Stand-alone dial market: Why and how?

[drainaps]

Gents,
You will excuse my naïveté, but I can't stop wondering why are there so many Rolex dials being touted around.

Apart from the obvious fakes, or a potential (difficult to imagine) catastrophic accident to the watch that left the dial untouched, where are the dials coming from?

Dials swapped during a service that find their way back to the market again? From official RSC doing side business? From other watchmakers who can avail themselves of service dials from Rolex to perform a legitimate dial swap for a Customer?

When a dial is exchanged by a RSC, does Company policy dictate that the old dial has to be: sent back to HQs? Destroyed by the RSC? Just nobody cares and to each their own?

Honestly just curious. Enjoy your day.

[linesiders]

I'd love to know too. Too many pieces are getting tossed about (want one ;) ? ) I'm sure when John Doe gets a nicer dial he's often putting the old one up but there are a lot of dials about.

[Paul]

I understand that back in the day a watchmaker with a Rolex account could simply order parts as needed.
The 'exchange only' policy is something that came about in more recent times.

Scuffy old parts were simply squirreled away by the watchmaker, ultimately dumped or sold off as a bulk lot when they retired.
When the vintage Rolex hobby gained real momentum (20 years ago ?) many of these parts resurfaced.

Add to this a newer phenomenon where good complete watches are now broken up and sold off as parts.
This can be seen quite often on eBay when a seller lists a case, dial, hands and movement in 4 separate auctions.

I guess if one watch is parted out and four watches come back to life it's no big deal.
It's happened with classic cars for decades

[pdoukas]

Makes sense to me

[greekbum]

The guys with an endless supply of dials IMHO buy them from somebody who gets them from a place that would be changing them out for newer or service dials. Not too long ago I bought a 1675 from the original owner who wanted to clean it up before he sold it and sent it to Rolex for a service they changed everything. 4 months latter the dial with the serial number of the watch I had bought written on the back of the dial was on ebay for sale.

[DCgator]

I, for one, am very interested from whom I could buy an OEM dial for my steel DJII. I'm always told it is almost impossible to get one as they are tightly controlled. So, pls. someone PM me with info. Thanks!

[Michael M.]

Originally Posted by greekbum

The guys with an endless supply of dials IMHO buy them from somebody who gets them from a place that would be changing them out for newer or service dials. Not too long ago I bought a 1675 from the original owner who wanted to clean it up before he sold it and sent it to Rolex for a service they changed everything. 4 months latter the dial with the serial number of the watch I had bought written on the back of the dial was on ebay for sale.

I wouldnt be surprised if some Rolex watch makers are selling parts out the back door

[glocati]

Originally Posted by greekbum

The guys with an endless supply of dials IMHO buy them from somebody who gets them from a place that would be changing them out for newer or service dials. Not too long ago I bought a 1675 from the original owner who wanted to clean it up before he sold it and sent it to Rolex for a service they changed everything. 4 months latter the dial with the serial number of the watch I had bought written on the back of the dial was on ebay for sale.

This sounds like the one i bought from you , Nikos.

[drainaps]

Originally Posted by Paul

It's happened with classic cars for decades

And with quoted companies, aircraft, ships, you name it!

[azguy]

Originally Posted by greekbum

The guys with an endless supply of dials IMHO buy them from somebody who gets them from a place that would be changing them out for newer or service dials. Not too long ago I bought a 1675 from the original owner who wanted to clean it up before he sold it and sent it to Rolex for a service they changed everything. 4 months latter the dial with the serial number of the watch I had bought written on the back of the dial was on ebay for sale.

Originally Posted by Michael M.

I wouldnt be surprised if some Rolex watch makers are selling parts out the back door

You wouldn't be shocked........

I would be, shocked and furious, that they would not allow me to keep my original dial with the watch but then they liquidate it through E-Bay....

[prismresearch]

My take.......

I'd like to chime in here and speak only about the Day-Date model. When dealers (sometimes at customers request) have a "custom" dial built for the watch, the dial coming off the watch becomes an "extra" part that the dealers say to the customer is kept as a "trade-in". The customer usually responds with "I don't need it anyway" and the dealer now keeps the dial as 'zero investment" inventory and will waits until another customer wants to change the color or look of his current watch. I understand the customer's reason to change the look of what he has......small price to pay for a new look without the big investment of a whole new watch.

Where do these "custom" dial come from? So let's go back to Ebay for a moment.......if you search "Rolex Day Date dial", you will see that there are many to choose from.....from one seller alone you will find 40+ dials at any given time-ALL AFTERMARKET AND PAINTED ON PLATES THAT ARE NOT GOLD-SOME WITH DIAMONDS ADDED, SOME JUST PAINTED. Now whenever one of these dials is purchased and installed, that now creates an extra part, and it enters the market either by the watchmaker who does the swap, or the customer who bought the dial off Ebay himself. This goes on every day, and while I see it many times with Day-Date dials, it happens with other models as well. Just say'in...............

[Keeperoftime]

Originally Posted by greekbum

The guys with an endless supply of dials IMHO buy them from somebody who gets them from a place that would be changing them out for newer or service dials. Not too long ago I bought a 1675 from the original owner who wanted to clean it up before he sold it and sent it to Rolex for a service they changed everything. 4 months latter the dial with the serial number of the watch I had bought written on the back of the dial was on ebay for sale.

Really?
Thats pretty crazy...

[Mark020]

Originally Posted by Michael M.

I wouldnt be surprised if some Rolex watch makers are selling parts out the back door

Of course. If you make 40k a year (?) and you can sell a dial for $1000 in stead of throwing it away? Easy money.