7 Things I Learned Working As A Rolex Certified Watchmaker

Sorry about the audio everyone! Our mic was acting up during filming, but we've replaced it since, so the sound in all future videos should be crystal clear. Thanks for bearing with us!

Wait. So Rolex will service a super clone and then give you a service certificate that can let you pass it off as legitimate? Or at the very least not confiscate it?

Am I understand correctly? I was always told a fake gets taken off you in such circumstances?

Outstanding video.I have to go with the So you might as well choose amzswiss , especially with that green dial as my favorite

Great video! What do you think about male the service and also polish the watch? I bring my yachtmaster now after 8 years to the rolex store im zurich. And i say i want also the polish option. Im still waitimg because i want also to replace te platin bezel. I thougt rolex will give or better said buy the platin back and replace a new one for a "little" amount. But they told me not really :). Lets wait but my watch is now not in a bad status. Sam little scratches here and there. Will this take value from my watch when i will do that?

I don't think Rolex has ever lived down the dismal failure of their watch in the NASA space programme tests. Hence their preoccupation with accuracy ever since.



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Great, reliable source video! It can be tough for someone to just wake up one day and say “I want a Rolex” and pick it up at the AD. But as a collector and in it for the long game, I built a relationship with 2 ADs without spending a bunch of money on other stuff and have been offered highly sought out pieces. My wait time ranged from 6 months to 2 years but I’ve been offered most of what I want and even (stainless steel) stuff I was not looking at. And yes, I passed them despite the “flip” value. Good to hear another person endorse the same advice of building a relationship with the local AD. It works!

So "all the screws are all torqued exactly the same..."
So there is a special watch torque screw driver you use?

Rolex is on the waitlist for my money. I think I will make them wait for at least 6 years 😂

SUPERLATIVE CHORONOMETER MY ASS ANY OMEGA THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY BUY AND NOT BEG THE ADs HAS A COSC CERTIFICATION WITCH IS THE EXACT SAME TESTINGS AND NOT ONLY OMEGA GO THROUGH IT

Rolex is a basic Ford 150. This is not some special unique hand made watchmaker… machine finished and basic…

I have found that Timex and Casio will get me to the opera on time.

Many of the comments here are negative about Rolex, so I would like to offer some information about my experiences, which may help.
I am a professional clockmaker with watchmaking experience, so I work on my own watches. I own 3 Rolexes, a 1030, a 1570, and a 3035. The 3035 is by far the most accurate in all positions on the timing machine. I do have a Bucherer chronometer which comes close, but that's it. I have been wearing my 1570 Rolex Date for 30 years now. When it comes to quality of construction and how perfectly the parts fit together, only my Bulova Accutron 218 and my old Keystone Howard pocket watch come close to Rolex quality. Nothing else I have found comes close. As for Omega, which many people mention in the comments here, the only Omega I would consider is the Speedmaster moonwatch with the 861 movement, which I prefer over the Daytona, but I have no experience with the Daytona. My Rolex watches are far better than any of my Omega watches. I have been collecting watches for 40 years now and I like my 1972 Rolex 1570 the best. I wear it every day. My Vacheron Patrimony is beautiful but too fragile, and it sits in the safe.
Back in the 1990s, customers would give me their Rolexes to take to a watchmaker for repair. This stopped around 2001. In 2005, I was talking to some watchmakers about how people were not wearing Rolexes as much as they did in the 80s and 90s, just as women were not wearing jewelry as much as they did in years past. Nowadays, I see few people wearing Rolexes, and these watches are new. So where did the older Rolexes go? I still wear mine, but rarely see anyone wearing an older Rolex.
I think all new big name Swiss watches are vastly overpriced. Why not invest in a used Rolex, get it serviced, and enjoy it? Get yourself a Submariner or a Datejust. You only need to buy it once, and it could last a lifetime with proper maintenance. 😀

Nice PGU in the background. Amazing kit

is it within spec that my Explorer II date changes at 4 minutes past midnight?

The more I learn about Rolex the less I want one.

Interesting Video! It's been a while but I purchased two GMT masters new from jewelry stores I had never been in. In both cases (separated by several years) I walked in, told them what I was looking for and they showed me the watch/I gave them money and that was that. First one was in Anchorage, AK where I bought a stainless red/blue bezel GMT Master. The second was in NYC where I bought a stainless/gold GMT master. Again, there was no issue at all - no different than buying milk in the grocery star - walk in, hand them money, they handed me a watch, I left.
Clearly, times have changed but the concept of being on a wait list or being "approved" by some salesclerk to buy a watch is multiple levels beyond my understanding of why anyone would do that.

Its a lot of money to just to tell the time, also not much of an investment anymore these days with such mass produced articles, also if you damage them in some way you decrease the resale value. I understand why one would like own one as it has some prestige to your senses. Unless it has very limited issues it is a waste of good money, other brands are good too and more afordable, but alas, less prestige !

Actually my pp5726 is running better than my Rolex yacht master

Rolex make 1,000,000 watches a year so they must have tens of thousands of watchmakers to make 3,000 watches every day! They hide the fact that Rolex is a mass produced watch which the Chinaman can copy and sell for £140.

You sir, are a saint!

Also, maybe, perhaps, take us down the Tudor rabbit hole just a bit.

Thanks!!

Terrible audio

💯 the last six years or so the AD’s had the leverage, times are changing rapidly, at least here in the states.“The long waitlist“ is becoming a thing of the past. Many examples of people getting a watch within a month of visiting an A.D., and some of them even getting a watch on the same day.

Have you ever heard so much rubbish in your life ? Rolex are the most bolshy unholistic company on gods earth every single reference is overrated , overhyped & eye wateringly overpriced … Rolex are touted as a non profit making charity right ? …. So how come the list price for a 18ct gold submariner is 45k+ when it’s estimated that it actually costs around 15k to manufacture this reference @ 2025 gold price + all parts & labour …. Absolutely obscene Rolex a non profit making charity …. REALLY ????

Can you tell us what going on with the problems Rolex are having with the 3200 series movements

Any insight on the amplitude issues in the new movements? Been seeing a lot of discussion on that.

I believe NY law requires original parts to be returned to the owner.

The amount of "Rolex" trained watchmakers i have met, they must have trained them all. Never met a Patek trained watchmaker?

Man - times have changed - in 2012 I walked into a Rolex AD - got my Black Ceramic Submariner - and walked out - same day - these games are why I feel like so many people are going grey market.

beggars watch

You had me until you tried to white wash the abysmal oversight Rolex have of the rampant corruption during the Rolex bubble. Google the shenanigans going on at one of Rolex's oldest AD's C.D. Peacock and how they were taking the watches out of fhe backdoor to ship to wealthy Asian buyers with the obligatory hands over eyes by the store supervisors. We're expected to believe that the Rolex home office and the AD owners didnt notice that a new salesperson with no history at the store suddenly outselling all the established salespeople by insane outlier margins with little if any customer visits in the store. The salesperson was obviously selling the watches to people who were NOT part of the local community. There's a federal court lawsuit which is well worth a read and sole reporting in the business newspapers.

Rolex really is really the best watch i've ever had.

China will smoke Rolex in the future.

I got my Rolex datejust 4 yrs ago. I was told I would have to wait 3 months for it and about 4 months later I got it. The salesperson was incredibly good and very professional. Just my 2c. Also the watch is gorgeous and runs like a swiss watch...oh wait...Cheers.

I had no idea that Stipe Miocic had a watchmaker brother.😄

I am sorry but as an independent watchmaker who has made parts for watches over 200 years old, why am I not able to buy parts from Rolex because I can repair watches that Rolex trained watchmaker is unable to understand let alone repair

I didn't want a Rolex before, now I want it even less.

The longest I've waited was two weeks, for any Rolex Timepiece.

The rise of right-to-repair laws in the States is going to challenge Rolex's gatekeeping policies with regards to parts and service.

In my situation I am a jewelry store owner. A lot of the Rolex dealers know me when I walk in because I am starting an international jewelry store.

Does this also apply to Tudor?

Totally agree that the watches on display aren't non-working display watches. Case in point is my local Rolex Boutique. Post-Christmas, those "display only" watches have somehow disappeared and the cupboards are nearly bare. Why? Because they sold them! One visit earlier this year, they took me directly to a watch on display telling me it was available. It was a Day-Date in platinum. Not on my list, so I turned it down.

I’m a long-time diver. Spend thousands (tens of thousands) on a Rolex dive watch, or spend $500 (or less) on a very nice Seiko ot other brand and have all that extra money to spend on actual dive vacations. The answer: I don’t have any watches (16 total) over $500 and have taken a lot of great dive trips. Rolexes are nice, iconic, but overrated.

Fascinating comments.
I only purchased one new Rolex many mana years ago and the sales person did have to sell it.
I didn't have to"beg".

Kinda like Ferrari 😅

Thanks!

No idea…I bought a Coke a cola Rolex in 2001 from a jeweler who was best friends of a guy I flew for. I didn’t have to go through that qualifying…didn’t even know that was a thing but did pay full pop best I remember. I sold the thing back to him a few weeks-month later. Why? It kept horrible time? Ito said but it’s a ROLEX. I didn’t get and he gladly bought it back🙄 One of the few regrets in my life😔

How much does a watchmaker makes?????? and how many year it took you to become a High quality watchmaker?

About 20 years ago, a friend who was a Rolex fanatic tried to get me into the brand. I could easily afford it given the particular watch I liked. However, when I asked other friends, they were done with Rolex and I heard the horror stories. One such story was of a 1960's Rolex purchased by the Grandfather and later handed down. My buddy took it in for service here at the certified and authorized repair Rolex jeweler for a cleaning here in Downtown. When he got it back, the movement had been changed to a cheaper one. He had sue and also file a criminal complaint. He got the money paid to him but the sentimental value was destroyed. Not worth it. And this is just one story. Rolex, simply a no here.