Cal. 3235 is the current mainstream date movement from Rolex. Part of the updated Chronergy family, it features 3-day power reserve and many new components. Cal. 3235 first appeared in late 2015 in the Pearlmaster 39 and in 2016 in the Datejust 41 and has since spread to the Sea-Dweller Deepsea, Datejust 36, Yacht-Master 42, and Yacht-Master 40. It replaced the Cal. 3136 in most applications, though some models featured the old Cal. 3135.
- Rolex Datejust 36 (2018-present), Ref. 126200
- Rolex Datejust 41 (2016-present), Ref. 126300
- Rolex Pearlmaster 39 (2015-present), Ref. 86348, 86349
- Rolex Sea-Dweller (2017-present), Ref. 126600
- Rolex Yacht-Master 40 (2019-present), Ref. 126621, 126622, 126655
- Rolex Yacht-Master 42 (2019-present), Ref. 226659
This movement is described by Rolex as a “Superlative Chronometer.” The company uses this term to indicate their most accurate modern movements. They claim that these are twice as accurate as any official chronometer certification, to -2/+2 seconds per day “after casing.” The Superlative Chronometer test is performed in-house and goes beyond COSC procedures.
Rolex introduced the Chronergy family in 2015 with Cal. 3255, an updated movement for the famous Day-Date (President) model. It is a major redesign, with Rolex claiming that over 90% of the components are redesigned or all-new. The marquee feature for consumers is the “3-day” (70 hour) power reserve, which is made possible by the “Chronergy escapement” with optimized gears and lubricants as well as a longer mainspring inside a thinner barrel. Other notable features include more efficient automatic winding, unrestricted calendar correction, and “backward” (counter-clockwise) time setting.
The movement can be manually wound with the crown in position 1. Rotate the crown clockwise to wind the mainspring.
The date wheel is advanced with the crown in second position (one notch out). Turn the crown counter-clockwise to advance the date wheel by one day.
The time is set with the crown in third position (pulled all the way out). Rotate the crown counter-clockwise to advance the minute and hour hands and clockwise to turn them backward.