The Oyster Perpetual Woman-Datejust is an icon on this planet of watches. It was launched in 1957, at a time the place ladies have been altering — they have been having fun with new, lively life. They discovered a brand new sense of autonomy, and wished to regulate their very own destinies and handle their time extra exactly. Hans Wilsdorf, founding father of Rolex, understood what the trendy girl wished, and so was born the Woman-Datejust.
Pioneering ladies have all the time been a keystone within the historical past of Rolex. For the reason that earliest days of the model, they’ve impressed the creation and improvement of particular timepieces that may assist their quest for empowerment. The Woman-Datejust is a celebration of those that dare to paved the way. It embodies precision whereas combining basic class and technical efficiency.
Designed for the slender wrists of ladies, the Woman-Datejust contains a 28 mm Oyster case, assured waterproof to a depth of 100 metres (330 ft), and crafted from Oystersteel or 18 ct gold. Its sapphire crystal is just about scratchproof, with a Cyclops lens at 3 o’clock over the date. A number of dial variations can be found, in a wealth of supplies, colors, markers and motifs, offering the discerning girl with choices to customize her watch and make her assertion.
Landmark in Watchmaking
Hans Wilsdorf as soon as said of his enduring mission: “Girls need the most effective of each worlds: a tiny watch and an correct motion. But, the smaller the watch, the tougher it’s to make it correct.”
That is exactly why the Woman-Datejust was ‘impressed by audacity’, because it was a serious technical problem to supply such small exact actions within the twentieth century. Since its inception, Rolex has made varied enhancements to the guts of the Woman-Datejust. Presently, it’s outfitted with calibre 2236, a self-winding mechanical motion completely developed and manufactured by Rolex.
Calibre 2236
Launched in 2014 calibre 2236 is a self-winding mechanical motion completely developed and manufactured by Rolex, providing excellent efficiency by way of precision, energy reserve, resistance to shocks and magnetic fields, comfort and reliability. A consummate demonstration of expertise, this motion carries plenty of patents. Let’s delve deeper into this motion which is on the forefront of watchmaking expertise.
The guts of the Woman-Datejust
These with a ardour for watches know that in mechanical watches, the oscillator is the ‘guardian of time’, sustaining the precision of the watch via the interactions of the steadiness wheel and the hairspring.
The oscillator of calibre 2236 has a steadiness wheel with variable inertia regulated extraordinarily exactly by way of gold Microstella nuts, held firmly in place by a height-adjustable traversing bridge enabling very steady positioning to extend shock resistance. The oscillator can be fitted on high-performance Paraflex shock absorbers, designed and patented by Rolex.
The hairspring of a motion is a fragile element that’s topic to environmental disturbances that may adversely have an effect on the oscillator’s efficiency. Magnetic fields, temperature variances and shocks all serve to throw the oscillator off.
To offer higher stability within the face of those disturbances, Rolex developed the brand new Syloxi hairspring, including a second distinct paramagnetic steadiness spring expertise to finish its vary of high-performing hairsprings, alongside the blue Parachrom hairspring.
The Syloxi hairspring is completely manufactured in-house by Rolex from a silicon and silicon oxide composite, a mixture of supplies whose thermo-compensating and paramagnetic properties enable the hairspring to keep up its excessive precision when subjected to temperature fluctuations and magnetic interference.
Utilising deep reactive ion etching expertise (DRIE), the hairspring is crafted with a patented geometry that optimises its isochronism and thus the regularity of the oscillations of the steadiness wheel-hairspring meeting. The variable pitch and thickness of the coils, optimised alongside the entire size of the hairspring, ensures fixed improvement in all positions, compensating for the consequences of gravity.
Inspecting the Syloxi would present a hairspring fastened to the steadiness workers and bridge utilizing a patented versatile collet, eliminating the necessity for glue and protecting the hairspring’s inside finish completely perpendicular, flat and self-centring.
Wanting alongside the hairspring, one can see that the Syloxi terminates in a extra inflexible, bolstered crescent-shaped half that permits a two-point fixation to the traversing steadiness bridge, making certain that the hairspring is completely centred, completely flat and freed from any residual mechanical stress in its lively zone.
Fixing it this manner allowed Rolex to optimise the beat adjustment utilizing a Paraflex shock absorber that contains a fluting for this function, which can be the signature of Syloxi-equipped calibres.
This marvel of precision engineering offers the Syloxi with nice stability within the face of temperature variations; as much as 10 occasions extra precision than a conventional hairspring in case of shocks; and better resistance to magnetic fields.
Additionally of curiosity is that the calibre 2236 is provided with a paramagnetic nickel-phosphorus escape wheel enhancing its resistance to magnetic fields.
Like all Rolex watches, the Woman-Datejust is roofed by the Superlative Chronometer certification redefined by Rolex in 2015. The precision of a Rolex Superlative Chronometer is of the order of −2/+2 seconds per day — the speed deviation tolerated by the model for a completed watch is considerably smaller than that accepted by COSC for official certification of the motion alone.
Every calibre 2236 is fitted with a self-winding module by way of a Perpetual rotor, which ensures steady winding of the mainspring by harnessing the actions of the wrist to offer fixed vitality. This provides an influence reserve of roughly 55 hours.
As with all Rolex actions, calibre 2236 is made in-house by Rolex, together with all elements.
A timepiece that encapsulates Rolex values, the emblematic Woman-Datejust has been a byword for fashion and technical efficiency ever since its launch, celebrating those that dare to paved the way.
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