longest time one has not service rolex

[Sharo]

Hi all,
what is the longest time you have ever not serviced your precious rolex watch, been to Ben Bridge and spoken to the manager and he told me he has not serviced the watch for 15 yrs and its still working well, what is the longest time you have your rolex and not been serviced?
is it overdone to get us to service rolex every 5 yrs??

would love to hear from you out there..

[DanP]

im sure the experts'll weigh in here soon and say regular service intervals are needed to keep things in proper order. My gmt2c is almost 2 years old and when its 5 she goes in no matter what. one of my reps has an air king that he never had serviced after about 12 years of ownership. tickin fine though the case needs a good haul.

Welcome to Trf buddy!
Dan

[Singslinger]

The longest one of my watches has gone without a service is 7 years, but I have a friend who bought his Sub-date 22 years ago and hasn't serviced even once! It looks like hell but works fine and although I've done my best to convince him to send it in to the RSC, he subscribes to the maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it''...

[siggen7]

My 1993 sub N-Serial have never been to service, keeps the time good, only -1 sek a day :)

[Deyn Man]

i guess a 5-year interval should be ok... 10 is too long IMO and 7.5 is, well, personally i find weird simply because it's not a round number like 5 or 10... hehehehe!

hey! speaking of... haven't had my AK serviced for almost 9 years already! hehehehe! Will most likely bring it in next year... 2010, next servicing, 2015

[gregdolley]

Haven't had any of my Rolexes for more than five years. However, I do have a vintage Tudor (which I think is from 1969) which has _never_ been serviced. Still runs perfectly. Although the original owner hardly ever wore the thing, so I'm sure that plays a part.

[chillviper]

I went 13 years (96-09) with my TT Date. It was my only watch and was worn daily. RC Dallas did the service last month and didn't recommend any other repairs. I had them replace the crystal, hands and dial (now has Super Luminova). It looks brand new, albeit small compared to modern watches.

[greekbum]

The GMT that I bought new and still wear today went 22 years without its 1st service.I have bought a few watches from original owners from the early 60's that were still working and had never been serviced according to the original owners and when opened up it showed.Of course they needed servicing.

[DSJ]

My best friend got his 16610 in May 1995.

[sakuraba]

My grandma's Lady DJ was made in 1943, bought in 1957, and passed down to my mom early this year. It had never been serviced! Before my mom wore it, she decided to have it serviced by an independent.

It didn't really need a service. I'm sure it was no longer COSC accurate, but for my mom's needs, it was fine. Amazingly, it looked pretty good for its age, and aside fom the dated leaf markers and old style hands would still pass for "recently purchased".

These are some tough watches.

[mcubed]

So the next question is: How did the water resistance hold up, which is actually my largest service concern.

[redshirt1957]

TT Blue Sub....14 years. Still was working fine.

[Ck8]

9 1/2 years

[watchnut]

There's probably a message in here somewhere. Although twenty years probably isn't a good idea you have to wonder how much of the five year business is Rolex wanting to make a bunch on service. At $700 bucks or so, I bet you'll see more people waiting a few more years. I know, I know, if you can't afford one don't buy it, but these services aren't cheap by anyones standards. The old 3000 mile oil change isn't dead yet either, but it should be. These are arbitrary figures made up by someone based on probably the most severe usage possible. If these things are being opened up after many years and aren't having to have a bunch of parts replaced you have to wonder.

[BASSETHOUNDS]

In 1990 , I bought a secondhand 1603 in Seville ( type of pawn shop ) no papers and the box was younger then the watch , I doubt very much it was ever serviced and it still hasn't been opened to this day . It has been sitting in a safe in Luxemburg for the last decade and the last time I touched it ( feb) it started to tick away after a couple of swings . It has always lost a couple of minutes a month , but never got worse .

[eagle_lex]

mine are 10 year old subs and both have not been serviced. i think these are "recommend" service intervals much like someone already mentioned similar to 3k mile oil changes.

mine run great and look great. of course i baby them but they run and stop after 47 hours or so of no wear. then i restart them and wear them again when i want to. no issues so far. i might send my two tone serti in for a complete service and polish but no parts on the outside seem worn. im sure they put in new spring bars as part of the basic service but other than that my watches look about 90 percent after 10 years.

[Rikki]

S##T luck, if you would have seen some of the hundreds of destroyed watches that I have seen because of lack of service you all might adjust your thinking. We have had this discussion many times in the past and I'm sure many more times in the future,but as i have said before as long as you come in every other year and have the gaskets checked and wt you can go a bit longer than 5 years,but in this age of minimalist oiling tighter tolerances and even better oils they still need to be serviced at 5 to 7 years. Now i don't want to start comparing to cars again but I will only for this purpose.This goes to tolerances, I own a 1974 Datsun 260Z a 1994 Chevy Suburban and a 2005 Honda Element. My Zcar uses straight 30 or even 40 wght oil the chevy recommended 5 w 30 when new and since it went over 190000 miles and have used racing 20w50. Now my Honda uses 5w20 or as I like to call it sewing machine oil and the reason is tolerances. The new machining is so tight that if I were to put 10w40 or God forbid 20W50 the engine would blow in a matter of miles. Now the newer model watches have tighter tolerances smaller pivots and smaller jewels that hold less oil. If you notice in these posts most of the watches listed were older watches with larger pivots and gears able to withstand more wear before becoming useless.Has anyone noticed why 100 year old pocket watches rarely if ever need any gears it is for that reason larger everything including the oil cupping of the jewels. The same thing happenned in the clock business a 100 year old kitchen clock with pivots as large as 2mm in diameter rarely wear out just the brass plate they are mounted in when that happens just put in bronze bushings and you're good for another 100 years. The newer clocks mostly have 3 separate gear trains for time chime and strike all in an area half the size of a clock that is only time and strike. The smaller the gears and pivots the smaller the surface area the sooner they wear out. Most modern clocks have a 25 year lifespan then they are done. So as you can see there're a lot of things that go into determining when something needs servicing. And as I have said before us watchmakers don't get to see you but once every 5 years or so and we get real lonely hehe hope my rambling makes some sense to you all. Rikki

[rkammer]

Originally Posted by Rikki

S##T luck, if you would have seen some of the hundreds of destroyed watches that I have seen because of lack of service you all might adjust your thinking. We have had this discussion many times in the past and I'm sure many more times in the future,but as i have said before as long as you come in every other year and have the gaskets checked and wt you can go a bit longer than 5 years,but in this age of minimalist oiling tighter tolerances and even better oils they still need to be serviced at 5 to 7 years. Now i don't want to start comparing to cars again but I will only for this purpose.This goes to tolerances, I own a 1974 Datsun 260Z a 1994 Chevy Suburban and a 2005 Honda Element. My Zcar uses straight 30 or even 40 wght oil the chevy recommended 5 w 30 when new and since it went over 190000 miles and have used racing 20w50. Now my Honda uses 5w20 or as I like to call it sewing machine oil and the reason is tolerances. The new machining is so tight that if I were to put 10w40 or God forbid 20W50 the engine would blow in a matter of miles. Now the newer model watches have tighter tolerances smaller pivots and smaller jewels that hold less oil. If you notice in these posts most of the watches listed were older watches with larger pivots and gears able to withstand more wear before becoming useless.Has anyone noticed why 100 year old pocket watches rarely if ever need any gears it is for that reason larger everything including the oil cupping of the jewels. The same thing happenned in the clock business a 100 year old kitchen clock with pivots as large as 2mm in diameter rarely wear out just the brass plate they are mounted in when that happens just put in bronze bushings and you're good for another 100 years. The newer clocks mostly have 3 separate gear trains for time chime and strike all in an area half the size of a clock that is only time and strike. The smaller the gears and pivots the smaller the surface area the sooner they wear out. Most modern clocks have a 25 year lifespan then they are done. So as you can see there're a lot of things that go into determining when something needs servicing. And as I have said before us watchmakers don't get to see you but once every 5 years or so and we get real lonely hehe hope my rambling makes some sense to you all. Rikki

You should probably cut and paste your response into a separate saved file and use it whenever this topic comes up to keep from having to spend time reposting it every time. Seriously.

On the other hand, some of your logic and long personal experience still doesn't overcome the real world experience many have had with only servicing a watch when it starts to exhibit symptoms of a malfunction. Going 10 years instead of 5 and having to replace a couple of movement parts still costs less than spending the extra $500-$600 to have it serviced twice as often. At least that seems to be the reasoning for waiting longer between services.

[StanGMT]

There was a lengthy series of exchanges on this topic in Jan/Feb 2008 in which people were arguing the pros and cons of getting a Rolex regularly serviced; here is one of the contributions I made at the time - hope it's of interest . . .

"I am a (retired) professional engineer, too. We all know that engineering manufacturers, whether it be of cars, aero-engines, locomotives, power-boats or watches, all recommend service schedules that they think will keep their products working for the intended lifetime. All components have a lifespan range - any given component can age and fail within this range, with failure at any point in the range having a statistical probability. Most failures will occur around mid-range, but a small number will occur very early and a similar small number will fail late, or even never. The statistical risk or probability of failure of each component will is usually well-mapped through design models and in-service feedback.

Some products, like cars, are intended to have a limited life and in these cases the manufacturers keep servicing recommendations to the bare minimum - this is so that more people will buy their cheap-to-maintain vehicles, which will need to be regularly replaced with a new one, thereby generating more new car sales.

Equipment sold to industry, such as aero engines and locomotives, have to be seen to have a longer, more reliable life and servicing recommendations for these are pitched at a level that the manufacturer thinks will give best performance. As a former aero-engine designer I know that, with absolute reliability being the most important requirement, servicing schedules are set for components and lubricants to be replaced well within their design life range; this ultra-preventive maintenance really does work - aero-engine reliability is incredibly high.

With watches, it is likely that the Rolex service recommendations fall into this same category of 'ultra-preventive maintenance' in that I would expect that the five year interval is well within the design life of the oils and seals, etc. This is entirely for Rolex's benefit, not the customer's; Rolex gains by erring on the safe side because its watches retain a reputation for reliability and longevity and Rolex will has a nice little (profitable) business set-up servicing their own watches.

So, I am not at all surprised that some watches go for thirty years without servicing and still appear to work just fine and the seals feel ok to the touch. These components may well still be within their wider lifespan range. But there will be an equal number of watches that do fail through lack of maintenance, where components have failed earlier - see Stratton's post, for example. It's all a matter of statisical risk - do you feel lucky?

So, for me - I recognise that the Rolex 5 year service interval probably errs on the safe side, but I don't want to depend on luck - I want my GMT to be good for my lifetime - and my son's if he wants to wear it, so I get it done regularly."

Stan.

[rolexsubdate]

ALmost 12yrs ... for a SS sub date .... but then again, the mileage on my watch is very low .... I bought it brand new and wore it 2-3 times/month ....babied it, got it wet, BUT it is still ticking like new!!

I do not think I will ever service it again .... I wear them for a day and then lock them up for a week ,,,, so as a result, they stop. I have to reset the time again...that's why I am not worried about my watches keeping COSC time and I am not anal about them losing or gaining time ...

But when I do set them in the morning, at night, when I come home, the Rolexes are right on target .... that's sufficient for me ....

Who gives a rat's ass about losing or gaining time .... we're all losing time ...getting old ...closer to death ....so who cares if your watch gains a few secs here and there ....

[TABACCO]

almost 10 yrs but still kept on ticking

[moviefreak]

What I have read is that there are many watches that will for a long time without breaking down.. that only talks about Rolex quality.. but if you want to have precision too you would require the tune ups every 5 year intervals just to keep it running perfect.. not just running..

[Perdu]

A friend of mine finaally got his GMT II sericed after 14 years. He had worn it in the bath and shower with the crown open and had condensation under the crystal several times when he first had it at the service they replaced several rusty parts.

[watcher54]

I won a used 1601 Datejust in 1986 in a poker game. I knew it was an older model as it had the pointed hands. The serial number puts the date around 1958. It was running fine when I got it and I wore it daily until it stopped running in 2004. The local AD said it had never been serviced. $437.00 later, it runs fine again, although my GMT IIc has more or less replaced it as my daily.

[cody p]

Originally Posted by Rikki

S##T luck, if you would have seen some of the hundreds of destroyed watches that I have seen because of lack of service you all might adjust your thinking. We have had this discussion many times in the past and I'm sure many more times in the future,but as i have said before as long as you come in every other year and have the gaskets checked and wt you can go a bit longer than 5 years,but in this age of minimalist oiling tighter tolerances and even better oils they still need to be serviced at 5 to 7 years. Now i don't want to start comparing to cars again but I will only for this purpose.This goes to tolerances, I own a 1974 Datsun 260Z a 1994 Chevy Suburban and a 2005 Honda Element. My Zcar uses straight 30 or even 40 wght oil the chevy recommended 5 w 30 when new and since it went over 190000 miles and have used racing 20w50. Now my Honda uses 5w20 or as I like to call it sewing machine oil and the reason is tolerances. The new machining is so tight that if I were to put 10w40 or God forbid 20W50 the engine would blow in a matter of miles. Now the newer model watches have tighter tolerances smaller pivots and smaller jewels that hold less oil. If you notice in these posts most of the watches listed were older watches with larger pivots and gears able to withstand more wear before becoming useless.Has anyone noticed why 100 year old pocket watches rarely if ever need any gears it is for that reason larger everything including the oil cupping of the jewels. The same thing happenned in the clock business a 100 year old kitchen clock with pivots as large as 2mm in diameter rarely wear out just the brass plate they are mounted in when that happens just put in bronze bushings and you're good for another 100 years. The newer clocks mostly have 3 separate gear trains for time chime and strike all in an area half the size of a clock that is only time and strike. The smaller the gears and pivots the smaller the surface area the sooner they wear out. Most modern clocks have a 25 year lifespan then they are done. So as you can see there're a lot of things that go into determining when something needs servicing. And as I have said before us watchmakers don't get to see you but once every 5 years or so and we get real lonely hehe hope my rambling makes some sense to you all. Rikki

i love these threads - i plan on letting mine go longer than the recommended. i wonder how many of these stories of long-runners are older 'slow beat' movements?

Rikki: i hear you, and what you say makes sense, but i'd also expect a watchmaker to say what you say because it creates more business for you and those of your profession. now watch, i'll eat my words when i bring my watch in long after i should have, and get some whopper of a bill for a host of worn parts needing replacement.

[novae500]

every other year? yikes i'm shooting for every 7 yrs

[Rikki]

No No No everyother year just for gaskets and wt not complete service please reread Thanx Rikki As far as the business goes most of the watchmakers I know are beyond busy I work 70 plus hours a week and have for years there's just not enough of us left out here to keep up with the demand for service. Here's a few numbers for ya Just Rolex makes approximately 900000 to 1 million watches a year I am 1 of under 400 Independant Rolex account holders in the USA that being said if you divide 400 into a million that's 2500 watches a year to fix this year not icluding last year and the year before and so on. In my most productive year as a lone man in a one man shop I can't do 1000 watche so every year I am going backwards 1500 watches so believe me when I say when to bring your watch in for service it's not from a I need the work perspective it's solely from I don't want you to ruin your 10 thousand dollar watch viewpoint. Now these are the numbers from just 1 Manufacturer I have parts accounts from over a dozen companies some of which are no longer available to new watchmakers. I service and repair between 40 and 70 watches a week of all makes and kinds full and partial service to just batteries it's a great job and I love it. So if you all have any questions I'm an open book as I have always been. Rikki

[The Baron]

A friend of mine has 1974 Datejust that he didn't service until 2001. The only reason he serviced it was he left the crown open in the shower.

His Dad bought the watch new and the watch was worn everyday.

[watchnut]

No offense meant to anyone here, but it sounds like unfortunately, Rolex, like everybody else, has cheapened their product. Smaller pivots, tighter tolerances, etc might make for more accuracy, but if it's at the expense of longevity, I'll buy vintage. Also doesn't make much sense to try to make a watch last for several generations if Rolex is going to stop stocking parts and our heirs will all have to hunt around for an independent to fix them. Might be time to look for a PP.

[cody p]

Originally Posted by Rikki

No No No everyother year just for gaskets and wt not complete service please reread Thanx Rikki As far as the business goes most of the watchmakers I know are beyond busy I work 70 plus hours a week and have for years there's just not enough of us left out here to keep up with the demand for service. Here's a few numbers for ya Just Rolex makes approximately 900000 to 1 million watches a year I am 1 of under 400 Independant Rolex account holders in the USA that being said if you divide 400 into a million that's 2500 watches a year to fix this year not icluding last year and the year before and so on. In my most productive year as a lone man in a one man shop I can't do 1000 watche so every year I am going backwards 1500 watches so believe me when I say when to bring your watch in for service it's not from a I need the work perspective it's solely from I don't want you to ruin your 10 thousand dollar watch viewpoint. Now these are the numbers from just 1 Manufacturer I have parts accounts from over a dozen companies some of which are no longer available to new watchmakers. I service and repair between 40 and 70 watches a week of all makes and kinds full and partial service to just batteries it's a great job and I love it. So if you all have any questions I'm an open book as I have always been. Rikki

mmmm, now you are making me think... ok, 7 years.