Rolex Caliber 1036 Complete Guide
The Rolex caliber 1036 is a very rare and historically important movement. Why? Because it happens to be Rolex’s first GMT movement – developed by Rolex specifically for its first GMT-Master watch, the reference 6542.
What is special about this movement is that it is the first movement to display two timezones simultaneously.
The Rolex caliber 1036 was introduced in 1036 and features a bi-directional perpetual rotor. It displays hours, minutes, seconds, an additional GMT timezone, and a date. When released in 1954, this movement was revolutionary, and a huge technological feat. Since then, GMT watches have exploded in popularity on the market, and today, many manufacturers make GMT watches. This movement uses 25 jewels.
The first GMT movement, the 1036, as you can expect, is far from as advanced as the GMT movements from Rolex are today. It has a GMT hand ”attached” to the hour hand, which means the hands could not be set separately to show separate times. Instead, the second time zone is set by rotating the bezel. This is of course not the case today, where you have an independently set GMT hour hand. The quick-set set GMT hour hand was introduced in 1983, but in a new caliber of course – the caliber 1565, and first introduced in the reference 1675.
The Rolex caliber 1036 beats with a frequency of 18,000 bph.
Rolex caliber 1036 specifications
- Jewels: 25
- Frequency: 18,000 bph.
- Bidirectional perpetual rotor.
- Used in: Rolex GMT-Master 6542
Main photo by https://www.chrono-shop.net.
Surely the bph of this movement is 18000, I’ve never heard of a movement beat at 18800, 19800 yes as in the 1556 and 1570 the 1000 series was an 18000 bph movement as was the 1530 that followed it.
Hi James,
Yes, you are absolutely right. A typo from our end. It has been corrected.
Thank you for pointing it out!
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches