There’s a hidden message on the crown of Rolex watches

The distinctive Rolex crown detail contains a hidden message that reveals details about the timepiece.

Rolex uses small dots and dashes tucked away beneath its signature crown detail to reveal information about the watch. 

The crown is one of the most iconic details on the high-end watches and it turns out it actually says quite a lot about the watch you’re wearing.

Who knew?

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The Rolex Crown reveals details about the watch 

While the teeny crown symbols may all look pretty similar, if you look closely at one, you’ll see that it is actually accompanied by dots or dashes underneath. 

These dots and dashes will tell you if the watch has a Twinlock or Triplock crown; they can also reveal what type of metal the watch is made from. 

So, if you have a dash under the crown that means your watch is a Twinlock made from either steel or yellow gold; a Twinlock made from white gold has two small dots; while if it is a platinum Twinlock it has just one dot. 

If the crown has three small dots underneath, it’s a Triplock made of either steel or yellow gold; if there are two small dots with a larger one in the center, it’s a white gold Triplock; or if there are two large dots with a smaller in the center that denotes a platinum Triplock.

Twinlock or Triplock?

Explaining the Twinlock and Triplock systems, Rolex says: “In 1953, Rolex introduced the Twinlock winding crown, which incorporated a patented system with a double seal. 

“The principle was taken a step further in 1970: the Triplock winding crown, comprising an additional sealed zone, reinforced the waterproofness of the watches on which it was fitted – among them its models designed for diving.”

When it comes to watches, few brands are as highly regarded as Rolex, with the timepieces synonymous with luxury. 

While most Rolexes will set you back a fair bit, one of the rarest ones sold for a record-breaking $3.5 million at auction. 

The watch in question – known by its reference number 4113, is an oversized split-seconds chronograph made in 1942 and was initially intended for pilots.

Rolex only made a handful of these, before veering off into a totally different direction.

Rolex only made 12 of these in total, only nine are known to exist today, and only two, including this one, have ever been offered at auction.

The timepiece was sold at Monaco Legend Auctions, where it had a pre-auction estimate of between €2.8 million and €5.6 million.

It eventually sold for €3,284,000 – or roughly $3.5 million at today’s rate.

While another was so rare it even left an expert baffled when it turned up on Antiques Roadshow.

After checking out the rare timepiece, the expert placed a current valuation on the Rolex of between £1,500 and £2,000 ($1,921-$2,562). Not bad.