Reference:3003 - Revision history

Admin: Audit: rewrite second-person address (you -> third-person) per voice rule

2026-04-29T22:40:26Z

Audit: rewrite second-person address (you -> third-person) per voice rule

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:40, 29 April 2026
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	== What "Precision" meant ==		== What "Precision" meant ==

	Rolex graded these early movements by regulation level rather than by radically different architecture. Prima, Extra Prima, and Ultra Prima ~~tell you~~ more about adjustment and finishing than about a different movement design.		Rolex graded these early movements by regulation level rather than by radically different architecture. Prima, Extra Prima, and Ultra Prima indicate more about adjustment and finishing than about a different movement design.

	By the mid-1930s the Prima names were giving way to Precision, Extra Precision, and Super Precision. The logic stayed the same: different regulation grades on broadly similar movement architecture, with Precision below full chronometer status.		By the mid-1930s the Prima names were giving way to Precision, Extra Precision, and Super Precision. The logic stayed the same: different regulation grades on broadly similar movement architecture, with Precision below full chronometer status.

Admin: Audit: dedupe Sources block by URL

2026-04-29T20:46:18Z

Audit: dedupe Sources block by URL

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:46, 29 April 2026
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	* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogoystercase.php VintageWatchStraps (David Boettcher) — Rolex Oyster Case, Hermetic, Submarine research] — David Boettcher, vintagewatchstraps.com		* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogoystercase.php VintageWatchStraps (David Boettcher) — Rolex Oyster Case, Hermetic, Submarine research] — David Boettcher, vintagewatchstraps.com
	* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/ Antiquorum — 3642 1996]		* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/ Antiquorum — 3642 1996]
	* [https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/ Antiquorum — 3642 2000]
	* [https://bulangandsons.com/ Bulang & Sons — zerograph]		* [https://bulangandsons.com/ Bulang & Sons — zerograph]

	[[Category:Precision]]		[[Category:Precision]]
	[[Category:Working Draft]]		[[Category:Working Draft]]

Admin: SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

2026-04-29T03:21:23Z

SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:21, 29 April 2026
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	{{#seo:		{{#seo:
	\|title=Rolex ~~Precision~~ 3003 ~~and 3004~~ — BezelBase		\|title=Rolex 3003 — Production, Dial Variants, Serial Ranges \| BezelBase
	\|description=The 3003 and 3004 are the first Rolex Precision references. They launched together in 1937 as a matched pair, and they open a line that runs — under one…		\|description=The 3003 and 3004 are the first Rolex Precision references. They launched together in 1937 as a matched pair, and they open a line that runs — under one…
	\|keywords=Rolex, 3003, Precision, specifications, reference guide		\|keywords=Rolex, 3003, Precision, specifications, reference guide
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	\|og_type=article		\|og_type=article
	\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z		\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z
	\|modified_time=2026-04-29T02:34:~~40Z~~		\|modified_time=2026-04-29T02:48:45Z
	\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large		\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large
	}}		}}

Admin: SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

2026-04-29T02:48:45Z

SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:48, 29 April 2026
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	\|og_type=article		\|og_type=article
	\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z		\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z
	\|modified_time=2026-04-~~27T13~~:30:~~04Z~~		\|modified_time=2026-04-29T02:34:40Z
	\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large		\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large
	}}		}}

Admin: SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

2026-04-29T02:34:40Z

SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:34, 29 April 2026
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	\|og_type=article		\|og_type=article
	\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z		\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z
	\|modified_time=2026-04-~~24T02~~:34:~~43Z~~		\|modified_time=2026-04-27T13:30:04Z
	\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large		\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large
	}}		}}

Admin: Lexical slop sweep: filler adverbs, load-bearing, stands as, breadcrumb, register

2026-04-27T13:30:04Z

Lexical slop sweep: filler adverbs, load-bearing, stands as, breadcrumb, register

Show changes

Admin: Strip Chevalier (Colin A. White is not a pseudonym; remove confusing label)

2026-04-27T04:33:17Z

Strip Chevalier (Colin A. White is not a pseudonym; remove confusing label)

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:33, 27 April 2026
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	== Sources ==		== Sources ==
	* The Vintage Rolex Field Manual~~, Chevalier Edition~~ — ~~unknown~~, Morning Tundra		* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
	* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/ VintageWatchStraps (Boettcher) — prima]		* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/ VintageWatchStraps (Boettcher) — prima]
	* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogoystercase.php VintageWatchStraps (David Boettcher) — Rolex Oyster Case, Hermetic, Submarine research] — David Boettcher, vintagewatchstraps.com		* [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogoystercase.php VintageWatchStraps (David Boettcher) — Rolex Oyster Case, Hermetic, Submarine research] — David Boettcher, vintagewatchstraps.com

Admin: SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

2026-04-27T04:02:50Z

SEO: og:image + image_alt + og_type + timestamps

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:02, 27 April 2026
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	\|description=The 3003 and 3004 are the first Rolex Precision references. They launched together in 1937 as a matched pair, and they open a line that runs — under one…		\|description=The 3003 and 3004 are the first Rolex Precision references. They launched together in 1937 as a matched pair, and they open a line that runs — under one…
	\|keywords=Rolex, 3003, Precision, specifications, reference guide		\|keywords=Rolex, 3003, Precision, specifications, reference guide
			\|image=Ref3003 antiquorum lot163 2.jpg
			\|image_alt=Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.
	\|type=article		\|type=article
			\|og_type=article
			\|published_time=2026-04-17T21:45:28Z
			\|modified_time=2026-04-24T02:34:43Z
			\|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large
	}}		}}
	[[File:Ref3003 antiquorum lot163 2.jpg\|alt=Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.\|thumb\|571x571px\|Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.]]		[[File:Ref3003 antiquorum lot163 2.jpg\|alt=Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.\|thumb\|571x571px\|Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.]]

Admin at 02:34, 24 April 2026

2026-04-24T02:34:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:34, 24 April 2026
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	\|type=article		\|type=article
	}}		}}
			[[File:Ref3003 antiquorum lot163 2.jpg\|alt=Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.\|thumb\|571x571px\|Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.]]
	[[File:~~Ref3003_antiquorum_lot163~~.jpg~~\|thumb\|right\|340px~~\|alt=Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.\|Rolex 3003 Oyster Precision (1937) — one of the first two Rolex references to carry the 'Precision' designation.]]
	<small>[[Reference:precision\|Precision]] -> '''3003'''</small>		<small>[[Reference:precision\|Precision]] -> '''3003'''</small>

Admin: Finish remaining dense reference prose

2026-04-24T02:01:56Z

Finish remaining dense reference prose

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:01, 24 April 2026
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	== What “Precision” meant ==		== What “Precision” meant ==

	Rolex ~~marked movement grades from the 1920s onward, and the system ran through three generations of names~~. ~~The first was the Prima family (~~Prima, Extra Prima, and Ultra Prima), documented by David Boettcher from Swiss trademark-register entries. Prima first appears in August 1923 as “Marconi Prima”; Ultra Prima registers December 1930 as a Wilsdorf coinage. Prima-grade was fifteen jewels, adjusted; Extra and Ultra Prima were eighteen jewels (fifteen plus two escape-wheel end-stones and a ~~centre-wheel top bearing) and increasingly tightly regulated. The grades sat on the same underlying~~ movement ~~architecture; the difference was adjustment work, not additional components~~.		Rolex graded these early movements by regulation level rather than by radically different architecture. Prima, Extra Prima, and Ultra Prima tell you more about adjustment and finishing than about a different movement design.

	By the mid-1930s the Prima names were giving way~~. The 3003 and 3004 dial carries the successor term: Precision. The same three-tier logic survives the rename.~~ Precision, Extra Precision, and Super Precision ~~replace the earlier Prima hierarchy, and the pattern persists through the Cal~~. ~~1200 base era (1954–1984). Super Precision (Ultra Prima’s successor) denoted observatory-trial-grade accuracy. Precision, as used on~~ the ~~3003 and 3004 dial, is the entry-level designation~~: ~~a Rolex Oyster with an adjusted~~ movement, ~~manufactured and regulated to a published standard, but not submitted to~~ chronometer ~~certification~~.		By the mid-1930s the Prima names were giving way to Precision, Extra Precision, and Super Precision. The logic stayed the same: different regulation grades on broadly similar movement architecture, with Precision below full chronometer status.

	This is the key distinction. The Precision line sits outside the Chronometer line. A Rolex buyer in 1937 choosing an Oyster Precision was choosing a waterproof, adjusted, manual-wind Oyster that did not carry the chronometer-certificate premium of the Oyster Perpetual Chronometer or the Oyster Chronometre. It was the same Oyster case, the same serious movement, and the same warranty against dust, water, and climate, minus the Neuchâtel or Kew certificate and the price that came with it.		This is the key distinction. The Precision line sits outside the Chronometer line. A Rolex buyer in 1937 choosing an Oyster Precision was choosing a waterproof, adjusted, manual-wind Oyster that did not carry the chronometer-certificate premium of the Oyster Perpetual Chronometer or the Oyster Chronometre. It was the same Oyster case, the same serious movement, and the same warranty against dust, water, and climate, minus the Neuchâtel or Kew certificate and the price that came with it.
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	== What came after ==		== What came after ==

	The Precision ~~designation outlives~~ the 3003 and 3004 ~~by nearly half a century~~. Ref 2595, the Speedking Precision of roughly 1938–1941, applies the same logic to a smaller 29–30 mm steel case with an eighteen-jewel Superbalance movement. Ref 4220 runs from 1941 into the early 1950s on the same 30 mm steel platform, moving from Cal. 10½ Hunter to Cal. 700 and later Cal. 710 across its production run, and carrying California dials on the 1941–1949 examples; the 4220 is where the Precision line most clearly crosses into collector attention today. Ref 2764 carries the three-~~tier logic into the automatic catalog as a Super Precision Bubbleback (1937–1948)~~, ~~with “SUPER PRECISION” on the dial marking its chronometer-adjusted position. Later still, refs 6422, 6426~~, and ~~6694 carry~~ the Precision line ~~through~~ the ~~1950s and 1960s on~~ the ~~Cal~~. ~~1200 manual-wind base that succeeds~~ the ~~10½ Hunter family~~.		The Precision label does not stop with the 3003 and 3004. It continues through later small manual-wind Oysters, early automatics, and eventually the long Oyster Precision line of the second half of the century. The 3003 is simply one of the earliest clear starting points.

	The thread that connects the 3003 of 1937 to the 6426 of the 1970s is the same editorial logic: manual-wind Oyster, adjusted movement, no chronometer certificate, “OYSTER PRECISION” on the dial. Rolex stopped manual-wind Precision production in the mid-1980s, by which point the automatic Oyster Perpetual and Datejust lines had absorbed the non-sport catalog.		The thread that connects the 3003 of 1937 to the 6426 of the 1970s is the same editorial logic: manual-wind Oyster, adjusted movement, no chronometer certificate, “OYSTER PRECISION” on the dial. Rolex stopped manual-wind Precision production in the mid-1980s, by which point the automatic Oyster Perpetual and Datejust lines had absorbed the non-sport catalog.