Need Help with GMT II - Question

[turbineboy]

My first post here.
I am not sure if this post belongs here, but here goes.

I currently own a GMT Master II I purchased from a dealer/store in 2002 and my grandfather’s Rolex from 1939 which was passed down to me. I am looking to add to this and was presented with an opportunity to purchase a Rolex GMT Master 2 – in Two tone by a local seller / private owner.
As I have not purchased a preowned watch like this before, I am asking for some guidance/advice/help.

The private seller has a box, but no papers. He has offered the serial number/Model# (16713) and is offering the watch for a reasonable price.
The watch itself seems to be in good condition and he came with me to the local Tourneau store where they checked it for water seals and said it was running good and held to within 1 second timing. I am not sure what the “held to within 1 second” meant, but presume it can’t be all that bad.
The bracelet appears to be in good condition and comes with the two extra links the owner had to remove to fit his wrist. The bezel black inlay has some very minor scratches noticeable upon close examination.
I can upload pictures of the watch if that would help.

My question is regarding the serial number. I looked up several web pages that told me this watch is a 2004 production year.
How does one use the actual serial number and find the history of the watch – as in is it legally sold, how many times has it been in for service, has any factory service been done on this timepiece, is it actually registered with Rolex to authenticate it is not a fake, etc. etc. Does anyone keep track of this ?

Any help appreciated.

TY

[turbineboy]

Anyone ?

[T. Ferguson]

As far as I know, there is no way for the general public to access any information Rolex may have in a serial number database.

For example, I don't believe you can call Rolex, give them the serial #, and have them give you any info related to that number. But if you send it in for service and they have that watch reported as stolen, they will hold the watch until it is sorted out.

BTW, Rolex does not have production years. The serial number only tells you when watches in that series began to appear. It is entirely possible that Rolex continued to produce watches in that series even after watches in the next series were being produced. It is only a case stamp number.

[Lumos1301]

I called my local police constabulary and asked them to check the stolen items register.
They did a check and the watch was fine but this still isn't 100%.

[mjclark32]

Originally Posted by T. Ferguson

As far as I know, there is no way for the general public to access any information Rolex may have in a serial number database.

For example, I don't believe you can call Rolex, give them the serial #, and have them give you any info related to that number. But if you send it in for service and they have that watch reported as stolen, they will hold the watch until it is sorted out.

BTW, Rolex does not have production years. The serial number only tells you when watches in that series began to appear. It is entirely possible that Rolex continued to produce watches in that series even after watches in the next series were being produced. It is only a case stamp number.

As far as I know you're right

[kooltzar]

If you know the whole serial ypu can check it here for being on the stolen list:

http://www.watchsearcher.com/en/

[turbineboy]

Thank you so much for the information. I confirmed that the watch is not stolen - from the above link.

I also went into the rolex service center located 10 mins away and as noted above by mjclark, Rolex refused to provide any information on it and also confirmed that they would keep the watch if it was stolen.

They did tell me that if I gave them the watch, paid $150+tax, they would be able to provide me with a confirmation that the watch is authentic. They said they would open it up, check inside, and give me a letter of some sort saying the watch was checked by Rolex and verified to be Authentic.

I then took the watch to 2 different dealers/stores/service centers - they looked at it (for what it's worth) and verified it to be authentic. What they told me was that they looked at the crown - as it is two tone - to make sure the crown was all gold and not gold plated on the screw in edges. They also said this was one of the newer watches as the bracelet had the gold / 2-tone all the way and not stainless at the clasp.
They looked at the case and the bracelet in detail.
As one of these two stores works on quite a few Rolex’s every year, the guy who looked at the watch also looked at the watch hands and the markings on the dial and reconfirmed.
He then said that the only way to get to 100% is opening up the watch and verifying everything was the way it was supposed to be. As I don’t like having any doubts, my new preowned 2-tone GMT II is now undergoing a 2 week service (now that it has been verified to be good) and hopefully I will get back a timepiece that should perform to expectations. If this watch is anything like my SS GMT II, I should be happy with it.

I was surprised to hear that even the fakes are now getting so close to the real thing from the outside that sometimes dealers have a hard time telling them apart. Who would’ve thought !!

Thanks again for the information.

TY

[bondtoys]

turbineboy, hope that you don't mind the open word.

That mentioned database has almost no value. I am sure that not many people know this page - I did not know it and I had some of my watches stolen some years ago.
So, as my watches are not in their database, this does not mean, that the watches are not stolen....

As for the 2 watch dealers who checked your watch, if they are Rolex official authorized dealers, their word about authenticity is pretty good. If they are not, I'd take that with a grain of salt.

The only way to check full authenticity is to give the watch to Rolex and they are checking it against their database of stolen watches - which should give you some reasonable safety. but also that is not 100% certain.

If your new watch has the certificate and the purchase invoice, this would be another hint that the watch is legal.

The rule here on the board is to buy the seller with all consequences.