Rolex GMT BLNR Reliability Concerns

[Alexwwjd]

This morning when I put on my 1 year old GMT BLNR I realized my watch was 40 minutes behind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As of today it was keeping very good time, maybe 1 minute faster every month but it was acceptable. The last time I set the time/date was on 7/1 since July has 31 days and I've been away from home for a month and a half in a very long multi-city business trip and I've been wearing it daily. This is the only watch I brought with me but what worries me about is that this had never happened before. I gave it a full wind (40+ turns) and so far it's working good. I know I'm not running a marathon with my watch on but I'm not a couch potato either for it to be losing power reserve or running slow. Tomorrow I will be at home for half a day but that's enough time for me to get another watch. This is not the first problem I've found with this watch, about 6 months ago the winding crown was jammed and didn't want to pull out. I have to push it back in and after a while I could pull it out to change the date.

I really like this watch but I don't know what happened to it.

So, my questions for you guys, have you encountered any problems with your Brand new beloved GMT BLNR a.k.a. Batmans??? How often should I give this watch a full wind? Monthly?

[Headshrinker]

No problems, but I rotate my watches. I could not tell you if any of mine are truly accurate except my 50th anniversary Daytona that I wear more often. It is very accurate!

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by Headshrinker

No problems, but I rotate my watches. I could not tell you if any of mine are truly accurate except my 50th anniversary Daytona that I wear more often. It is very accurate!

That's what I try to do, rotate them but since I've been away for so long I haven't been able to do it. I have some other watches that are getting 0 wrist time. Hopefully tomorrow I will get another one, I just don't want to lose confidence in this one already.

[beshannon]

My BLNR works great, running at ~-2 per day

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by beshannon

My BLNR works great, running at ~-2 per day

Just like mine until today... How often do you give it a full wind?

[beshannon]

Originally Posted by Alexwwjd

Just like mine until today... How often do you give it a full wind?

Whenever I decide to wear it

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by beshannon

Whenever I decide to wear it

But if you wear it daily, you don't do a full wind everyday, do you? when I rotate my watches of course I manually wind it since it's stopped but I never felt the need to do it if I just keep wearing it for weeks.

[hbi]

My BLNR has had about 75% wrist-time over the last two months since I got it. Seems to be running +2 spd (visual comparison with time.gov), which dropped to about 1.4 spd over a 10 day period, when I was wearing it about 12 hrs per day. I occasionally wind it even when I wear it on successive days. The crown does feel a bit hard / sticky and doesn't always go to the 2nd position easily (where the second hand stops) but I'm hoping it'll loosen / unstick with use.

[RichM]

Mine is not a BLNR but a 2 1/2 yr old GMT. Mine also began running slow. Before I mailed it in for service it was losing 20 minutes every 10 hours. The bad news was the watch was 6 months out of warranty.

The good news is Rolex preformed a full movement service for free. Watch is now running spot on.

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by Rich Mickol

Mine is not a BLNR but a 2 1/2 yr old GMT. Mine also began running slow. Before I mailed it in for service it was losing 20 minutes every 10 hours. The bad news was the watch was 6 months out of warranty.

The good news is Rolex preformed a full movement service for free. Watch is now running spot on.

While I am wearing it I consider it in Quarantine. Hopefully it doesn't show that problem but kudos for Rolex servicing it for free!

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by hbi

My BLNR has had about 75% wrist-time over the last two months since I got it. Seems to be running +2 spd (visual comparison with time.gov), which dropped to about 1.4 spd over a 10 day period, when I was wearing it about 12 hrs per day. I occasionally wind it even when I wear it on successive days. The crown does feel a bit hard / sticky and doesn't always go to the 2nd position easily (where the second hand stops) but I'm hoping it'll loosen / unstick with use.

I know what you mean with crown feeling like that. My omega speedmaster feels much better than this.

[hbi]

Originally Posted by Alexwwjd

I know what you mean with crown feeling like that. My omega speedmaster feels much better than this.

Yup ... same here!

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by Alexwwjd

This morning when I put on my 1 year old GMT BLNR I realized my watch was 40 minutes behind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As of today it was keeping very good time......

I gave it a full wind (40+ turns) and so far it's working good.

Sounds like you have your answer. Even though these are automatic watches the level activity needs to be sufficient to keep it wound correctly. Someone working in offices may likely not be active enough in the scheme of things.
Also, it is a very good habit to wing the watch every few weeks or so. That is what the crown is there for, it won't do the watch any harm.

I wouldn't be surprised if your watch actually wound down and stopped and you didn't notice and whenever you noticed it, the watch was running since you had it on. A watch with a problem doesn't go from -40 minutes to running fine in one day.

You wound it, problem solved, I suspect nothing wrong with your watch.

[cedargrove]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

I wouldn't be surprised if your watch actually wound down and stopped and you didn't notice and whenever you noticed it, the watch was running since you had it on. A watch with a problem doesn't go from -40 minutes to running fine in one day.

I assume this is what happened. Your watch likely wound down and stopped 40 minutes prior to you putting it on.

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

Sounds like you have your answer. Even though these are automatic watches the level activity needs to be sufficient to keep it wound correctly. Someone working in offices may likely not be active enough in the scheme of things.
Also, it is a very good habit to wing the watch every few weeks or so. That is what the crown is there for, it won't do the watch any harm.

I wouldn't be surprised if your watch actually wound down and stopped and you didn't notice and whenever you noticed it, the watch was running since you had it on. A watch with a problem doesn't go from -40 minutes to running fine in one day.

You wound it, problem solved, I suspect nothing wrong with your watch.

You might be right. I think this is the first time that I use this watch for this long. Before, I used to leave a watch on Friday and put on a new one on Monday morning. Then I would give it a full wind.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

Sounds like you have your answer. Even though these are automatic watches the level activity needs to be sufficient to keep it wound correctly. Someone working in offices may likely not be active enough in the scheme of things.
Also, it is a very good habit to wing the watch every few weeks or so. That is what the crown is there for, it won't do the watch any harm.

I wouldn't be surprised if your watch actually wound down and stopped and you didn't notice and whenever you noticed it, the watch was running since you had it on. A watch with a problem doesn't go from -40 minutes to running fine in one day.

You wound it, problem solved, I suspect nothing wrong with your watch.

x2..

[Naz737]

I'm hoping it's a fluke and an activity/wind problem. Seems tooooo odd for it to be fine and then catastrophically moving slow... Perhaps try to replicate the problem but wind daily over coffee for a week and see what happens.

My crown is sticky at times on my 16610 and I just have to coax it a bit before it pops to the desired position...

If you're sending it back then I doubt you'll have any problems once it's returned!

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by Naz737

I'm hoping it's a fluke and an activity/wind problem. Seems tooooo odd for it to be fine and then catastrophically moving slow... Perhaps try to replicate the problem but wind daily over coffee for a week and see what happens.

My crown is sticky at times on my 16610 and I just have to coax it a bit before it pops to the desired position...

If you're sending it back then I doubt you'll have any problems once it's returned!

So far it's keeping accurate time. It is in "quarantine" on my wrist. It has to gain my confidence back.

[MCO1]

Most of mine get worn in rotation and I don't put them on a winder so generally wind and set them when ready to wear so I don't pay much attention to accuracy. When I wore one daily I would always give it a full wind once a week for good measure, my wife does that and it helps hers.

Your other concern about the crown not wanted to pull all the way out and then pushing it back in and waiting. I had that very problem with my blue sub, annoyed me greatly. The only thing I could do was wind it up if it was stopped and wait for awhile for the hands to move and then it would come all the way out. Never did know why it did it, one of the reasons I moved it on, mechanical quirks drive me nuts.

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by MCO1

Most of mine get worn in rotation and I don't put them on a winder so generally wind and set them when ready to wear so I don't pay much attention to accuracy. When I wore one daily I would always give it a full wind once a week for good measure, my wife does that and it helps hers.

Your other concern about the crown not wanted to pull all the way out and then pushing it back in and waiting. I had that very problem with my blue sub, annoyed me greatly. The only thing I could do was wind it up if it was stopped and wait for awhile for the hands to move and then it would come all the way out. Never did know why it did it, one of the reasons I moved it on, mechanical quirks drive me nuts.

I will start doing this whenever I keep wearing a watch longer than a week. I know what you mean with driving nuts over this crown problem. Honestly I never had a problem with my Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean.

[RichM]

I see Texas. Anywhere near Dallas? I'd let them take a look at it.

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by Rich Mickol

I see Texas. Anywhere near Dallas? I'd let them take a look at it.

Richie, I'm in Houston but my business is in Mexico... I'll be back in Houston this Saturday...

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by tkerrmd

some people are under the misconception that wearing a watch daily will keep it fully wound
I just learned this yesterday... You're right Dr. Tom
it doesn't and they occasionally need a full wind

I will do it every other week from now on!

Originally Posted by AK797

If after a full wind it is off then you have a problem.

Hopefully not but I will find out soon!

Originally Posted by sutats

I wear mine daily and it keeps time to the second daily. It's a great watch and performs beautifully.

Your experience with the crown jam and and time loss may be related as the watch will stop when in time setting mode. So perhaps the crown slipped in and out of that mode which resulted in lost time that eventually added up noticeably.

It'd be a good idea to have Rolex inspect while it's still under warranty.

I am going to Cancun next month for my birthday and I will have them to inspect it, just to be sure there isn't a problem with the watch

Originally Posted by oklaiss

The power reserve probably wound down over time. Try giving your watch a full wind at least once a week and as long as you're wearing it every day I doubt you'll experience any more problems.

I will start doing this... if this is the case then it took 1.5 months to deplete

Originally Posted by JRT

I have worn my BLNR daily (almost 24 hours a day) for more than 14 months. Amazingly, it keeps in a vey accurate range between -1 and +1 second. I am really satisfied with its performance.

Just like mine until yesterday

Originally Posted by lig

I just received new BLNR last week. It is losing about a minute a day.

Not really concerned - just annoyed.

A minute a day is too much, you should take it to the AD have it checked.

Originally Posted by watchwatcher

I would keep an eye on it and see how it does after the full manual wind. If it is still behaving badly, I would have someone take a look at it.

[MCO1]

Originally Posted by Alexwwjd

I will start doing this whenever I keep wearing a watch longer than a week. I know what you mean with driving nuts over this crown problem. Honestly I never had a problem with my Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean.

I have never had a another Rolex do it, just the bluesy.

[tkerrmd]

some people are under the misconception that wearing a watch daily will keep it fully wound

it doesn't and they occasionally need a full wind

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by tkerrmd

some people are under the misconception that wearing a watch daily will keep it fully wound

it doesn't and they occasionally need a full wind

X 2

[AK797]

If after a full wind it is off then you have a problem.

[sutats]

I wear mine daily and it keeps time to the second daily. It's a great watch and performs beautifully.

Your experience with the crown jam and and time loss may be related as the watch will stop when in time setting mode. So perhaps the crown slipped in and out of that mode which resulted in lost time that eventually added up noticeably.

It'd be a good idea to have Rolex inspect while it's still under warranty.

[trackntrail]

The power reserve probably wound down over time. Try giving your watch a full wind at least once a week and as long as you're wearing it every day I doubt you'll experience any more problems.

[JRT]

I have worn my BLNR daily (almost 24 hours a day) for more than 14 months. Amazingly, it keeps in a vey accurate range between -1 and +1 second. I am really satisfied with its performance.