The Rolex Milgauss was designed to meet the demands of the scientific community and is capable of withstanding magnetic fields of up to 1,000 gauss. The reliability and precision of an ordinary mechanical watch can be affected by a magnetic field of 50 to 100 gauss. But many scientists are exposed to much higher magnetic fields during the course of their work. Rolex’s solution was the Milgauss — the first watch of its kind. Hence the name of the watch, mille being French for thousand. The Milgauss became known notably as the watch worn by scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva.