Country Codes / Customer Codes

Each Rolex is provided with a country code at delivery. Country code? No. For years, the code on the certificate was referred to as a country code, but the code is for the customer/distributor or importer. In many countries, this also corresponds to the country code (eg, in Germany, Rolex is the only distributor, in Cologne, and thus Germany has only one code, 100). Austria or Switzerland have several codes and thus several Rolex distribution customers.

This customer code is only available on the included warranty certificate (excluding the current US warranty card). Using this customer code, you can see which sales channel this Rolex was intended for and was sent to, after its production in Switzerland. Although differences in customer codes between watches are unknown and probably do not exist, there are collectors who value having a watch with a specific code.

Although the codes, as we have just seen, are not country codes, they still tell you whether the watch was intended for initial sale in the EU or in a non-EU country. If you buy a watch, which was sold in a non-EU country and later used in an EU country or on the gray market, this can be problematic in a border inspection while on vacation. For this reason, it makes sense to know the customer codes. Since Rolex, itself, never published a list, the following list has been compiled by Rolex collectors, themselves.

Below is a list of some well-known customer codes, including one based on Hannes’ Oysterworld list,  which was supplemented/modified accordingly. Since Hannes continues to update his page and add new customer codes, it’s worth taking a look at his page.

* These country codes are from Rolex itself and are issued with a direct purchase by private customers. These numbers are very rare.