This lovely gents Rolex came in recently for a movement service, it was losing time, had very little power reserve and kept stopping. Powered by the calibre 3035 which is the predecessor to the current calibre 3135, it was the first high-beat (28,800bph) movement made by Rolex. The 3035 was a development of the venerable 15xx series and has a free-sprung balance with Breguet overcoil, contains Rolex’s patent Microstella regulating system and has an instantaneous date changeover mechanism.

As usual with datejusts the caseback is a non decorated affair.

With the caseback removed the highly recognisable Rolex oscillating weight is now on display along with the equally recognisable purple reverser wheels.

I prefer to remove the autowind mechanism and rotor whilst the movement is still in the case.

And here’s a view of the underneath of the mechanism. The rotor is supported by two jewels, an upper one and one at the bottom of the post which is part of the train bridge.

With the autowind removed the movement can be uncased ready to remove the dial and handset. What a lovely dial 🙂

Once I’d removed the dial you could now see the calendar mechanism, note the date disk with its open 6’s and 9’s.

With the date disk and the date change wheel removed you can see the extent of the perlage decoration on the plate. Most of it’s hidden under wheels and components but Rolex still choose to fully decorate all the plates, a decision I applaud.

It doesn’t take long to get down to the keyless work….

….and with that out of the way this side is done.

I turn the movement over and get ready to start on the motion work. Note the balance cock with the endshake adjustment screw, a handy feature.

I took the power off and removed the balance, pallets and ratchet wheel.

The train bridge is off here, just the barrel bridge and barrel to go….

….and everything was ready for the cleaning machine.

After inspection the post was found to be in good order, this is usually one of the components that needs changing, the mainspring was replaced for a new one though. Everything else seemed tip top.

The barrel, barrel bridge and centre bridge are refitted in this shot.

The train is ready for its bridge to be refitted in this shot….

….and the bridge, pallets and balance are back in place here. This means the movement can now be powered up and roughly timed.

I flipped the movement over to start assembling the calendar side.

Ready for the date disk in this picture….

….and ready for the dial in this one.

The dial and hands were the next components to be installed.

I then recased the movement ready to rebuild the autowind mechanism….

….and once rebuilt it was fitted.

The watch was closed up and then went for a 6bar pressure test….

….which it successfully passed.

Another one good for a few more years of wear. Lovely things these datejusts, I especially like the bezel design on this model.