Recent RSC Service - London (DJ 16234)

[delboylee]

Hi everyone

I recently collected my DJ 16234 after service from Rolex in London, the St James Square Service Centre (very nice premises!).

Previously the watch was running around +11.5 seconds fast a day:



Photos before the DJ was serviced:



The watch was out of warranty, purchased in 2003! The timing previously never bothered me too much (more recently I've been wearing my BLNR), but thought it was about time to get it serviced and checked over, the cost was just under £600 all in and it got a light polish and I also got the glass changed as it had a couple of scratches on it.

Just picked it up and still in the RSC, wrist shot:



I'm really pleased with the polish, I've heard horror stories about being over polished, but it is spot on. It does look like new. One thing though, am I being paranoid or does my DJ now suffer from the 'cyclops' issue? I don't know if it is just me or that I've become used to wearing the BLNR which appears larger:



Do I now have a cyclops issue after the glass was replaced?!

So previously it was running at +11.5 seconds a day, its now running at around +5 seconds a day for the 2 days I have tracked it. I'm going to monitor it over the next few weeks to see if it changes. I have been putting it crown down at night and wearing it on the wrist during the day. I am tempted to send it back, I'm aware of the -4/+6 tolerance but I would like it a bit closer to -1/+1 like my BLNR if possible. What are your thoughts?



I was at a family event the other day with my sisters and parents. I gave the watches that were present a quick clean and took a photo of the collection, enjoy!

Del

[padi56]

Don't forget none of these apps are as accurate as a proper quartz timing machine,yes they will give a indication if a movement is running fast or slow but that's about all they are not 100% accurate.

[bkertzer89]

although i like my watches to be accurate older watches dont have high
Precision...once i realized i didnt even really need to know the time accuracy beyond 1-2 mins everything fell into place...

[PJ S]

I’m not so sure that’s the case, Peter.
Simply measuring the drift very 24 hours, against time.is (for example), would be as accurate, but not as quick, as what a timegrapher indicated.

@Del – whilst there’s every chance RSC could knock you back, saying it’s within spec (and it is), it’s an easy enough job for them to make it run more accurately.
So it’s worth at least mentioning and seeing what their response is.
Given the amount spent, I’d like to think they want you to be an entirely satisfied customer, rather than a slightly disgruntled one.

[JeremyS]

Originally Posted by bkertzer89

although i like my watches to be accurate older watches dont have high
Precision...once i realized i didnt even really need to know the time accuracy beyond 1-2 mins everything fell into place...

I agree that the +5 second accuracy is more than enough, and wishing COSC. However, I don't see why the movement in his watch wouldn't be capable of higher accuracy. The 16200 series DateJust uses the 3135 movement, which is the same caliber as the current 116200 DateJust. Now, there have been a few improvements to the 3135 over the years--such as the Parachrom hairsping. I was under the impression (or maybe just hoping, given what Rolex charges for service) that such upgrades, like swapping the old Nivarox hairspring for a new Parachrom hairspring, were being done at service time. If so, the "old" 3135 should be as good as the new 3135s in terms of accuracy and precision.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by JeremyS

I agree that the +5 second accuracy is more than enough, and wishing COSC. However, I don't see why the movement in his watch wouldn't be capable of higher accuracy. The 16200 series DateJust uses the 3135 movement, which is the same caliber as the current 116200 DateJust. Now, there have been a few improvements to the 3135 over the years--such as the Parachrom hairsping. I was under the impression (or maybe just hoping, given what Rolex charges for service) that such upgrades, like swapping the old Nivarox hairspring for a new Parachrom hairspring, were being done at service time. If so, the "old" 3135 should be as good as the new 3135s in terms of accuracy and precision.

Afraid they would have to change the whole escapement as the hairspring is married to the escapement.There is nothing magical about the parachrom its just a hairspring with a different name.And just like any movement that's correctly regulated will perform around the same.But if regulated badly will perform badly just like any other movement no matter the name of the hairspring in the movement.

[Lol-x]

That watch tracker application is cool, pity it isn't available on Android.

[delboylee]

Originally Posted by JeremyS

I agree that the +5 second accuracy is more than enough, and wishing COSC. However, I don't see why the movement in his watch wouldn't be capable of higher accuracy. The 16200 series DateJust uses the 3135 movement, which is the same caliber as the current 116200 DateJust. Now, there have been a few improvements to the 3135 over the years--such as the Parachrom hairsping. I was under the impression (or maybe just hoping, given what Rolex charges for service) that such upgrades, like swapping the old Nivarox hairspring for a new Parachrom hairspring, were being done at service time. If so, the "old" 3135 should be as good as the new 3135s in terms of accuracy and precision.

Thanks for the replies guys, some interesting points. 5 seconds is fine for now, I will keep an eye on it to see if it fluctuates. After all, I do now have 2 years of guarantee which is nice.

I do wonder what actually gets swapped out or replaced at service as the cover note on collection with the breakdown is quite general.

[sea-dweller]

Beautiful!

[sutats]

Looking spiffy and keeping very respectable accuracy. The cyclops magnification appears low but enjoy it for how it is as Rolex has recently removed the 2.5x magnification reference from its online product literature.

You can certainly tell from the date and times that your other family members enjoy Rolex as jewellery. :-)

[stil]

My 16234 runs at about 1-2+ seconds a day...no matter the position I leave it in on my night stand at night. That said, even +5 is great.

My cyclops looks like it has higher mag than the one in your images.

[Eric Chan]

It looks good. Love the blue roman dial.