Please watch out!

[Vanessa CW21]

Hi people!

Time for a story...

On Thursday I have a customer walk in with a Day-Date President bracelet Rolex, and he put it on the counter. My first thought was: "oh boy, another fake"
Well, it wasn't fake... What happened was that he had taken his watch to an independent watchmaker (grey dealer for Rolex) and trusted him with his watch to get it serviced. When this customer received the watch back, it had been polished completely with a high-polish finish! No more brush polish at all, not on the case, not on the bracelet.
That's why the watch seemed fake at first sight...
Needless to say, because the original brush polish was completely shiny, this watchmaker must have been polishing quite a while to get the grooves out of the bracelet, and the bracelet felt very light. (note; it's an older style president with the hollow links)

I told the customer I could put the original brush polish back on it if he wanted, which he accepted gladly, since it "didn't look the same anymore" to him!

This morning I finally had the chance to do so, and to my amazement I discovered that some of the links where so severely polished down that they had holes (!) in it!
I'll attach pictures down here to show you (they were taken with my phone, so bad quality, but I circled the holes).

Now, the point of my story is; if you are going to take your watch to an independent watchmaker, please check his or her status with Rolex. Make sure they are authorised and trained by Rolex to work on their watches. This is easy to do; just call Rolex and ask!
This customer probably paid half of the price for a service with this other guy, than what I would have charged, but now his watch is ruined beyond repair... Plus, he had to pay for me to put the brush polish on, so he probably didn't save anything in the end.

When a watchmaker charges half of what "all the other ones" charge, he's probably doing something wrong... He's not using genuine parts, if he replaces any at all! The gaskets HAVE to be replaced with genuine ones with every service, if you go to somebody who's not authorised by Rolex, he cannot get the genuine parts!
It's not because somebody is an AD, he's an Authorised watchmaker as well, please keep that in mind also.

Sorry for the long thread, but you have no idea how many "mess-ups" I end up trying to fix, because somebody was trying to save some bucks!
End of rant...

[oztimelord]

Cardinal Rule - If you can't afford to get it serviced don't buy the watch, or in my case less watches

[kcmo]

Wow, amazing story Vanessa. Thanks for the warning! Personally, I only send my watches to the RSC for service....can't beat that peace of mind; worth the money IMO.

[marshallr47]

Wow, good info Vanessa. Thanks. I'll definitely keep that in mind for any future services.

[Steven79]

Thanks for the heads up Vanessa! Great info!

[Watch Collector]

Amazing that someone with a beautiful watch like that would be so careless and thrifty in trusting some hack to service his watch!

[Lisa]

Vanessa, thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to share this story. Every word from you is always gold!

[mickeydainish]

Thanx Vanessa.... It is good to be reminded. :-)

[Art161]

I notice that there are a lot of ads in the Yellow Pages that state that "genuine parts" are used, but they don't say "genuine Rolex parts." Let's be careful out there.

[briantheartist]

Wow, I hate hearing about that kind of stuff.

(Now I have a picture of the hand behind the voice )

[jasonbellevue]

Hey Vanessa, hope you and the Camry's doing fine.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up, you get what you pay for, that's why I always send my watches to the RSC.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Vanessa, thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to share this story. Every word from you is always gold!

Agreed.....very interesting info, Vanessa!! Thanks for the update and sharing your experiences with us!!

[Jedi]

Vanessa, doesn't Rolex provide authorised watchmakers with a diagram of how to polish/brush the various models?

[taylor]

You claim to be from the United States. Yet, you do not speak proper English!

[Trurolexer]

Thanks for your info.

[Mr Sandman]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Wow, amazing story Vanessa. Thanks for the warning! Personally, I only send my watches to the RSC for service....can't beat that peace of mind; worth the money IMO.

X2

Why buy a Rolls royce and then get it serviced at the local quick fit.

A lesson for us all.................Send to RSC for complete confidence

[Goodwatch]

Originally Posted by taylor

You claim to be from the United States. Yet, you do not speak proper English!

Would you please consider rephrasing this? Or perhaps elaborate on this? I strongly advise you to do so.

[CKay]

Great reminder Vanessa. Now the poor guy needs to spend thousands replacing the case and bracelet.

[acce1999]

Thanks. Worth thinking about. I feel for your client. It must be an expensive lesson for him...

Best,

A

P.S. Any opportunities to do more measurements on caseback thickness?

[toph]

very intersting/worrying
thanks for posting that

[ROLEX MAN]

some people shpuld not work on rolex's

[jdc]

Thanks for the post, very interesting and informative

[Texsubmariner]

I only trust RSC for my Rolexes, even to regulate my GMTc. In my case, it was definitely worth the hassle of sending it certified and insured via USPS to Dallas RSC, rather than have my AD's watchmaker do it in 30 minutes. Of course, there are plenty of others who have great relationships with their independent and excellent watchmakers. But for me, I really do not want trial and error!

[Erix]

Originally Posted by jdc

Thanks for the post, very interesting and informative

x2

[rpryan55]

Thanks, Vanessa. I'll second what Rene said - if you cannot afford the service, you cannot afford the watch.

[GBJIV]

Vanessa, this is a great post. I it very educational for those of us who want to make good decisions concerning our beauties. It is always great to read what you have to say. Thanks,

[SLS]

What a shame, If I was that customer I would be pretty pissed...to replace that bracelet is NOT going to be cheap. Thanks for bringing that to our attention!
~Scott

[DS/B MINI S]

Originally Posted by oztimelord

Cardinal Rule - If you can't afford to get it serviced don't buy the watch, or in my case less watches

Yep, simple as that

[briantheartist]

Originally Posted by taylor

You claim to be from the United States. Yet, you do not speak proper English!

Thems be fighten werdz!

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by taylor

You claim to be from the United States. Yet, you do not speak proper English!

It may have just been a deliberately ironic response by Taylor with his excruciating use of grammar being the punchline..

... or just a snide Troll comment.

BTW - If I lived on your side of "the pond" Vanessa there is only one place I would want to send my watches to.

You.