Wife’s First Rolex - 31mm Turquoise OP

[Van1]

Haven’t posted much since I signed up here 15 years ago as I’ve never really had anything worthwhile to share. I bought a Rolex P Serial GMT from a member here in 2012 and have mainly lurked occasionally since that time. Anyway, I think I have something worthwhile now. Sometime late last year my wife happened to show me a Rolex she thought was interesting which was a turquoise blue Oyster Perpetual. Always wanting to get her a Rolex, I thought the MSRP of $5800 for a 31mm was reasonable and something I’d pursue. Problem is, I found all of the resellers wanted at least $9500+ for one and my local AD said they hadn’t seen one in a few years but put me down on the list. Around the same time I got on the list at the AD for the OP, I had dropped off my Omega Speedmaster 145.022 69ST for repair and servicing. Fast forward to the beginning of this past March I got notified that my Speedy was done and on the way back to the AD. Later I got a call from the manager of the AD that my Speedy was in but had been damaged in shipping and needed a lug straightened, the bracelet repaired, and a new crystal. I immediately went to the AD to see the damage myself. It looked like FedEx had either ran it over with a steamroller or hit it with a 20lb sledgehammer. Not just the lug, the entire case was bent, the hesalite crystal bashed in, and I could see the hands were bent. The crystal had been replaced during servicing at my request but all other parts were original to the watch and important to me for originality and patina sake. The manager assured me he’d make everything right and sent the watch to their in house watch maker for evaluation to determine if it could be repaired or if it was a total loss (they had originally sent it to Swatch). He told me if I wasn’t satisfied we could work another avenue as they had it insured and had a claim with FedEx. I mentioned the 31mm turquoise OP I wanted and he said he’d call in a favor given the situation. A few weeks later, I got a call my Speedy was back and looked great. I went to check it out and while it did look good with a new case, the bezel had gotten replaced in addition to all of the other obviously damaged parts leaving the browning step dial the only original piece besides the movement. The bezel was a big deal to me as it was the original and rare dot over 90 bezel. When I mentioned alternatives to accepting the Speedy, the assistant manager said she was authorized to offer me $4000 for my Speedy. I told her that was acceptable (I had originally paid less than $1k for the watch at an estate sale years ago) but asked how long it would take to get a turquoise 31mm OP. She said they had just gotten one in for exhibition but that Rolex had given them permission to sell it to me and they were keeping it off of display pending my decision. So, in the end I was very happy to spend a total of $1899 on my wife’s new Rolex. And I’m grateful the AD worked some big favors to keep me as a satisfied customer.