New style warranty cards

[Mr DateJust]

Not sure if this has been discussed before but I was talking to my AD earlier in the week and he mentioned something interesting about the new style warranty cards (the ones with the magnetic swipe strip). Apparently any watches they had had laying about in stock for a while that were originally supplied with the older style card, Rolex have now swapped these all over to the new swipe card style. They sent the old cards back to Rolex and new ones were supplied. Not a huge deal but just thought it was odd Rolex would go to that trouble.

[Tyl3r]

I recently purchased a watch and was told the same thing. It makes sense Rolex would swap them out. Who would want to purchase a watch with an older style card when the new ones were out? It would have meant the watch was sitting around longer.

[Mr DateJust]

I suppose it makes sense are there are some models which will sit around for years possibly before they sell. Some of the PM models need the right buyer to come along.

[GerardoG]

Boutique confirmed that the new cards are tied to Rolex SA, so the minute the card is swiped at AD, it starts warranty time, send a note to inventory to have a replacement for the next shipment, note to accounting so they can easily review/audit

[SIDMAN]

When were the magnetic strip cards introduced? Not the replacement ones for the older style ones. When did Rolex first use the magnetic swipe warranty cards for the first time?

[regnant]

Thanks for this topic,I didn't know about new style warranty ��. It is kinda odd why Rolex don't inform about that on it's official site

[Racerdj]

This makes sense.

[Dyim]

Originally Posted by SIDMAN

When were the magnetic strip cards introduced? Not the replacement ones for the older style ones. When did Rolex first use the magnetic swipe warranty cards for the first time?

I know it started out in USA first and Canada I have not seen yet.

It will be interesting to see what this does to the grey market.

[Danex]

Yes new cards. Even the NOS 16570 Explorer II with V serial I was looking at last weeek had the card swapped out for new.

[xjeeunitx]

Good info to know! Thanks for sharing.

[Tyl3r]

Originally Posted by Danex

Yes new cards. Even the NOS 16570 Explorer II with V serial I was looking at last weeek had the card swapped out for new.

A dealer still has a 16570 in stock? That thing is in need of a service.

[RollieVerde]

This will be interesting a couple of years down the road, when bogus warranty cards are scanned if people try to get warranty service. All these dealers that allegedly buy new in bulk from ADs aren't going to be able to scan in the individual sales and send them to Rolex as required, because (I think) a lot of information on the sale goes to the Mother Ship. AD's aren't supposed to discount bulk sales to anyone as far as I know, so this may be problematic for online sales. But who knows? As long as there's a market for people who care more about a discount than where the watch actually came from, there will be places for them to buy. FWI they're doing the same thing with Tudor, as I watched my AD swipe the card and put in info when I got mine in January.

[Mr DateJust]

Originally Posted by Tyl3r

A dealer still has a 16570 in stock? That thing is in need of a service.

Yip there are still a few out there. I know of a couple of AD's in the UK who still have them. They were never the biggest seller and for the average guy off the street put it next to one of the newer ceramic subs or GMTs and they won't even give the explorer a second look. It was the last 5 digit model so was competing against all these new and "improved" watches. I got mine new old stock and am very glad I did.

[wiswrist]

My new card (from a trusted TRF seller) looks like this ... interestingly, the watch originated in Germany ...