Finally decided to have my watch serviced after 60+ years

[4srolex]

I had the pleasure to drop by the new location of ROLLIWORKS and speak to Mike today. I dropped off 2 vintage watches that my dad gave me. Both of these watches were purchased when my dad served in the US Army during the Korean War. The stainless steel Rolex has never been serviced and still runs so I thought it be a good idea to have it checked out after 60 years. My dad said the gold plated watch was last serviced about 20 years ago. Both watches still run fine after all these years.

Mike and his team were curious and decided to open up both watches to check out the condition of the watches. To our surprise, the watches looked very good and the watch that was never serviced looked excellent after 60+ years to the watchmaker. Disclaimer: both watches had some dust and the oil dried out but they did not see any metal shavings or rust from the initial inspection.

After we did the paper work on the watches. I told Mike my BLNR has always run fast since I got it new from the Rolex AD. Mike had the watchmaker put my watch on the timer and it was confirmed that my watch is running 8 seconds fast which didn’t surprise me. Mike instructed his watchmaker to open up the back to take a look and was going to demagnetize the watch for me without a charge since I just dropped off 2 watches to him.

Here is the surprising news, my 4 year old BLNR actually looked worse than my other watches that had not been serviced. My BLNR oil dried up according to the watchmaker and I saw pictures of it magnified on the computer screen, there was also some dust in my watch. Both Mike and the 2 watchmakers could not believe the oil dried up on a relatively new watch. I left my watch with Mike and his team so for those that think Rolex might last 10 years without a service, I would have your watched checked out before 10 years to be safe. I will follow-up in a couple of weeks on the status of the watches.

If you want more details on the Rolex Brevet 6266 please see:

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=402611

Here are some pictures of the new facility at ROLLIWORKS












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[trelane]

Wow, that's nuts, 60 years.

[Welshy]

Nice heirlooms!

[Morrison0]

Amazing!

[uhren917]

very, very cool! great looking watches! The watches I inherited from Dad are also treasures and not for sale.

[77T]

What caused you to rush that 60 year old watch into service?

Just kidding of course -

I’m sure this is a testament to Rolex’s quality of materials and workmanship in the 1950’s.

As for the BLNR, maybe it is evidence of trying to make too many watches too fast. Dust might have been there from factory, or a seal not seated properly to let dust inside. The new lubricants don’t “dry up” this quickly when adequately applied, and the movement is still protected by the case seals.


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[bobernet]

Very cool. Will be great to have them back good as new, I’m sure.

[dannyp]

Two observations:

1. Did your BLNR come with the old two-year warranty, or the newer five-year? If the latter, I'm sure Rolex would take care of the servicing.

2. I think this is definitely a distinction between manual-wind and self-winding watches. Manually wound pieces, with less complexity, always seem to go longer without servicing.

[Dr Watches]

Originally Posted by dannyp

Two observations:

1. Did your BLNR come with the old two-year warranty, or the newer five-year? If the latter, I'm sure Rolex would take care of the servicing.

2. I think this is definitely a distinction between manual-wind and self-winding watches. Manually wound pieces, with less complexity, always seem to go longer without servicing.

That rotor flying around every time you move is a huge source of wear and stress.

[Widows Son]

I turned 60 last Sat, maybe I should get checked out???

[Blansky]

Seems kind of impulsive, 60 years. You'd expect better from Rolex.

Interestingly the guy has the open watch resting on a hockey puck.

I bet you can't wait to get these back and in perfect running condition for another 60.

[strafer_kid]

Originally Posted by dannyp

Two observations:

1. Did your BLNR come with the old two-year warranty, or the newer five-year? If the latter, I'm sure Rolex would take care of the servicing.

2. I think this is definitely a distinction between manual-wind and self-winding watches. Manually wound pieces, with less complexity, always seem to go longer without servicing.

Interesting point at no(2) - must admit I had never thought of that.