Rolex Explorer II 16570, -16 seconds per day. Help

[Holy_Peanuts]

Hi Everyone,

New member here :).

I recently bought a used 1995 Rolex Explorer II from a trusted seller on eBay for 4700$CAD . The deal was made at the sellers house in person. I would post a link to their store but I dont know if I would be breaking any forum rules in doing so.. They have 750+ feedback and sell expensive watches daily.

After about a week of wearing it, I noticed it was running at roughly -16 seconds per day. I contacted the seller and he offered to have it serviced at no cost for me. Only cost was the 2 months I was without the watch . I just got it back 2 days ago and to my unfortunate surprise, the darn watch still runs at -16 seconds per day..

The seller gave me the phone number of whoever serviced it in Los Angeles and I was told to call back Monday. I was hoping to leave a message when I called but I actually surprisingly got through to someone on Saturday evening.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Im quite baffled at how a watch that was apparently completely overhauled can still run outisde of COSC specs. Did they not verify its accuracy before returning it to me?

Is it normal for a 20 year old rolex to be so inaccurate? To my understanding it isnt but I will admit, I dont know much about watches..

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[77T]

My advice is not to take it back to that watchmaker. He clearly can't regulate or gives the work to someone who can't.

Look up a certified local watchmaker and have it regulated.

[natosub]

I am the opposite of an expert, but seems strange for a watch to be completely disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled, and running exactly as poorly as it was before.

If a proper service was completed though, a simple regulation should bring it back into spec.

[U5512]

That sucks. If they ever serviced your watch, they didn't even bother to put it on a timing machine and perform final regulation to spec. If you have a local watchmaker to you, pay a few bucks to have it regulated and move on.

[blue16613]

Have you made your "trusted seller" aware? If not, do so!

"Trusted seller" is not a certification one achieves by selling some number of watches or getting a certain amount of positive feedback. It is EARNED on the basis of the way that situations like this are managed.

Please keep us informed!

[Westland]

What's the service history? Did you receive documentation of any service history? You may have to bite the bullet and send it to the RSC... It's not the worst thing in the world...

[beer]

Originally Posted by natosub

I am the opposite of an expert, but seems strange for a watch to be completely disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled, and running exactly as poorly as it was before.

If a proper service was completed though, a simple regulation should bring it back into spec.

yep sounds like the watchmaker forgot to service it maybe there was a mixup and the watch got moved straight from the inbound to the outbound section of his workshop without actually getting the service

[Holy_Peanuts]

Originally Posted by blue16613

Have you made your "trusted seller" aware? If not, do so!

"Trusted seller" is not a certification one achieves by selling some number of watches or getting a certain amount of positive feedback. It is EARNED on the basis of the way that situations like this are managed.

Please keep us informed!

I did. Thats when he recommended I return it for my money back. Im quite disappointed he would rather just have me return it than be a happy customer.. IM also very shocked he wasn't a little surprised and disapointed that after 2 months, nothing was fixed..

Originally Posted by Westland

What's the service history? Did you receive documentation of any service history? You may have to bite the bullet and send it to the RSC... It's not the worst thing in the world...

Dont know the service history and have not seen any documentation regarding service history.

My concern about sending it to an RSC is a) cost, and b) if by any chance this watch has a bad history, wont they keep it?


Thank you all for your answers!

[77T]

If you can still get a refund, I'd do it. There are better performing Expl. II's here on the TRF website with trusted sellers.

[Westland]

Originally Posted by Holy_Peanuts

I did. Thats when he recommended I return it for my money back. Im quite disappointed he would rather just have me return it than be a happy customer.. IM also very shocked he wasn't a little surprised and disapointed that after 2 months, nothing was fixed..



Dont know the service history and have not seen any documentation regarding service history.

My concern about sending it to an RSC is a) cost, and b) if by any chance this watch has a bad history, wont they keep it?


Thank you all for your answers!

Allow me to address your 2 points: 1) I understand cost is a concern, but this is the Rolex game--costs can be unexpected, somewhat tough to swallow, and just part of the equation.

2) Your concern about the piece having a bad history is something you need to address while vetting the seller, before purchase. You own it now, so we have to look at other options... The RSC will not service a Folex, if indeed that's the issue. As far as them keeping it, I'm not sure they can simply keep your personal property. Personally, if it were fake, I'd probably want them to keep it, just cut my losses, and move on!

If you know the piece is real, save up some cash and send it to the RSC. I agree with a previous poster: Try to get s refund first, but assuming that doesn't work, I'd move forward with the RSC.

[red1108nyc]

Time for RSC.

[Westland]

OP, to expand further, if the RSC does indeed deem that fake internals have been applied to your piece, you can then use that info to threaten the seller with a lawsuit.

You should want to send it to the RSC at this point in order to get peace of mind.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Holy_Peanuts

Hi Everyone,

New member here :).

I recently bought a used 1995 Rolex Explorer II from a trusted seller on eBay for 4700$CAD . The deal was made at the sellers house in person. I would post a link to their store but I dont know if I would be breaking any forum rules in doing so.. They have 750+ feedback and sell expensive watches daily.

After about a week of wearing it, I noticed it was running at roughly -16 seconds per day. I contacted the seller and he offered to have it serviced at no cost for me. Only cost was the 2 months I was without the watch . I just got it back 2 days ago and to my unfortunate surprise, the darn watch still runs at -16 seconds per day..

The seller gave me the phone number of whoever serviced it in Los Angeles and I was told to call back Monday. I was hoping to leave a message when I called but I actually surprisingly got through to someone on Saturday evening.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Im quite baffled at how a watch that was apparently completely overhauled can still run outisde of COSC specs. Did they not verify its accuracy before returning it to me?

Is it normal for a 20 year old rolex to be so inaccurate? To my understanding it isnt but I will admit, I dont know much about watches..

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

If the watch was running -16 seconds before it was serviced and after a service its still running -16 seconds,I find that very very unlikely.Now thats if they did strip the movement down and service it,but if its the same -16 then you have a very very consistent time keeping watch, which is the most important thing with any mechanical watch consistency. So all thats needed is simple regulation to bring it back to within the COSC spec. Try giving it a full manual wind 40 full crown turns clockwise only,then wear for eight hour a day.Check time once daily with a reliable time source right down loss or gain over 7 days.If still running out of spec it needs regulating a very simple task and that 20 year old movement has not changed a lot over the present day movement..

[mattmcmhn]

Where was it sent in LA?

[Tools]

I would be interested in how the watch was tested to determine that it was running -16 per day.

Especially if it was, indeed, serviced in between.

(if it is, a simple regulation is cheap and plentiful at any watch shop)