Am I Just Not Cut Out For Rolex Ownership? (Long Read)

[Journeyforce]

First Off this is not one of those posts that are rants about not being able to buy a Rolex at an AD. I own the watch already but am having issues with it.

Back in July I bought a nice condition Rolex OP36 116000 Domino's watch. It was made between late 2012 and 2015 because the Domino's logo on it did not come out till Aug 2012 and it has the 3,6,9 silver dial and skinny hands (pre 2016 model)

It looked great (almost new) and was keeping great time. However twice it stopped at some point after taking it off at night. The first time I had not wound it manually. The second time it had stopped a few days after i gave it a full manual wind and wore it around. It had stopped a few hours after I took it off. I put it on and did not have time to set or wind it because I needed to take my dad to a doctors visit. I wore it for a 30 min drive to the Doctor and 30 mins back and it still did not run. After I gave it a bit of a hard wrist swing it started running. I held the watch to my ear(with dial facing away) and did a twist motion with my hand (like turning a knob on the dryer) and I heard a faint metal sound (like 2 nickels gently tapping together). A look on this forum led me to believe that the rotor axle was worn (an issue with this movement)

I figure it needed a service(It was between 5-8 years old with no service record) and dropped it off to my local Jewelry store. They sell GS and Omega(and others) and they have a retired Rolex trained watchmaker offsite they deal with. I trust this place and have bought many watches from them. I wanted to give a local store my business and did not want to send out of state due to the Covid situation because i did not know if stuff was going to close down again.

They had the watchmaker come out and pick it up. A day later the watchmaker told the store that the rotor axle was good and that the only thing he suggested I do was to just have a service and replace the seals. I opted to have him replace the rotor axle because I knew if I did not do it right there it would need to be replaced 2 months down the road.

I got it back in 3 weeks and it looked great. The watch was not running when I picked it up and just put it on my wrist because I wanted to go and see the JDM Grand Seiko watches they took in a recent trade. When I left the store and got in my car, i noticed the watch was running. This was a big improvement to before the service when I had to give it a hard arm swing ot get it running.

I wore the watch all day but it stopped running a few hours after being taken off but as I forgot to set the time I have no clue as to when. I then waited till the time of day matched the time on the stopped watch. I then gave it a arm swing to start it and walked around swinging my arm a few times. The watch ran 10 hours and stopped at 3:05 am while on my wrist. I then decided to simply wind it 40-45 times, note the time and then leave it on my dresser untouched while periodically checking it to note the time. It ran 46hrs and 27min which is good.

I then wound it up 40 turns and set the time. I noted when I wound the watch and wore it. I wanted to note the time I wound it up to cross check it with how long the watch ran when I fully wound it and left it off the wrist so that i could see if the automatic wind was working. The watch ran well past the 46 hrs and 27min of the off wrist test (which showed the auto wind was working. It ran for another day and then stopped on my wrist again. A quick flick of the wrist started it again and I removed it from my wrist to see how long it would run. It ran 2 more hours.

At that point I decided to take it back to the watchmaker as i noticed both times it stopped it was between 2 o'clock and 3:05

I left the watch with a note explaining everything with the store. The watchmaker kept it for 2 weeks and gave it all sorts of tests before sending the watch back stating he could not find any issue and enclosed a copy of Rolex's "how to wear a Rolex" instructions. The store asked me if I would leave it with them for another week so they could put it on a winder and make sure it was working fine. Well they put it on the winder for a full week (after winding it manually 40 times) and it was still running with the correct time when I picked it up.

I wore it all day that Saturday I picked it up and I tried to be active all day (and was quite active during the World series when I was shaking my arms in anger over the Dodgers giving away that game in the 9th), I wore it from 4pm Sunday till about 5am Monday morning. The watch ran fine. However it stopped at 2:38pm (some 9 hours later)

Now the watchmaker serviced it, he rechecked it again over 2 weeks, the store itself left it on a watchwinder for a week and the watch checked out in all of these checks/tests.

I have come to the conclusion that the watch is fine and the issue is myself. How active do you need to be to keep a Rolex with a 3130 movement running? My life style is active enough to keep a Seiko Samurai (with a 4R) movement running hours off the wrist and also active enough to keep a Marathon GSAR with a an ETA 2824 movement running off the wrist.

Thanks for any insights

[kieselguhr]

Usually just the swinging of the arm the watch is being worn on is enough for me.

[vh2k]

Very thorough explanation.

Answer: Wind the watch every morning before you put it on.

[WatchOut4It]

I travel a lot (at least I did pre-COVID) and am frequently on long haul flights for 12-15 hours at a time. That’s probably the least active Stretch I’ll go, but even then my Rolex watches are ticking and ready to go on the other side.

Given that the local jeweler put the watch on a winder for a week with only a single wind, I do agree that it’s probably something to do with your movement (or lack thereof).

A full manual wind (about 40 turns of the crown) should give you at least a continuous 24-hour period of timekeeping, regardless of the “charge” from your movement. But it sounds like this isn’t even the case... This is a strange one indeed.

[chinaski]

On my 14270 Explorer, I'll do a full wind and wear it. Generally, I wear the watch during the day and take it off at night. Never had any power reserve issues.

[darius359]

Originally Posted by vh2k

Answer: Wind the watch every morning before you put it on.

I also opt for winding, but if OP wants an alternative, a winder on the lowest setting would be sufficient, if this is intended to be his dd.

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[Paul7]

Same here, wife's newer DJ 31 is back under warranty for often stopping the morning after being worn all day. So much for the 40 hour power reserve.

[Nodzex]

It’s weird that it always stops at certain time!
I would just send it to Rolex service center and be done with it. It will probably take about 8 weeks before you see it again!

[ricardo-sf]

Just send it to rsc

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[Setarip]

Originally Posted by ricardo-sf

Just send it to rsc

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^^^ This ^^^

Wouldn’t mess around with local, former Rolex tech.


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[cvera]

Must be frustrating since you believe there's a problem but nobody can tell you what it is . Rolex service center is probably the best but most expensive way to find the problem, if there is any at all. I'd just wind it and wear it

[NachoNeal]

Originally Posted by darius359

I also opt for winding, but if OP wants an alternative, a winder on the lowest setting would be sufficient, if this is intended to be his dd.

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That's what I'd do.

[bleighs]

I have a similar problem with the 126711, if I don't hand wind it it will eventually die on my wrist. This never happened with my GSes. But I just hand wind it once a week now and it's ok. The rotor doesn't seem to charge as much as with other watches , but the power reserve, accuracy were all fine when tested.

[srvrf]

This is confusing. Winding the watch a lot made it last 46+ hours. So the crown turns the mainspring. Putting it on a winder (at the watchmaker’s) apparently works as well meaning the oscillating weight also turns the mainspring. But wearing it doesn’t seem to keep the mainspring wound because it stops shortly after taking it off.

If the OP plans on keeping it for the long haul, then a trip to the RSC Spa is the way to go. Expensive, but it should come back perfect and operating like it should.

Before sending it out, he could just try to wear it as close to 24/7 as possible for a week or so and see how it does with presumably more movement.

To me there must be something mechanical that’s just not correct. If any mechanical watch behaved this way, we would never buy them.


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[csaltphoto]

There must be something going on... I generally top off my watch once or twice a week since it keeps slightly better time that way but I also went about 6 months without winding it to see what happened and it never stopped. I'm reasonably active but there is a lot of variation in that (ranging from very active days in the field to a day at my desk, gym days, run days and doing nothing days).

[bay-dweller]

If I were in your shoes I would cough up the money for RSC service or trade in for a new one with 5 year warranty.

Good luck. Sorry to hear about your troubles. J would be very upset if I paid for service and had issues right away.

How much did you pay your local watchmaker?

[Fred48]

I think more investigation is needed as it's still not clear if the watch is causing a problem.
If you just send it to RSC, what exactly would you tell them? And if you're not specific, they'll just do a standard service and charge you a bunch of money.

[EDL7]

Maybe a lemon..
Maybe the dealer you trust..is lying to you..
Shoulda done it right the 1st time..
Buy new watch w/warrantee..or send this one to rsc...and even then..

[kctt]

I bet it's not you and it's the watch.

I've experienced something similar with my Tudor Pelagos which happens once in a blue moon. In the 4 years plus of owning it, it has stopped the same way you've described about 7-8 times. Only difference is I bought the watch new from AD and obviously doesn't need any service.

Similarities:
-I wear the watch all day long (I wear my watch when sleeping) and find it stops at around 6am.
-After stopping, a quick flick of the wrist will "wake it up" and runs for a few more hours.
-When fully wound using the crown and set aside, watch runs out after 70 hours. This is expected and shows the mainspring fully unwinds.

To test that the rotor was working, I decided to let the watch run itself down completely, then set the time, not wind and wear it normally. Lo and behold, it works as expected.

I took it to the RSC and they didn't manage to replicate my issue even after a few months. Not surprising as it doesn't always happen for me either. RSC says that I probably don't wear or shake the watch enough. My response was that I've owned and worn automatic winding watches for over 30 years and have never experienced this before. I've worn all my watches the same way, same duration.

In the end, I suspected 2 possible problems:
1. The rotor occasionally does not wind the mainspring. These days, I would shake my wrists a bit more vigorously than I do with other watches. So far it hasn't happened again.
2. There are some friction in the gears that sticks when the mainspring is almost unwound. This helps explain why after giving it a little shake, would run for few more hours.

Maybe when it's time to take it in for servicing, RSC will strip the watch down entirely and after lubrication, I won't come across this issue any more.

[joli160]

Not you but the watch.
Skip the local and off to the RSC to get it sorted.

[Giangos]

There’s clearly something wrong with your watch, and also clear that the repairer you sent it to was not capable of diagnosing or fixing the issue.

Send it to the rsc as others have said. It will be fixed, it will run like new and it will look amazing when you get it back.


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[77T]

Well...to save you the cost of RSC in the short term for a potentially wasted evaluation, send me the watch and I’ll wear it daily for a month or two.

If it passes, then you can skip RSC. If it fails, no charge from me...


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[HogwldFLTR]

RSC is my recommendation!!! Seems strange to me. It doesn't make sense that a full wind produces almost 48 hours but if fails under the same condition in much less time when on the wrist.

[Bigblu10]

Was the main spring replaced during the service? Any reputable watchmaker would, and if not this could be an issue.

[Harry-57]

The OP reads a lot like something that was posted here a few months back. Same watch? I'm strongly inclined to think it's your watch at fault, not you.

If it's going to be looked at, best make it an RSC. Personally I would put it in a winder and keep it running continuously.

My wife doesn't use a winder, setting them and winding them whenever she puts one on. A watch might stop minutes, hours or days after she takes it off - we've never checked. It's not an issue as long as it runs while she is wearing it. If she was putting a Rolex on every day and it had stopped in the night after being worn for a day, I would suspect the watch.

[m j b]

I don't understand the domino's logo. Is this a pizza watch?

Sometimes too much explanation can be, you know, too much. If you wind the watch manually, and wear it, does it go for at least two days without stopping? You wrote that you wore it from 7 PM to 5 AM. Do you not sleep? You know it's not going to wind itself while you're asleep, right? ;)

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by 77T

Well...to save you the cost of RSC in the short term for a potentially wasted evaluation, send me the watch and I’ll wear it daily for a month or two.

If it passes, then you can skip RSC. If it fails, no charge from me...


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I agree with this ^^^

[jrs146]

Just send to RSC and it cool come back as good as new.


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[Chiboy]

If you don't want to pay RSC after paying the local jeweler, I'd do as suggested above and put it on a winder when not wearing it. Then when it is time to service it again, send to RSC rather than local ex-Rolex certified tech.

I haven't wound my watch in ten months and it's still ticking, so I don't know if your lifestyle doesn't wind the watch enough or there's a watch issue.

[Romeojk]

I never need to wind my Submariner 114060, had it 4 years so far (knock on wood). Maybe you should pick up a Fitbit or some other type of tracker to see how much your moving.


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