Vintage Service Options

[vesnyder]

I have a 35+ year old OP Datejust and am looking for service options. It has been almost 20 years since I've had this watch serviced and it is losing almost 20 seconds per day. The path of least resistance is to take the watch to the local AD and have them service the watch - whcih they shared, because of the age, they may have to send it back to Rolex. Can I send it directly to Rolex and save money bypassing the AD? Can I get a better price and good service by some of the third party service providers? Any service recommendations and options would be appreciated.

Thanks

[papapastorius]

-20 seconds/day is not too much.
If you change othe watch each week, it is not a trouble.

[StanGMT]

I would at least talk to your local AD first. My AD tells me that Rolex workshops will not now even consider servicing my 52 year-old 1675 GMT because they no longer produce replacement parts. I don't know what the 'cut-off' age is for Rolex to stop producing parts for their watches but yours might be near it. For older watches like mine its Catch 22 - not even Rolex will service it, but I need to keep it 'serviced in accordance with Rolex recommendations' for my insurers.

Stan.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by vesnyder

. . . Can I send it directly to Rolex and save money bypassing the AD? Can I get a better price and good service by some of the third party service providers? Any service recommendations and options would be appreciated.

Thanks

You can always send directly to a Rolex Service Center, that's why they have the address in the Service Booklets and on the 'Net. They do have shipping/packaging requirements.

For an independent, shop around and look for a watchmaker with Rolex experience and a CW-21 certificate, which is the latest.

Some shops that are cheap only break down the watch to major components and sonic clean those parts. You really want one who will completely disassemble the watch and check each part for tolerance.

[77T]

On independent watchmakers, I agree with Larry and would add you ought to look for one who still has a Rolex parts account.


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