I have a good buddy who has a good business and treated himself to a new $50,000 gold Rolex watch. Gorgeous watch. "I got a great deal on it," he told me.

"If you got such a great price, are you sure it's real?" I asked him. (I knew it was real, but it was time to have some fun with him.)

"Of course it's real," he said defiantly.

"Then why is the dial wrong? Why is the Roman Numeral for 4 written IIII. everyone knows the Roman numeral for 4 is IV?" I asked him.

"Rolex wouldn't make a mistake," he said defensively.

"No, Rolex wouldn't but some cheap knock-off artist would," I said with a smile.

That's when he got nervous and shaky. I took out my smart phone, went online and showed him the Roman Numeral for 4 -- IV. He started to show beads of sweat.

My joke had gone far enough.

"Oh, don't worry," I said and went on to tell him that many clock and watch designers use IIII instead of IV for the 4. And there are several reasons why:

The main reason is artistic balance. Looking at a watch having IIII balances VIII for the 8.

There are other reasons, that are a bit more obscure including that there was once a king who ordered a new clock and when the clockmaker presented it to the King with the Roman Numeral IV the King said, "that's wrong, it's IIII." When the clockmaker said the King was wrong, the King had the clockmaker beheaded and ever since then IIII was used.