A Year...Really???

[ROGU808]

I was at Ben Bridge the other day looking at the watches in their Rolex case. The salesman I usually see there wasn't around...but another salesperson...a woman in her 40's...started chatting with me about my Sub. She asked me if she could clean it for me...and I said ok.
After she got back...I asked to see a SS YM. She brought it out and I tried it on. She was nice...but I didn't get a good "vibe" from her...if that makes sense. I'm not sure how it came about...but one of the things she stated was that it takes an entire year to make a Rolex watch.
I looked at her with scepticism...and she nodded...saying it's true.
I asked her why it would take so long...and she said it just takes that long because they are hand made.
I agreed that all Rolex watches are assembled by hand...then asked her if it takes a year to do so...how do they get your Rolex back to you from servicing in 2-4 weeks???
Don't they completely disassemble the entire movement to clean and check for wear?
I gave her back the YM and left without saying more than a thanks.
I know it's been mentioned in other threads...the numbers of watches that Rolex produces each year...and that they couldn't possibly make hundres of thousands of watches per year if each took an entire year to make.
How are sales people who represent Rolex allowed to shovel this kinda of crap to prospective buyers???

[Earl]

Originally Posted by ROGU808

I was at Ben Bridge the other day looking at the watches in their Rolex case. The salesman I usually see there wasn't around...but another salesperson...a woman in her 40's...started chatting with me about my Sub. She asked me if she could clean it for me...and I said ok.
After she got back...I asked to see a SS YM. She brought it out and I tried it on. She was nice...but I didn't get a good "vibe" from her...if that makes sense. I'm not sure how it came about...but one of the things she stated was that it takes an entire year to make a Rolex watch.
I looked at her with scepticism...and she nodded...saying it's true.
I asked her why it would take so long...and she said it just takes that long because they are hand made.
I agreed that all Rolex watches are assembled by hand...then asked her if it takes a year to do so...how do they get your Rolex back to you from servicing in 2-4 weeks???
Don't they completely disassemble the entire movement to clean and check for wear?
I gave her back the YM and left without saying more than a thanks.
I know it's been mentioned in other threads...the numbers of watches that Rolex produces each year...and that they couldn't possibly make hundres of thousands of watches per year if each took an entire year to make.
How are sales people who represent Rolex allowed to shovel this kinda of crap to prospective buyers???

Because, she memorized the sales brochure which states it takes up to a year to produce a Rolex watch. I guess if you figure in R & D plus how long it takes to machine each piece and then to assemble it etc,etc hour wise it's close to or at a year....
Seems to me we try to nit pick something that logic explains.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

That it "takes a YEAR to build a Rolex" is IMHO

If you look at the Rolex website where parts of the production are shown, you can see Oyster cases on an assembly band. Robots do a lot of the work, and all parts are readily at hand now that Rolex is self-supplying in every respect. But the of course - if you look at it that way - it also took time to build the robots

But if we just take the REAL time it takes to make a Rolex, I simply do not believe it takes a "year". Maybe it takes a MONTH, at most (the movement on its own is tested by COSC for 360 hours/15 days)! But due to robots and "assembly bands", a LOT of Rolex are made each day. And it must be so to make the calculation of about 1 Million Rolex made a year give sense.

[yachtsales]

That goes back to what I have said about ADs, you will for sure get a REAL Rolex from them, but the person selling it to you could have worked at McDonalds the week before.

[leopardprey]

She says this because Rolex used to promote "takes a year to make" in their advertisements.

If you want a truely hand made, all parts in house and done/assembeled, then check out Glashuette Original.

One thing I do like about the smaller Swiss (or German) watch manufactures, is you really get hands on, custom made watches with real attention to detail. And you know that the watch you get is very rare. Companies like Blancpain, Ulysse Nardin, Glashuette Original, GP, just to name a few.

[Downing]

Originally Posted by yachtsales

That goes back to what I have said about ADs, you will for sure get a REAL Rolex from them, but the person selling it to you could have worked at McDonalds the week before.

Agreed. That was most definitely my impression when I was speaking with a young lady at an AD in a local mall. I half expected her to ask me, "Do you want fries with that watch?".

As far as the year thing goes, I can see it taking a year to go from the initial manufacturing process of the bits and pieces to the end of the testing process. There is such a thing as inventory and working in batches. But it's not as if someone's working on a particular watch for 8 hours a day 5 days a week for 52 weeks. Give me a break.

[ron17402]

Originally Posted by Downing

As far as the year thing goes, I can see it taking a year to go from the initial manufacturing process of the bits and pieces to the end of the testing process. There is such a thing as inventory and working in batches. But it's not as if someone's working on a particular watch for 8 hours a day 5 days a week for 52 weeks. Give me a break.

I was just going to post the same sort of response, but your's covers it.