Dropped Rolex President 279138 Datejust 28mm on Tile Floor

[Rolex Essex]

I sense the OP wanted to sue Rolex for false advertisement

[importstunna]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[stchambe]

Once dropped a Tudor, face flat, from about five feet onto a tile floor. Absolutely no exterior damage but the seconds hand fell off!

[jaySL350]

Originally Posted by Reddy_Kilowatt

What happened to that one dude who claimed his wife threw his watches around in a fit of rage?

Yes,,,
I remember that thread,,
Guys girlfriend/wife would chuck his collection around like a rag doll whenever she felt slighted or pissed off and not just once this occurred at numerous times, iirc,,,,,

[DP63]

This thread lost me when an engineer was hired.

Money to hire and engineer to work out the formula for "butter fingers to tile floor interface", but balking at the idea of how much a PM case and bezel can cost to replace when they're damaged.

[T.Mas]

It is true, a broken glass means it needs a full service. Those tiny shards can get everywhere inside of the movement.

[Terrakot]

Originally Posted by 173rdabn

Newton meets tile floor. AAAAARGH

OP, sorry for your accident

[dwjez14]

Man very sorry about your accident. It’s a shame Rolex wants to beat you up this bad when you bought such a nice watch. They should help you out some in my
Opinion. 9k does seem steep

[tyler1980]

a lot of the repairs are probably cosmetic and have nothing to do with durability or actual damage. Scratches, dents, etc can not be fixed most likely and the cost will be less.

Gold or SS or whatever dents when you drop it from high enough and the watch itself should still work (unless the crystal beaks) and even then its often still functional but you should hack it at that point to avoid damaging the movement with glass getting in there.

you are mixing idea of functional durability and the idea of cosmetic appearance IMO

[m j b]

Originally Posted by DuchessofWinward

I just HATE to post any kind of claim given the track record of insurance companies increasing rates.

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered (I haven't read all three pages of the thread).

The purpose of insurance is to protect you. If you won't use it, then it's not doing you any good, and is a waste of money. FILE A CLAIM! That's their job.

They're not going to raise the rates on your car insurance or your home insurance just because you dropped your watch. And they won't drop you either (unless it's Geico) just for filing a claim. That's what insurance is for.

Sorry for your loss.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by 904VT

First, very sorry to hear about your watch. That being said, it's rather ridiculous for you to think a watch shouldn't break when dropped on a tile floor. The tests that you quote are for the movement and I'm sure your movement is working just fine (assuming you didn't let it continue to run with broken crystal on the dial). Also, Rolex doesn't make magic gold. Gold is soft, always has been. There is also a difference between force in pressure and force hitting a hard surface.

Hublot's magic gold sounds the ticket for a serial dropper.

[Chilly Coconut]

Originally Posted by PST_Jim

If he's new he likely can't post pics since you have to have 10 posts first.

He?

[celticjohn]

Dropped my Explorer on a tiled floor from about 4 feet. Just closed my eyes and heard the bang.
Picked it up.....not a mark on it.

Luck of the draw, I suppose.

[ROLEX MAN]

OK, come on............

Compare:

G-Shock, with
President 279138 Datejust 18ct gold, hitting tiles.

AND:

Army Tank, with
Rolls Royce Camargue, hitting Brick Wall, I don't care at what speed!

One of them is going to look pretty messed up!

Have a guess which one?

(the Rolls has at least 8 Airbags, and Moet on board!)

[GSDLover]

Dropped my datejust on the tile floor. Crystal shattered. Repair was $500. Insurance paid and rates did not change (Statefarm).

[abozz]

Originally Posted by DuchessofWinward

Quick update:
1. I am new to this forum, and will not be posting photos of the watch.
2. Yes I have it insured. I am very reluctant to post a claim.
3. Again, given the claims on Rolex's website that there are drop tests and it can resist the force of 5000G's what type of Drop tests are they doing? This watch fell 2.5-3 ft not 500 ft.
4. I have been told it failed the pressure test. If I chose not to replace the bezel, and it does not pass the pressure test...what next?
5. I have similar "high end" watches, NONE are this fragile....are there other "cautions" that more experienced ROLEX owners can recommend?

FINALLY-Thank you for your answers-most are very helpful. Duchie

Sir the drop test is a about the MECHANICAL movement and NO about to create a New extraterrestrial gold that not ding!!!!!! And you MOVEMENT is perfect, Rolex is VERY rudgged watch, GOLD is not

[Chilly Coconut]

Originally Posted by abozz

Sir the drop test is a about the MECHANICAL movement and NO about to create a New extraterrestrial gold that not ding!!!!!! And you MOVEMENT is perfect, Rolex is VERY rudgged watch, GOLD is not

Sir?

Hints: Duchess, Duchie, 28mm

[R!$]

Originally Posted by Rocket launcher

As far as I am concerned this did not happen without photos...
Well done on your first post
Some threads need photos this is one of them

[PST_Jim]

Originally Posted by Chilly Coconut

He?

Apologies to the Duchess

Sent from the most complicated pocket watch in history... a cell phone.

[T.Rex]

$9,000.00? for repairs.....................WOW

[904VT]

Originally Posted by PST_Jim

If he's new he likely can't post pics since you have to have 10 posts first.

Sent from the most complicated pocket watch in history... a cell phone.

One could congratulate a few more people on their awesome incoming Rolex watches that we all appreciate and hit 10 pretty quickly

[904VT]

Originally Posted by AK797

Hublot's magic gold sounds the ticket for a serial dropper.

Hublot now i do believe they would make magical gold

This exact scenario that the OP explains is the only thing holding me back from beautiful full ceramic Panerai and APs....

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by AK797

Hublot's magic gold sounds the ticket for a serial dropper.

well its not the ticket for a serial flipper... dropper ok maybe

[jaySL350]

Originally Posted by ROLEX MAN

OK, come on............

Compare:

G-Shock, with
President 279138 Datejust 18ct gold, hitting tiles.

AND:

Army Tank, with
Rolls Royce Camargue, hitting Brick Wall, I don't care at what speed!

One of them is going to look pretty messed up!

Have a guess which one?

(the Rolls has at least 8 Airbags, and Moet on board!)

Ha ha ha,
Not forgetting the pens and cigar humidor in the Rolls centre consul in the back of course l:

[Deep18]

I think my favorite part of this entire story is him hiring someone to run calculations on the G forces. Seriously. We’re all getting punk’d right?

[JacksonStone]

Originally Posted by Deep18

I think my favorite part of this entire story is him hiring someone to run calculations on the G forces. Seriously. We’re all getting punk’d right?

That is weird. Everything else about this seems legit, but hiring an engineer? I could see if her husband, friend or coworker is an engineer and did some quick calculations as a favor, but actually hiring...I don't know what to make of that. Was she planning on contesting the estimate and suing for fraud?

[singe89]

https://www.rolex.com/about-rolex-wa...-extremes.html

Video and picture below look like the 5,000G belier test has a large diameter ram impacting flat to the case back. Doubt that's how your watch hit the tile floor. The picture also looks like there is some sort of pad/tip that makes contact with the case back but its absent from the impact frame on the video so don't know if they use it our not.

[HogwldFLTR]

Originally Posted by DuchessofWinward

Dear Team -

Just wanted to send a note to those who responded to my question. In the aftermath, this group helped me to understand the issues with a ROLEX hitting a tile floor, allay fears about reporting to my insurance company, and let me know I am not the only klutz with an expensive watch.

My insurance will cover the repairs, and I hired an engineer to do the actual calculation of the G force of my watch hitting my tile floor from 3 feet. It turns out that the G force is very close to 5000G. Something I would NEVER have guessed. I found this very interesting, and it also helped me understand what happened vs ROLEX's specifications and advertising claims.
Best-DuchessofWinward

I'm glad you understand the consequences of not being careful enough with something of value. Just because something is one of the most rugged items of it's kind doesn't mean it's idiot proof. I'm glad your insurance if covering the repair. Wear your Rolex with greater care and you should be find. There are plenty of stories on this forum of Rolex seems to lose in every case. In the old days Rolex watch used to have plexiglass crystals instead of sapphire and the complaint was that they scratched. They didn't however shatter. Have a great holiday!!!

[Andad]

Originally Posted by ROLEX MAN

OK, come on............

Compare:

G-Shock, with
President 279138 Datejust 18ct gold, hitting tiles.

AND:

Army Tank, with
Rolls Royce Camargue, hitting Brick Wall, I don't care at what speed!

One of them is going to look pretty messed up!

Have a guess which one?

(the Rolls has at least 8 Airbags, and Moet on board!)

Nice one M.

[DuchessofWinward]

Sorry...have not been back in awhile.....here is the calculation done by the engineer I hired. And yes....if Rolex’s advertising claims were not correct, I would have pursued a false advertising claim. As it was I wrote the CEO of Rolex to say I was not happy with the lack of durability of this watch. I had the engineer guess that the watch weighed 0.5 kgs as a fudge factor. I never weighed my watch. In terms of photos....I only have a photo of the damaged face ( which is being replaced). Should have it back in two months. And I have a 18 kit diamond Cartier Trinity that I have dropped on tile floors, whacked against everything and NEVER had this much damage. I remain disappointed that the Rolex watch is clearly more fragile than its peers.

Equation of motion = V^2 = Vo^2 + 2a(x - xo)

Vo = 0 m/s (velocity at start of fall)

a = 9.81m/s^2 (acceleration of gravity)

x = 1m (fall distance)

xo =0 (initial position)

V = 4.43m/s

Kinematic energy of the falling watch E = 1/2mV^2

m = 0.5kg (mass of watch)

V = 4.43m/s speed at impact (taken from above)

E = 4.9 joules

Force of impact

Fd = KE of watch

d = 0.2mm (distance over which the watch speed goes from 4.43m/s to zero)

F = KE of watch / d = 24,500N = 2,450kg = 4,994G's

The big unknown is 'd' in the equation above and is the crux of the problem. This value is a summation of the deflection of the tile AND the watch. Basically, once contact was made, how much further did the watch travel before reaching zero velocity. If the watch fell onto a pillow this value would be large and thus G's would be on the order of 10G's. If the watch fell onto carpet, this value would be the thickness of the carpet and G's would be on the order of 50-100G's. You can see that as you approach zero, the force climbs to infinity.