How many jewels are inside Rolex Cal. 3135 ?

While doing a bit of research on jewels, I've decided - for the first time ever- to actually count the number of jewels in the Rolex Cal. 3135. To my surprise, the total count is 40 - not 31 as marked on the auto bridge. Obviously, there has to be a reason behind this- either I am not counting properly or some jewels are not to be counted :-)

1. barrel arbour jewel, lower
2. great wheel, lower jewel
3. 3rd wheel, lower jewel
4. inter. calendar pinion, lower
5. escape wheel, lower jewel
6. escape wheel lower cap jewel
7. pallet, lower jewel
8. balance wheel, lower jewel
9. balance wheel cap, lower jewel

10. barrel arbour jewel, upper jewel
11. auto driving wheel, lower jewel

12. balance wheel, upper jewel
13. balance wheel cap, upper jewel

14. balance wheel, roller jewel

15. auto reverse wheel 1, lower jewel
16. auto driving wheel, middle jewel
17. auto reverse wheel 2, lower jewel
18. rotor weight, lower jewel

19. date disc 'dummy' jewel
20. date disc 'support' jewel 1
21. date disc 'support' (side) jewel 1
22. date disc 'support' jewel 2
23. inter. calendar pinion, upper jewel
24. date disc 'support' (side) jewel 2
25. date disc 'support' jewel 3

26. escape wheel, upper jewel
27. escape wheel cap, upper jewel
28. second wheel, upper jewel
29. 3rd wheel, upper jewel
30. great wheel, upper jewel

31. rotor weight, upper jewel
32. auto driving wheel 1, upper jewel
33. auto driving wheel, upper jewel
34. auto driving wheel 2, upper jewel

35. pallet jewel 1
36. pallet jewel 2
37. pallet bridge jewel, upper
38. second wheel jewel mounted inside cannon pinion
39. minute wheel pinion bridge jewel
40. yoke / cam jewel

When money is not an issue

Have you ever asked yourself what is the most expensive part inside your Rolex ? Taking into consideration that almost all movement parts are essential (except for a screw or two), it would be unfair to single out any particular bit. However, for the sake of simplicity, let's assume that all parts are equally important and from that, the most expensive part would be the one with the best dollar/weight ratio.

The escape wheel is the last and the lightest wheel in watch train and one of the 3 vital parts responsible for timekeeping and accuracy. Together with pallets and the balance wheel, it is really the 'heart' of the watch mechanism - a 'device' that makes your Rolex tick & tock.

The photo below shows the escape wheel from Rolex calibre 3135 placed on digital scale.



The weight of the wheel is 0.006 gram. In other words, the total of 167 wheels would have a combined weight of 1 gram. With a price of US$ 28 per wheel, 1 gram of escape wheels is worth US$ 4,676.00 !

Do you know of any other machine made and mass-produced piece of metal worth 4,6 million US dollars per kilogram? That's why the Swiss don't bother about making hammers and screwdrivers. If they did, you'd have to be Warren Buffet to take up carpentry as a hobby.