Rolex Datejust Power Reserve problems

[anthonydoh]

Hi All,

Looking to get some answers here on the power reserve for my Rolex Datejust… any help would be appreciated.

Bought the Datejust in September 2008 from my local AD. My wife bought a ladies version at the exact same time. I always figured there was a problem with the power reserve on mine because she could take hers off on a Friday evening and it would still be ticking on a Sunday evening. On the other hand, when I took mine off on a Friday evening, it would be stopped by midday on Saturday, about 15 hours later (and we have the same level of physical activity).

About 6 months after owning it, I took it back to the AD and he tested the power reserve and assured me that he got 45 hours out of it. His only suggestion (which annoyed me a little bit) was to increase my levels of physical activity.

Anyway the problem continued but in early 2011 I bought a Submariner also. Never had a problem with the reserve on that. I could easily take that off on a Friday evening and it would still be going on a Sunday, with the same level of physical activity as with the Datejust.

About February this year, I decided to try again with my local AD on the Datejust and went in there and asked how I could have a problem with the Datejust but not the Submariner… all other things being equal, there was no logical reason for them to have vastly different power reserves. Again, he did a full manual wind and assured me got over 40 hours from it. A couple of weeks later, the problem was continuing so I took it back to him. At this stage, he decided to wear the watch himself for a few days. He called me up and said there was some problem with the manual winding function and that the watch had stopped on him after taking it off for only 12 hours. I was relieved he finally admitted it but of course the watch was no longer in warranty so I would have to pay for a repair. Although it was only 4.5 years since I bought it, he recommended I leave it in for its 5-7 year service. So I did, leaving me without my Datejust for 3 months and $600 out of pocket.

A few months later the problem returns… power reserve is only 12 hours again. I bring it back once again, given that I now have a 2 year warranty from the service. He does another test of the power reserve and says there’s nothing wrong with it. (You will note that every time I bring the watch in when it’s under warranty he swears blind that there is no problem with it, but when it was out of warranty, he found the problem and made himself $600 richer… but maybe I’m being too suspicious).

So he tells me to keep wearing it, which I do. I was travelling quite a bit in June and had the watch in the hotel safe for extended periods so didn’t concern myself with it running out of reserve. However, I have been wearing it again regularly and the problem continues. For example, this week, I took it off at 7pm Tuesday, it was working fine on Wednesday morning. Took it off 10pm Wednesday, it was working fine on Thursday morning. Took it off at 8pm on Thursday and this morning (Friday) it was stopped at 5:50am.

Is this normal? Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? I live on a small island and there is only one AD here and I am losing confidence in him.

Sorry for the long post.

[padi56]

Have you tried a power reserve test yourself now your Sub and DJ uses the same cal 3135 movement.Now fully manually wind the DJ 40 full crown turns clockwise only movement should then run 39-48 hours while off wrist check that out first.If that checks out the manual wind side is fine,now re-wind the DJ 40 full crown turns and wear for around 12 hours a day.Take watch off at night but when wearing you must be reasonable active not sat for hours at say a desk job with little wrist activity.Now if watch still continues to stop then you have a problem with the auto wind mechanism.When wearing if low wrist activity its doubtful you will top the power reserve to whatever was in the mainspring to start with.Now even if worn you will do no harm whatsoever to give watch a manual wind say once a week .

[joe100]

Remember, an automatic movement essentially maintains the power reserve at most activity levels. If you wind the watch at night, wake up 7hrs later and put it on, you've lost about 7hrs in the spring. Wear it all day and go to bed, you're still at 8 or so hours. See how after a week or so you could be at the bottom of the reserve? I give my Rolex watches a good manual wind every 5 days or so. This works for me to keep the PR toward the top.

[Billywiz]

Follow Padi advise always best direction!

[landroverking]

If you want a watch that you don't need to wind get a quartz or wear your automatic more.

[Tools]

Every single day you need to "put" 24 hours of wind into your watch just to maintain it's current level or power reserve because it is running for 24 hours..

Your watch will always run down to a level that is the level of wind that you are putting into it daily..

If you are only putting 12-20 hours of wind into it, it will eventually run down to only having that amount of wind and no more.. It will then stop if off your wrist for more than an overnight rest..

Most people that wear their watch daily are not aware that their watch does not have 48 hours of wind in it when they take it off at night. It only has what they physically put into it, usually around 20 hours..

Your math and wearing habits would indicate that this is the case..

If you know that you are not going to put your watch back on for an extend period of time, or you are wearing it off-and-on sporadically, wind it when you take it off.

A watches power reserve is not really there for you to let your watch lay around for 2 days.. It is there as a buffer so your watch stays in an engineered power curve for best accuracy (Isochronism). Your watch will be most accurate when kept in the upper half of it's power reserve.

If you know that your activity is not sufficient to top-it-off every day, wind it every now and then to ensure it runs optimally. It won't hurt the watch and you will be happier too..

[rolexposeur]

I had a problem similar to yours after 6 months of ownership of a new gmt 2c. after a full wind, my watch stopped after about 20 hours. I thought there was a mainspring problem, and I took the watch to the AD for repair.

When I went to pick up the watch after repair, the watchmaker told me that the problem was the oil was not properly lubricating everything. the mainspring was apparently without problems. it is now running fine.

if your power reserve is indeed running short, then you might be observing a problem similar to mine, especially if you encountered the problem shortly after you bought the watch. I would doubt the mainspring would fail in that short of a time.

good luck.

[S1016]

But I don't get the answer at all. The guy get a complete different result with his other watch..? Why?

[anthonydoh]

Thanks for the well-informed replies folks.

Padi56 - I am doing what you suggest for now. I have given it a full manual wind and will leave it motionless and see how long it takes to stop.

Originally Posted by landroverking

If you want a watch that you don't need to wind get a quartz or wear your automatic more.

Is that just a glib response or did you not read the problem? My problem is that two different watches with the same movement mechanism produce different results in terms of the power reserve. I'm not looking for a watch that doesn't need winding.

Originally Posted by rolexposeur

I had a problem similar to yours after 6 months of ownership of a new gmt 2c. after a full wind, my watch stopped after about 20 hours. I thought there was a mainspring problem, and I took the watch to the AD for repair.

When I went to pick up the watch after repair, the watchmaker told me that the problem was the oil was not properly lubricating everything. the mainspring was apparently without problems. it is now running fine.

if your power reserve is indeed running short, then you might be observing a problem similar to mine, especially if you encountered the problem shortly after you bought the watch. I would doubt the mainspring would fail in that short of a time.

good luck.

Actually - I had a similar problem with the Submariner, the oil had run dry and so the mechanism wasn't getting the lubrication it needed. Result was a seriously diminished power reserve and a watch that ran slow. Luckily, It happened just before the initial 2 year warranty expired. The AD said it was very unusual for the oil to run dry so soon. More bad luck I guess but at least that was within warranty and it's working perfectly again now.

Originally Posted by S1016

But I don't get the answer at all. The guy get a complete different result with his other watch..? Why?

True... I'm seriously thinking of just wearing both watches, one on each arm to test the difference. Although in this heat I'm wearing short sleeves a lot so don't want to look too stupid with a watch on each wrist.

Thanks again everyone.

[DJJon]

As one of the Avowed Watch Winder Proponents of TRF, this is what I say:
A. Follow Padi's suggestions and instructions, and
B. Buy a watch winder for the overnight time when it's off your wrist.

My winder actually will not keep my Datejust going if I don't wear it for a day or manually wind it for a week (say over a vacation). From that, I deduce that it adds power at just a tad under the amount used to run it. Makes sense, anyway.