, not the watch, and should match it.
• Aftermarket. Any part not made by the brand: a bezel, a dial, a strap, stones set later. Priced as a modification; stones set later cost the most. Factory set is the opposite.
• Warranty card. The modern record of first sale: serial, reference, dealer, date. The single most useful document.
• Punched papers. The older paper certificate, punched or stamped with the serial by the dealer. The same job as the card. Patek Philippe calls its paper the Certificate of Origin.
• Extract from the Archives. A document from the brand's own records confirming a watch's reference, movement and case numbers, and sale date. Patek Philippe issues them; Audemars Piguet and Omega have too. Rolex does not.
• Service record. A receipt or brand service card listing what was done and replaced. Turns unknown history into known history.

Deeper: the condition guide, the box and papers guide, and the polishing guide.