Rolex watches on Ebay with Diamond Dials?

[uracowman]

Is it just me or do these auctions seem a bit fishy to you? It is like 3/4 of the datejusts on ebay are all older 70's or 80's refurbs with diamonds on the dials or bezel to make them look nice. I mean....are these watches even real?

[wickedrsr]

I believe most of them are aftermarket dials and bezels.

[uracowman]

Originally Posted by wickedrsr

I believe most of them are aftermarket dials and bezels.

what do you mean by aftermarket dials and bezels? As in the dials and bezels were not made by Rolex?

[Eric89]

Originally Posted by uracowman

what do you mean by aftermarket dials and bezels? As in the dials and bezels were not made by Rolex?

Thats a possibility, or it means that a real rolex dial was taken and refinished and then had diamonds added to it. So in essence you may either have a completely aftermarket dial, or a rolex dial that is no longer in its original intended state. Its up to you wether or not you are ok with such alterations to your watch.

[uracowman]

Originally Posted by Eric89

Thats a possibility, or it means that a real rolex dial was taken and refinished and then had diamonds added to it. So in essence you may either have a completely aftermarket dial, or a rolex dial that is no longer in its original intended state. Its up to you wether or not you are ok with such alterations to your watch.

understood but is my assumption true about those watches? It seems like they either take fake rolexes and make them look nice or they take 30 year old ones and sell them for a higher price just because they have a couple microscopic diamonds on them.

[TheBluePrince]

Fine if you like that sort of thing. I actually do like some of the DJ's with diamond bezel and dials that a very well respected UK Ebay seller stocks.

[Rscmaine]

Originally Posted by uracowman

understood but is my assumption true about those watches? they take 30 year old ones and sell them for a higher price just because they have a couple microscopic diamonds on them.

You got it...that's exactly what they are.

They take old 1601 and 16013 datejusts that they take in thru wholesale or trade-ins - paying less than $1000 for them, then they festoon (an underused word, IMO) them with cheap low grade diamonds and charge 300% mark-up.

Sort of like every retail jewelry store - except that for this they mess with Rolexes.

Their target market is people who don't know any better and think that any Rolex with diamonds is super expensive and somehow 'better'.

Most of these places offer an in house warrantee to discourage their buyers from sending the watch to Rolex for service - which would uncover the trick.

[uracowman]

Originally Posted by Rscmaine

Most of these places offer an in house warrantee to discourage their buyers from sending the watch to Rolex for service - which would uncover the trick.

trick as in the watches are fake? If you are buying it from one of these online sellers who do this and the rolex service performs the service, doesn't this mean the watch is legitimately real?

I am sorry if I sound sort of confused, but I am sort of confused with the "trick" part.

[DWdrummer]

Originally Posted by uracowman

trick as in the watches are fake? If you are buying it from one of these online sellers who do this and the rolex service performs the service, doesn't this mean the watch is legitimately real?

I am sorry if I sound sort of confused, but I am sort of confused with the "trick" part.

The trick in this case is that those dials and bezels are NOT factory Rolex parts. Rolex made the watch with a solid 18K bezel lets say. They diamond bezel in its place is NOT a Rolex part, but simply a bezel made to fit that watch, say a Datejust. It looks much more expensive than it is and so they charge more.

For me personally if it not a factory Rolex bezel or dial, then I dont want it.

[Eric89]

Originally Posted by uracowman

trick as in the watches are fake? If you are buying it from one of these online sellers who do this and the rolex service performs the service, doesn't this mean the watch is legitimately real?

I am sorry if I sound sort of confused, but I am sort of confused with the "trick" part.

Rolex considers any watch with aftermarket or refinished parts to be fake and will therefore not service them. This is the "trick" since you will not realize that if you send it back to the seller for service, or if you do some research on rolex watches. It's up to you to decide wether you are ok with that or not.