| Rolex Serial Number | Year |
| 20,000 – 40,000 | 1927 -1937 |
| 40,000 – 200,000 | 1938 -1942 |
| 200,000 – 300,000 | 1941 -1944 |
| 300,000 – 500,000 | 1945 -1946 |
| 500,000 – 620,000 | 1947 -1948 |
| 620,000 – 700,000 | 1948 -1950 |
| 700,000 – 725,000 | 1951 |
| 725,000 – 880,000 | 1952 |
| 880,000 – 999,000 | 1953 |
| 0 – 49,000 | 1954 |
In 1954 when Rolex reached serial numbers of 1 million they started again as follows:-
| Rolex Serial Number | Year |
| 0 – 50,000 | 1954 |
| 50,000 – 150,000 | 1955 |
| 150,000 – 250,000 | 1956 |
| 250,000 – 350,000 | 1957 |
| 350,000 – 450,000 | 1958 |
| 450,000 – 550,000 | 1959 |
| 550,000 – 650,000 | 1960 |
| 650,000 – 755,000 | 1961 |
| 755,000 – 865,000 | 1962 |
| 865,000 – 1,000,000 | 1963 |
| 1,000,000 – 1,105,000 | 1964 |
| 1,105,000 – 1,275,000 | 1965 |
| 1,275,000 – 1,485,000 | 1966 |
| 1,485,000 – 1,710,000 | 1967 |
| 1,710,000 – 1,945,000 | 1968 |
| 1,945,000 – 2,240,000 | 1969 |
| 2,240,000 – 2,590,000 | 1970 |
| 2,590,000 – 2,890,000 | 1971 |
| 2,890,000 – 3,200,000 | 1972 |
| 3,200,000 – 3,570,000 | 1973 |
| 3,570,000 – 3,865,000 | 1974 |
| 3,865,000 – 4,115,000 | 1975 |
| 4,115,000 – 4,260,0005,000,000 – 5,085,000 | 1976 |
| 5,085,000 – 5,430,000 | 1977 |
| 5,430,000 – 5,865,000 | 1978 |
| 5,865,000 – 6,205,000 | 1979 |
| 6,205,000 – 6,560,000 | 1980 |
| 6,560,000 – 7,130,000 | 1981 |
| 7,130,000 – 7,600,000 | 1982 |
| 7,600,000 – 8,375,000 | 1983 |
| 8,375,000 – 8,785,000 | 1984 |
| 8,785,000 – 9,155,000 | 1985 |
| 9,155,000 – 9,860,000 | 1986 |
| 9,860,000 – 9,900,000 | 1987 |
* During 1976 Rolex retained cases to be used as future ‘Service Cases’ and have issued these, so far, from late 4.38m cases to 4.8m cases.
When Rolex reached their 10,000,000’th serial number in 1987 they switched to Letter Prefix based serials starting with ‘R’. These did not follow alphabetically, nor did they start on the 1st of January each year – instead starting at different points within a year once all the serials had been used. A letter prefix was followed by 6 digits – so again giving 1m serials per letter and in the order below.
| Letter Prefix | Year Started |
| R | 1987 |
| L | 1988 |
| E | 1990 |
| X | 1991 |
| N | 1992 |
| C | 1993 |
| S | 1994 |
| W | 1995 |
| T | 1996 |
| U | 1997 |
| A | 1998 |
| P | 2000 |
| K | 2001 |
| Y | 2002 |
| F | 2003 |
| D | 2005 |
| Z | 2006 |
| M | 2007 |
| V | 2008 |
| G | 2010 |