1601 etc. Accuracy Over the Years

[Rubberhedgehog]

Hi everyone.
It is my 30th birthday coming up and my wife has kindly offered to buy me a Rolex Datejust to mark the occasion. I would love a vintage Rolex piece, maybe something from my 1986 birth year.

As a complete vintage noobie I was wondering how the movements that were made 30 (plus) years ago stack up today. Would they still be chronometre rated if they are sent to rolex for a service or is some leeway given to their accuracy over the years?
What is the experience with their timekeeping? I aim to use this as my daily watch so would like some assurance that it will keep good time.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[swish77]

Yes, and yes! A serviced and well-regulated vintage Rolex, DJ or sports model, should be just as accurate as a modern timepiece (not including quartz, of course.)

[bigchelis]

I would look for one that is recently been serviced and immediately upon getting it have it waterproof service done at your local Rolex service center.

I discovered that a full service Rolex job sometimes includes a waterproof service and sometimes it does not. My particular 1991 Rolex Explorer 14270 I purchased from retail store that does their own service.. I was told watch had a full service job done and it came with 2 years warranty. Later looked into it more and discovered Full Service can vary significantly as to what is actually done. From polishing to changing internal parts with OEM ect...

Additionally I think you should look for the quick set time variants only, but that's just my preference of course.

My particular Rolex 14270 can go 2~3 months with daily wear and time is spot on. My Seiko Shogun when new would be a couple minutes off by that same time frame. I recall having to adjust the date back 5 minutes every couple months.

bigC

[motoikkyu]

There are plenty of low-mileage vintage around that, when serviced, are very accurate. Many don't even require service: if it's running to your acceptable standards and feels smooth to wind, don't let an unknown or less-than-recent service history deter you, as long as seller is decent.

[Brianmac 883]

I have a '77 1500 OP Date (cal. 1575 movement, recently serviced) and it runs at +2 sec./day no matter what... on my wrist, on the winder or any combination of the two. Many folks think that the older Rolex movements were more robust than the current generation. Maybe, maybe not, but they will keep COSC time if properly serviced... and run forever.

[218225]

Originally Posted by Rubberhedgehog

Hi everyone.
It is my 30th birthday coming up and my wife has kindly offered to buy me a Rolex Datejust to mark the occasion. I would love a vintage Rolex piece, maybe something from my 1986 birth year.

As a complete vintage noobie I was wondering how the movements that were made 30 (plus) years ago stack up today. Would they still be chronometre rated if they are sent to rolex for a service or is some leeway given to their accuracy over the years?
What is the experience with their timekeeping? I aim to use this as my daily watch so would like some assurance that it will keep good time.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

My 1655 from 72/73 came back from a service regulated to one second a week.
After a service you technically have a new watch maybe with old technology but new nonetheless.

[jdmi32]

The 3035 movement found in your birth year Datejust will run just fine with proper servicing. As for me, I'm partial to the even older 157X movements and consider them to be among the most reliable movements ever made.

[R.W.T.]

Some are better than others. Some were ALWAYS better than others as well.

That being said...on the wrist..you can get any of those extremely close.

They are 5 position watches not 6.

The tolerances of position error will definitely be closer on 3035 than 1570 and 3135 tighter than 3035. You may never notice that but it is definitely the case MOST of the time.

The 1570 will be tighter than 1560.

Yes the occasional miracle child occurs but generally speaking the newer movements are more accurate and more easily regulated for accuracy and position error correction than the older ones.

Does that make a lot of difference on the wrist...not really, generally.

[Old Expat Beast]

My 1964 Air King runs about five seconds fast per week. With overnight positioning, I can keep it more or less dead on, which is something I can't do with my newer models.

[lpestre]

Buy the seller like always, old datejust are often overpolished, badly serviced over the years etc...

But a 1986 datejust will last you all your life if well maintened.

[ohjnxg]

+3sec a day

[ChrisB]

My 1972 1016 was serviced last August to October (9w) and after a few weeks fast, settled to be close to perfect. In May it slipped to losing 6-8 seconds per day and I just queried this with my dealer. The answer from Rolex is that older watches should be -4 to +10 (COSC is -4/+6) so I am outside limits but may be due to UK heatwave so i’ll Keep tracking for a few more weeks and can get it regulated under warranty if I choose to be without it for 3w.

[CaveDweller]

Back in 1988 (when I bought my 3035 DJ new), the tolerance stated by Rolex was 90 seconds a month (or 3 secs a day) before Rolex would consider looking at it – mine is around +2 seconds per day on the wrist, day in day out – winter or summer – it just does it

The “Certified Chronometer” comes into it when the watch runs at a “predictable and stable” tolerance, at which point a simple mathematical calculation can be done to establish the “actual” time, which was vital to accurate navigation over long distances in the past

It seems as though Rolex has let their quality control slip with the six digit models, where now 4 secs per day seems to be acceptable

In my opinion, the five digit models from the 80’s are the ones you should be looking at for best accuracy

They switched from the 3035 to the 3135 movement in late 1988, so if you’re going for a 3035, the quickset should work anti-clockwise – whereas the 3135 quickset is clockwise

Good hunting …….

[Nicholas Bedworth]

My 1972 1016 looks quite a bit like yours. Hardly surprising. :)

The RSC watchmaker in Kathmandu enjoys spending hours tweaking the balance wheel, using a ruby-jawed vise, until everything is just so. After such a service, the accuracy is within a second or so, and this on a 46 year old timepiece. Quite a few other parts have been replaced by Rolex over the years, and the watch is serviced regularly, which all seems to contribute to accurate timing.

[R.O.L.E.X]

Originally Posted by bigchelis

I would look for one that is recently been serviced and immediately upon getting it have it waterproof service done at your local Rolex service center.

I discovered that a full service Rolex job sometimes includes a waterproof service and sometimes it does not. My particular 1991 Rolex Explorer 14270 I purchased from retail store that does their own service.. I was told watch had a full service job done and it came with 2 years warranty. Later looked into it more and discovered Full Service can vary significantly as to what is actually done. From polishing to changing internal parts with OEM ect...

Additionally I think you should look for the quick set time variants only, but that's just my preference of course.

My particular Rolex 14270 can go 2~3 months with daily wear and time is spot on. My Seiko Shogun when new would be a couple minutes off by that same time frame. I recall having to adjust the date back 5 minutes every couple months.

bigC

You don't need to have the watch waterproof tested unless you intend to submerge it under water.

[PAM50]

i used mine for steam and sauna .... still waterproofed after all 40+ years ...and still deadly accurate.... gold 1601... lapis dial datejust +/-1975