1982 Cosmograph 6263 queries..

[Tri-National-Man]

Hi all, my father-in-law damaged the acrylic bezel on his 6263 which he bought new back in '82. He took it to his local AD in Cheltenham UK. He was told that Rolex didn't have a replacement and generally didn't have parts for older watches, so he took it to a specialist in London who charged him around £1000 for the part and the work done. They also told him that Rolex are a bit embarrassed about this manual wind Cosmograph model. my queries are these; Is it right that Rolex don't stock spare parts for this iconic watch and are they really embarrassed by this model?? Was my in-law overcharged for a genuine NOS part+work ? Thanks in advance, Shaun.

[BASSETHOUNDS]

I find that very expensive !

[padi56]

Well IMHO he was certainly overcharged for just the insert if thats all they done.Movement wise any competent watchmaker could service or get parts for the Valjoux 72 series.

[pz93c]

If he had the watch movement serviced at the same time, maybe not.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by pz93c

If he had the watch movement serviced at the same time, maybe not.

Even if he had the movement serviced £1000 is still very expencive for any watch with a Valjoux 72.

[mistral]

There's a 6263 bezel for sale at VRF and the asking price is 750 Euros.

The price seems reasonable at 1000 Pound Sterling for part and movement service.

I own a 6239 Daytona and RSC Canada would not service it when I enquired about movement service back in 2005. I take my watch to an independent certified watchmaker when it needs service.

[snow_rocks]

Originally Posted by Tri-National-Man

Hi all, my father-in-law damaged the acrylic bezel on his 6263 which he bought new back in '82. He took it to his local AD in Cheltenham UK. He was told that Rolex didn't have a replacement and generally didn't have parts for older watches, so he took it to a specialist in London who charged him around £1000 for the part and the work done. They also told him that Rolex are a bit embarrassed about this manual wind Cosmograph model. my queries are these; Is it right that Rolex don't stock spare parts for this iconic watch and are they really embarrassed by this model?? Was my in-law overcharged for a genuine NOS part+work ? Thanks in advance, Shaun.

Acrylic bezel? That bezel is bakelite. Crystal is acrylic.

Production ended in late '70s. I know, I know. Bought in '82. Sales of existing stock didn't end in late '70s. Rolex won't have these parts, and this is a manual wind watch.

Seriously, what's to be embarrassed about.

[Wolfgang427]

Actually that's not so bad for a brand new bezel as I sold my old(original) bezel from my 6263 2-years ago for $1,000.

[Wolfgang427]

Originally Posted by snow_rocks

Acrylic bezel? That bezel is bakelite. Crystal is acrylic.

Production ended in late '70s. I know, I know. Bought in '82. Sales of existing stock didn't end in late '70s. Rolex won't have these parts, and this is a manual wind watch.

Seriously, what's to be embarrassed about.

The last "Bakelite" bezel used by Rolex was in the 50's with the GMT, they tend to crack easily thus they did away with bakelite because of it.

[Welshwatchman]

The bezel is neither made from acrylic nor bakelite.

It's made out of steel and the insert is made out of anodized aluminium.

£1,000 for a genuine insert and a full movement service is reasonable considering it's a £20,000 watch these days.

One thing to be aware of though is that even though the movement is basically a Valjoux 27 / 727 a hard core collector would not want replacement generic parts fitted.

There was a big kerfuffle on another forum when buyer found his 6263 had been serviced with several parts from an old Tag with the same basic movement.

A settlement was made by means of £2000 compensation if I remember correctly.

[therolexguy]

Originally Posted by pz93c

If he had the watch movement serviced at the same time, maybe not.

Agreed, If he had the bezel replaced and serviced which you say "and the work done" then it's probably not out of control.

[snow_rocks]

Sorry Paul and Wolfgang, but you will have to talk to Larry

about this.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=32619

and Wolfgang, you posted on this thread. Did Larry recant?

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by snow_rocks

Sorry Paul and Wolfgang, but you will have to talk to Larry

about this.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=32619

and Wolfgang, you posted on this thread. Did Larry recant?

Larry makes it up as he goes along. He doesn't even own any watches .... all photoshop jobbies.

[snow_rocks]

Originally Posted by Welshwatchman

Larry makes it up as he goes along. He doesn't even own any watches .... all photoshop jobbies.

must be the desert heat!

[Welshwatchman]

There is some talk on "the series of tubes" about the 6263 having a bakelite bezel.

Here is a cited picture. The bezel seems steel to me though the insert does look quite shiny, almost coated.

I wonder if the insert actually was bakelite. Since the rather chunky bakelite inserts of the 6542 were prone to cracking and recalled by Rolex (thus the rarity) one would think the ultra thin and narrow 6263 insert pictured would be too fragile to be bakelite.

Or is it?

[snow_rocks]

Here is one of those 'tubes'.

http://rolex.watchprosite.com/show-n...ost/ti-514961/

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by snow_rocks

Here is one of those 'tubes'.

http://rolex.watchprosite.com/show-n...ost/ti-514961/

That's where I found my pic.

Doesn't mean they know what they are talking about though.

[Wolfgang427]

Originally Posted by snow_rocks

Sorry Paul and Wolfgang, but you will have to talk to Larry

about this.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=32619

and Wolfgang, you posted on this thread. Did Larry recant?

Here is my original 6263 bezel and I can say it is definitely not "BAKELITE".

[snow_rocks]

Originally Posted by wolfgang427

Here is my original 6263 bezel and I can say it is definitely not "BAKELITE".

Wolfgang, you'll have to go down to desert and

have a word with Larry about his post!

Thanks for the pics of your non-bakelite bezel!

[maverick]

Originally Posted by padi56

Well IMHO he was certainly overcharged for just the insert if thats all they done.Movement wise any competent watchmaker could service or get parts for the Valjoux 72 series.

Sorry to take exception to the statement that any competent watchmaker can repair a Valjoux movement. In this post the watch was just serviced by a local watchmaker that has done many repairs on Rolex watches. Just look at the dirt and poor work which Bob Ridley corrected.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=103529

When working with these older vintage watches my best advice is to sent it to a known good watchmaker/restorer or you might get it back worse than when sent. That has happened to me. =) maverick

[springer]

The Daytona or Tudor chrono insert then was acrylic, not bakelite. If you prefer, it is also called plastic. Hope this helps.

[maverick]

Yes, quite a difference between Bakelite and acrylic. =) maverick