A rotary encoder includes a stator and a rotor, the rotor being disposed in a manner allowing rotation relative to the stator with the aid of a bearing. The rotor has a shaft, a positive-locking device as well as a code disk being secured in rotatably fixed manner to the shaft. The stator has a body having a scanning device for scanning the code disk, a compensating coupling and a housing. The body is joined to the housing by the compensating coupling. The housing has a further positive-locking device, the rotary encoder being pre-adjusted such that in operation of the rotary encoder, at a predefined relative angular position between the positive-locking device of the shaft and the further positive-locking device of the housing, a predefined angle value is able to be output by the rotary encoder. A series of rotary encoders may be provided.