RSC ongoing support for vintage

[jltait]

Considering a 1970s DD as my first PM piece, but wondering what ongoing support if any will be offered by RSCs for 4 digit models and for how long. I know even 200 year old watches in general can be serviced by good independents, and most people on this forum would not let an RSC near a vintage piece with a ten foot pole, but do RSCs offer support for models of any age? How long we can expect parts to be available for these early examples? Maybe this thread is not in the right place. Sorry about that if so.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by jltait

Considering a 1970s DD as my first PM piece, but wondering what ongoing support if any will be offered by RSCs for 4 digit models and for how long. I know even 200 year old watches in general can be serviced by good independents, and most people on this forum would not let an RSC near a vintage piece with a ten foot pole, but do RSCs offer support for models of any age? How long we can expect parts to be available for these early examples? Maybe this thread is not in the right place. Sorry about that if so.

You won’t have any issues but if you are worried then just get the 18038 it was introduced around 1977ish and ran to 1988ish.

[NoCokeNoHope]

I believe Rolex requires all vintage watches to be sent to Geneva for services so my guess there should be plenty of spare parts there. Even if RSC Geneva runs out of parts, they can fabricate the part as needed.
If you prefer to stay with independents, some specialty watchmakers can fabricate parts but it’s a specialized skill so you will need to ask around.


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[Cold904L]

Rolex will no longer touch 4-digit (and perhaps some 5) vintage pieces in their regular RSCs. However, they now have a specialized “Vintage Department” that will authenticate and service the watch with consideration for preserving the watch’s originality. However, the starting service costs for vintage are more than double the standard service fees (e.g., $2500+ vs $900). I learned all this when inquiring about my 1680.

[Richard Carver]

Vintage RSC service is on a case by case basis in the US. If they have all parts to perform the factory service they will still do a 4 digit ref. Day Dates and DJs have the best chance and there is almost almost no chance for the tool watches. The movements are no problem but the lack of case parts is the thing.

The vintage service at the mothership is rare and expensive. You will send detailed pictures of your watch with as many facts as you know about it. If they decide to look at it you will send it to CH for further examination and an estimate of cost and time.

The ones I've seen are well done but it's Rolex, if it's between vintage detail and making the watch serviceable vintage detail loses every time. I saw paperwork on a Daytona service and the cost was around 10k for that one. I've heard it can go much higher.

Servicing 4 digit refs is still readily available from independents and will remain so for many years to come.

[Finslayer83]

LAWW would be where I send a vintage

Or to Rikki.

[Bigblu10]

Find a good independent CW21. This is the way to go for older watches.

[77T]

For the OP, I would limit myself to what my budget permits by forecasting the length of time you will steward the future acquisition. That certainly depends upon your age, the age of the Rolex and regular overhauls every 5 years. For example, the service cost of a $12,000 Day Date bought today could exceed its purchase price in 20 years - and that assumes no calamity in it’s life with you.

Independent watchmakers are certainly less costly as long as they can get parts. Rolex has already begun to “gatekeep” parts to indie account holders. If they aren’t certified via Technicum training for certain vintages, they won’t be given the parts. This has already happened for some parts unique to the OQ line-up. My watchmaker has been fenced off - and the irony is that Lititz no longer holds OQ classes to get that cert.

I had a discussion with the NYC RSC when having an older model serviced. They had just been advised by RUSA leadership that “vintage” watches taken (or sent) to a US RSC would have the work done at the Lititz Technicum. That is the training facility for RUSA. Lititz isn’t an RSC and you don’t send your watch there.

The RSCs send references that are outside Rolex’s standard parts supply to Lititz - and the final quote comes through the RSC customer service dept. Some day that could change and it’d be Geneva - at a significant cost increase I presume. Geneva is currently the “vintage” aggregation point for EU & ROW.

I asked which models/movements were considered “vintage”. The manager told me it meant any movement or model that uses parts that are “no longer order-able” on the Rolex system. She would not make any blanket statement about model numbers because that info could change with the next inventory update.

All of what I just said could have changed in the past 6 months at Rolex’s discretion - so that is just one of the issues of keeping a vintage or antique Rolex properly up to snuff.

Of course, you can prolly get donor movements off eBay now for parts and keep it working for a couple of decades. But you’d need a strong Indie watchmaker connection (of which there are many today).




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[Hot Carl]

Any model with calibre 15xx is still serviceable by most major RSCs around the world, so many 4 digit references aren't a problem.

Calibre 10xx, 727 etc and older are likely to be Geneva only and costly as outlined above.