Rolex Roman IV, or rather IIII

Roman IIII. Some of you may have noticed that Rolex uses the figure "IIII" instead of the commonly used Roman numeral "IV". I read a post in a forum where a poster was questioning who taught Rolex its Roman numerals.

Actually, Breguet, A. Lange and Sohne, Vacheron Constantin and many other watch manufacturers also uses the Roman IIII rather than IV. Patek Philippe has used both IIII and IV in its watches.

One story goes that it was actually common to use "IIII" rather than "IV" back in "Roman times", as the symbol IV represented the Roman God Jupiter whose Latin name, IVPPITER, begins with IV. The other story is that originally, the subtractive principle, meaning that smaller numbers on the left of the larger number are deducted from the larger number (For example: IV meant 5 - 1 or V - I; and IX meant 10 - 1 or X - I), was a permissible alternative rather than the rule.

Notably, the Ninth Roman Legion or more accurately Legio VIIII Hispana (The Ninth Spanish Legion) actually used the symbol "VIIII" instead of "IX". It was only in the Middle Ages that the Roman numeral system in common use today became formalized.

So why doesn't Rolex use the Roman "VIII". Some say, it is because is does not balance to well with the date display on the other side. In brief, Rolex knows its Roman.