Rolex Monopoly!

[tracyl]

I was talking to my watchsmith the other day and he was telling me he can no longer get Rolex crowns for his customers. If he wants to become a authorized Rolex repair center he has to fly to NY for 2 weeks and also spend about 10,000 USD to take a course. Then he has to pay an ungodly amount every year to keep the certification.

So what this means to the consumer is that if you want to get your Rolex serviced, those high certification costs get passed to you.

What is wrong with Rolex? Can't they see they are shooting themselves? I would never own a Rolex because of this. So people, before buying a Gen watch, contact a local independent watchsmith and ask if they can get any of the parts for case and movement before you buy.

If you don't believe me, go to the Otto frei website and read what Bob has to say about Rolex and their dirty practices!

Forgot the link:
http://www.ofrei.com/page1505.html

 

[ajs914]

My watchmaker said the same thing about Omega. It's harder and harder for him to get parts.

 

[Feuervogel]

I wrote an email to Omega and asked for help to find a case for a vintage Omega automatic caliber 661 (the smallest ever manufactured caliber) with dial. I asked for the numbers of case types where my movement had been built in originally to find one on ebay.

They told me: We don´t have any cases, we don´t give any further information or help but we insist on restorage of the original condition.

That´s quite mad!

 

[polaris]

Don't care.
It's Rolex's product and they can do as they wish. If you don't like it you don't have to buy as you point out.
Me? Every few years I'll get my watch seriviced at a RSC.

What's the problem. To repair Rolex watches, Rolex wants the watchmakers to be certified. Plenty of industries are like that. From your post it seems any watchmaker can become a RSC if they do the course and pay the ongoing fees. That means you can shop around the RSCs.

Servicing is just part of the total cost of ownership. This, the certification and limiting spare parts to RSCs, is Rolex's way of ensuring a minimum quality of service.

You can still get any watchsmith to service the watch, and if something is broken send it to the RSC. Shit. where is the monopoly now?

I would never own a Rolex because of this

Why do people make statements like this. It's always BS. They were never going to.

EDIT: They probably also did this to stop the sale of parts that go towards frankens.

 

[frigpig]

Don't care.
It's Rolex's product and they can do as they wish. If you don't like it you don't have to buy as you point out.
Me? Every few years I'll get my watch seriviced at a RSC.

What's the problem. To repair Rolex watches, Rolex wants the watchmakers to be certified. Plenty of industries are like that. From your post it seems any watchmaker can become a RSC if they do the course and pay the ongoing fees. That means you can shop around the RSCs.

Servicing is just part of the total cost of ownership. This, the certification and limiting spare parts to RSCs, is Rolex's way of ensuring a minimum quality of service.

You can still get any watchsmith to service the watch, and if something is broken send it to the RSC. Shit. where is the monopoly now?


Why do people make statements like this. It's always BS. They were never going to.

EDIT: They probably also did this to stop the sale of parts that go towards frankens.

Although I agree with the OP for the simple reason that these small watch smiths can no longer afford the costs associated with repairing a product they have for years, the post above is fantastic.

Everything you said is so true.

 

[jmd33]

That's why I don't feel bad buying reps

 

[SOLEX]

You know what one day I woke up and my gen Daytona was running fast, I gave it to the store I bought it from and my guess is he took it to a non certified repairman. All was well for some time but I noticed he messed up my second hand as it did not line up properly at 12.

I took it to RSC in NYC and guess what, they fixed it for free. Not only did they fully service my movement but they gave me a new dial and hands. Luckily they did not see that somebody else touched the movement. This is why I go direct, it costs a bit more but you service every few years so its not an ongoing expense.

 

[tracyl]

What's the problem:

The problem is that they jack the price up on an already expensive item and don't give you the option to get it done cheaper. Just to give an example, a stripped crown...go to ebay and you can see some crowns that are $200 - $700. And you cannot put an aftermarket crown on a rolex, as the tube screw tap is proprietary. So you are stuck paying a huge upcharge to get this done at a RSC.

Servicing is just part of the total cost of ownership. This, the certification and limiting spare parts to RSCs, is Rolex's way of ensuring a minimum quality of service.

This quote is BS, there are many RSC's that are certified and doing crappy work. My watch smith has been repairing Rolex's for 25 years, and when he could get parts, I'm sure he did just as good of a job.

You can still get any watchsmith to service the watch, and if something is broken send it to the RSC. Shit. where is the monopoly now?

I'll tell you where it is...let's say you spent $10,000 on a Rolex and you screwed the crown down too hard one to many times. Now it is stripped. All you need is a new tube and crown. It shouldn't cost more than $50 in parts. Well, if I'm a watchmaker and someone brings me his Rolex to fix with a stripped crown, I have to turn him away and say he has to go spend somewhere in the range of $200-$500 to get 2 small parts put on. Now you tell mr customer that if Rolex would have sold me the crowns, I could put them on for a reasonable price. How do you think mr customer will feel knowing this? My watchsmith still services Rolexes, and does a great job, but if it is a broken part, he has to give it back and tell the guy he has to go spend triple of what he would have charged by sending him to a RSC.

Why do people make statements like this. It's always BS. They were never going to.

EDIT: They probably also did this to stop the sale of parts that go towards frankens.

Your right, I don't even like Rolex, to me it is the most boring watch in the world, but that is my opinion only. As for the Frankens, that makes now sense because I don't think a gen crown will fit on a rep tube. Not sure if a gen tube and crown will even fit in a rep case.

There are just too many other fine watches out there to choose from. Rolex has built a great name for themselves, but when the consumer finds out that they will need to spend a lot more money to get them fixed, I think Rolex will start to pay the price. Just my opinion, but I could be wrong

 

[TESLA760]

This happens with MANY items. Manufacturers insist on training and annual certification. It's nothing new. Pretty simple to me. If you don't like it , don't buy it.

 

[jstreit]

Why would they want you to get it done somewhere else? They want you to keep coming back to them. Its the same with Mercedes or any other upper echelon make. They want you to go to them and get their stuff. They also want it to be difficult for a watch repair place to get their hands on their stuff. Because they are not in the business of pleasing small businesses with no intent of putting a commitment towards them.

 

[ThinkBachs]

All I can add because I have Ps open...

 

[jmd33]

Why would they want you to get it done somewhere else? They want you to keep coming back to them. Its the same with Mercedes or any other upper echelon make. They want you to go to them and get their stuff. They also want it to be difficult for a watch repair place to get their hands on their stuff. Because they are not in the business of pleasing small businesses with no intent of putting a commitment towards them.

Perfect example!!! I used to take mine and my wife's to the dealer for everything. Then, they (the dealer) put together my wife's SLK wrong and it created some pretty big engine problems. They fixed the mistake for free, of course, but it was there for over a month.

I now use a private mechanic and he does a WAY better job than the dealer service department ever did!!!

Point is - it's my choice who works on my cars, watches, and anything else. I have owned several Benzs and the minute I am forced to go through the dealership for repairs I will never buy one again (same with my Omegas).

I have no problem with the dealers only selling parts to legit repair people, even making them have an "account" is fine. But not making repair parts available at all is a no go for me.

 

[Despee]

All I can add because I have Ps open...

Nice ! I guess your pretty good at PS...

 

[jstreit]

Yeah but thats the way these companies are and always will be. Once you get to be so big you get an ego and then you want everything to be done through you and get paid royalties by private shops.

 

[sub4me]

It doesn't bother me to send my Rolex to them. I would send it through the AD and let them worry about the shipping and all the BS, of course it cost alot, but thats the price of getting authentic parts and service. I wouldn't feel comfortable dropping off my watch I paid that much for to joe blow the watch fixer. I want the guy certified by Rolex, I want to be sure all authentic Rolex parts are being used, and I want the movement serviced and put back together properly.

Look, most watch companies aren't giving away parts either. Try getting some parts from Seiko, good luck.

 

[SubDude]

>>Look, most watch companies aren't giving away parts either. Try getting some parts from Seiko, good luck.<<

I have ordered parts from Seiko and neve had a problem. Seiko isn't that anal about it.

Dave

 

[sub4me]

No shit yea, I was talking with my local guy the other day and hes saying its like pulling teeth to get parts from them and he said same with Citizen, Tag, and Pulsar if I remember right.

 

[trailboss99]

Er, you need a new local guy Sub.

Seiko will happily sell me any part available. The same goes for Citizen with the exception of the Aqualand series which they insist is "Citizen Service Centre service only". According to them you shouldn't even change a battery in one so you need to jump up and down a bit before they supply bits for those.

Tag are a bit of a fight sometimes but it can be done, Pulsar simply don't have parts a lot of the time.

Rolex are by far the worst but Omega have recently gone the same way, there is a thread on here somewhere from about a year ago where I posted the story. Getting a bit too big for their boots are Omega.

 

[ThinkBachs]

Nice ! I guess your pretty good at PS...

And fast too!

 

[sub4me]

Weird thing is my local guy is a authorized Seiko and Citizen repair shop, he tells me they want or rather insist the entire movement be replaced in almost all cases and are not willing to ship him this or that part for a movement. Maybe he bsing me and others to charge more funds but I've been in this guys shop for over 16 years and hes done plenty of work for me.

He will not even service a Tag unless the customer buys an entire set of new seals, he claims these are Tags rules, its all in or no service for you. He will work on Omega but says parts can't be had and same goes for Rolex and others.

Er, you need a new local guy Sub.

Seiko will happily sell me any part available. The same goes for Citizen with the exception of the Aqualand series which they insist is "Citizen Service Centre service only". According to them you shouldn't even change a battery in one so you need to jump up and down a bit before they supply bits for those.

Tag are a bit of a fight sometimes but it can be done, Pulsar simply don't have parts a lot of the time.

Rolex are by far the worst but Omega have recently gone the same way, there is a thread on here somewhere from about a year ago where I posted the story. Getting a bit too big for their boots are Omega.