5513 Service Shocker

[oceandweller]

Originally Posted by LI Matt

I've said this here before: most Rolex owners are not "vintage collectors". What RSC did is what the customers usually want them to do. It's up to you to be specific about what you want done and not done.

LI Matt, I agree with you, 'most Rolex owners are not 'vintage collectors"'. Way back in the early 60's, when I sent in my model reference 4467 to RSC Singapore for a service, the watch came out very beautiful and the time-keeping was near absolute, after wearing it for a few days.

One evening, while I was cleaning the watch case, I discovered RSC had replaced the winding-crown with one that has a 'minus' sign, whereas the one original to the watch had a 'plus' sign. The next morning, I rushed to RSC and spoke to the receptionist and she thought, I was crazy or mad. 'Everyone wants the latest and you still want the old one. Do you know, you had paid for it?', she said.

She then called the technician, who had serviced my watch. He explained to me, with the old winding-crown my watch would not be water-proof. I told him, that does not worry me. I still want the old winding-crown and not the new one, I stressed. He then asked me for the old winding-crown and I said, it had to be with him. It was in the envelope, together with the service receipt, he told me. (At that time, RSC would return to the customer, whatever they replaced. This does not happen any longer, today.)

The technician replaced the winding-crown and he gave me a wry smile. Very likely, deep inside his head he must be thinking, this must be the weirdest Rolex customer to have ever paid RSC a visit.

The receptionist asked me for the service receipt back and on it, it was hand-written 'NOT WATERPROOF' and stamped, RSC.

It is only obvious, those in RSC cannot read the mind of vintage-watch collectors, a minority group amongst their big clienteles.

[snog]

Originally Posted by LI Matt

I've said this here before: most Rolex owners are not "vintage collectors". What RSC did is what the customers usually want them to do. It's up to you to be specific about what you want done and not done.

Rolex do know though that a 5513 will almost always be wanted left original, in this case it's not Rolex's fault but either the owner or the AD, as Rolex would not carry out over 2k worth of work without the go ahead from either the AD or the owner.