Rolex and the world's most accurate clock: the Rubidium Atomic Optical Clock
Back in May of last year, Rolex had already established a new company: Quantum SA. When asked by Insight Luxury for more details, Rolex responded as follows:
“Following our successful collaboration on the design and development of a new generation of atomic clocks, the CSEM (Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique) and Rolex have decided to form a partnership to further advance innovative technologies. As part of this collaboration, the new company Rolex Quantum SA was founded in May 2025. Based in Neuchâtel, the company benefits from its close proximity to the CSEM and has set itself a clear mission: the development, manufacture, and distribution of high-precision optical atomic clocks. We will publish further details and information about future projects in due course.”
The time has come. The goal is to build the world’s most precise clock, in which the oscillations of the oscillator and the quartz are replaced by the ultra-high frequency of an atom in order to measure the second as accurately as possible. Its name: “Rubidium Atomic Optical Clock.”
To develop this optical atomic clock, Rolex has partnered with the CSEM innovation center, as previously announced. The technology, which is the result of years of research, relies on the use of rubidium, a metallic element capable of generating frequencies 100,000 times higher than those of current atomic clocks.
When excited by a laser, rubidium atoms emit blue light at a very precise, extremely high frequency of 385 terahertz as they return to their ground state. This fluorescence is used to define Rolex’s reference second and to calibrate the precision testing machines in the brand’s workshops.
A deviation of less than one second in a million years
Rolex’s “Rubidium Atomic Optical Clock” is up to sixty times more accurate than other atomic clocks available today. Its deviation is less than 0.1 billionths of a second per day—or less than one second in a million years. In a calibrated industrial version, it delivers the most precise second—continuously and with the utmost regularity.
Synchronized with Coordinated Universal Time
The first “Rolex Rubidium Atomic Optical Clock” has been installed at the brand’s headquarters in Geneva and is already helping to determine Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)—a first for an optical atomic clock.
Two additional units—one of which has been provided to the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Wabern, while the other is located at the brand’s facilities in Biel—will also join the network of more than 450 atomic clocks distributed worldwide that are used to determine Coordinated Universal Time.
Rolex now calibrates and certifies its wristwatches using its own time signal, which also contributes to international time standardization.
