Lance Thomas is my hero.

...so as a follow up to this post, after reading all these bits of advice, I took mine and the wife's datejusts in to a very fancy local shop that "is a factory trained Rolex expert/specialist" (yeah right). For 2 watches cleaned (including random parts and gaskets etc), lubricated, 2 new crystals (mine is older and only cost $70, hers is about 10 years old and it cost approx $170?), and fancy polishing it was $1100. I am very happy and can not believe how new they both look.

Joe

Wish you lived a bit closer. My local guy charged about 1/3 the price and is an ex-Rolex trained tech.

Anyway, at least they are good for another 10 years.

Joe A

Re: yet another ROLEX question.
 

You can't. Just get another acrylic crystal put on it. Rolex still mfg. them. The plus side is the acrlic crystal cleans very easily (Scratches, etc.) with a product called Polywatch.

Vash,

Did you ever email Ralph and could he help you?

Hugh is looking for some help with a Rolex band and we are trying to find some sources for him.

Joe A

yea, i did call that guy. he said he can help, i just have to do the hard part and pony up the cash. well, i have a few issues. no to the crystal, and yes to replacing the stolen gold rolex bracelet.

strange, i just broke the band on my tudor. hhhhmmm. group jinx?

Just had mine cleaned and serviced by Rolex in Toronto. This needs to be done every 5 years or so. Here it cost me C$350.

I would not go to anyone other than Rolex for this. They also buff and polish the case, band and crystal, repaint the numbers on the Daytona etc. Worth every penny.

Actually this is not true. Rolex makes enormous amounts of money on that false perception.

Take a stainless steel model (Daytona, President...whatever) and then compare this to the price of the solid gold model. There is a $10,000.- +/- difference in price, but the gold weight of the latter is probably 2 or 3 oz max - and it isn't even pure gold. So you pay a premium of 10K for something that should cost 1 or 2K at most.

Even more extreme profits are made by Rolex on the diamond and ruby encruted models.

A friend of mine in Hong Kong deals in these watches and once showed me a pie-chart that indicated the cost components of a typical Rolex watch. Materials and manufacturing was less than 10%! A huge amount - 30 or 40% - went to advertising!

Objectively (value for money) the watch is a total rip off. Still, I wouldn't trade mine for any other brand. You either get it or you don't. Just like a 911 - as someone pointed out.

Give these guys a shout, they did an exceptional job on a really beat up vintage rolex and brought it back to life for a very reasonable price. They are in HK so you would have to send it there, but I did not have any issues. 4 week turn around.

www.classicwatchparts.com

michael.young@classicwatchparts.com

And to add to that, the movement in some of the Rolex's is not made by Rolex! The Daytona, one of my favourites is made by ETA. An excellent movement, but still not made in house by Rolex.

As long at they keep their quality and value, will keep wearing them. My first GMT master, a steel and gold version is now over 30 years old and still works like new.

Joe

Yes and no.

The current daytona movement is in-house, the previous one was by Zenith, the previous ones were by various other manufacturers.

All their current movements are in house and the non-complicated ones were in house for most of their history.

But yes, their Cost of Goods is very low compared to their MSRP.

Alf:

Not to hijack the thread, but everytime I see your car in your signature and click on it, I think you must have one of the nicest '88's around. Great specs.

Respect!

The Daytona movement has been 'in-house' since '03.

thanks for the link on Lance Thomas

Thanks!

This is not the case. Rolex has recently required its authorized service centers to purchase some expensive diagnostic equipment or lose their authorization. But independent service guys are still around, I know, I'm related to one. He bought the equipment.

Scratches on an acrylic lens can be easily buffed out at any jewelers for a few bucks. My personal experience.