Misaligned hands New in warranty GMT

[bofon13]

As stated above, the hands of my brand new GMT are not aligned properly. The hour hand is a little advanced. When all the hands are at 12, the hour hand is a little ahead.

Can this be solved as a warranty claim?

And, i am planning a trip to London in a month (in my region there are no Rolex retailers), and i was wondering if this is a easy fix and can be done on spot somewhere in London so i wont have to wait a few weeks for the watch to come back?

Thanks for any advice!

[MovieGuy]

Should be fixed under warranty with no problems. I'd suggest an actual Rolex service center do the work.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by bofon13

As stated above, the hands of my brand new GMT are not aligned properly. The hour hand is a little advanced. When all the hands are at 12, the hour hand is a little ahead.

Can this be solved as a warranty claim?

And, i am planning a trip to London in a month (in my region there are no Rolex retailers), and i was wondering if this is a easy fix and can be done on spot somewhere in London so i wont have to wait a few weeks for the watch to come back?

Thanks for any advice!

By how much is it advanced there has to be a tiny bit of slack in the hand stack to function.Please post a picture of how much its advanced have you tried setting hands back and throe.If its a large amount say more than a cats whisker say over 1-2mm perhaps the hands just need resetting on the drive shaft.Then afraid its a trip to the RSC or AD who has a inhouse watchmaker if you send to the RSC expect to be with out your watch 4 weeks plus.

[bofon13]

When the minute hand is 3 minutes before 12, the hour hand is just right, at 12. I will post a picture later. I tried and tried, and there is no play, this is the way the hands are. :)

[ecsub44]

I'd be curious to see a pic.

It's possible that is within tolerance...but it sounds like it could be a bit off. There are a lot of things that need to align...dial, markers, hands, etc...so it's hard to know the exact issue without a photo.

[Rolex Richie]

Rolex Service Centre is not in London, but in Kent which is about a 45 minute train trip from London. If you do come to London and want to get a train to West Malling, i will take you to the Service Centre.
There is a Watch Maker technician on the front desk who is very helpful if your watch is within warranty.

[Chris B]

Originally Posted by Rolex Richie

Rolex Service Centre is not in London, but in Kent which is about a 45 minute train trip from London. If you do come to London and want to get a train to West Malling, i will take you to the Service Centre.
There is a Watch Maker technician on the front desk who is very helpful if your watch is within warranty.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Chris B

There is a RSC at St James Sq London city.

Originally Posted by gpfps

That would drive me crazy. I want the hands to line up perfectly on my watches. I even set the second so when it's at 12 the minute hand is line up at the right minute mark. Send in to rolex it's under warranty. This poor QC to let this watch pass through !

Well if it was just a fraction of a mm on a watches hands was the only thing I had to worry about I would be a very very happy man.You say poor quality control not always so don't forget Rolex produce now 800000 plus watch units a year. And don't forget Rolex quoted once it takes 12 months to make a Rolex oyster so perhaps the odd one with such a very very tiny deviation could slip through. Doubt if its possible to check all the possible alignment points on every modern day Rolex its such a huge volume of watches.

[Byrdguy]

I had a GMTllC and it was exactly like that. The green hand wouldn't line up perfectly until the minute hand had gone 2-3 minutes past the hour. Drove me nuts. I think that some are like that and some aren't. most people would never notice since the 24 hour hand moves so slowly.

[T. Ferguson]

I'm not even going to check mine. After reading this thread for sure I'll see something wrong that isn't even there. I read breaks on straight in putts too.

[unclesallie]

pictures??

[bofon13]

[Ck8]

Originally Posted by bofon13

My GMT IIc was the same when I purchased it, but unlike yours the hour hand lined up when the minute hand was 2 minutes past the hour. I sent it back to RSC London and they said there was nothing wrong with it which astonished me. Then I sent it back and they sent it off back to Geneva where they said they adjusted it. It is now still out and I just left it at that as every time I returned the watch it came back with some scratches. Also the time keeping is very precise so I will wait till it get serviced.

My opinion is there should be no excuse from Rolex that they make 800000 watches a year some will slip through QC. The price they charge I would expect every watch to be perfect in the setting.

[cop414]

Originally Posted by Ck8

My GMT IIc was the same when I purchased it, but unlike yours the hour hand lined up when the minute hand was 2 minutes past the hour. I sent it back to RSC London and they said there was nothing wrong with it which astonished me. Then I sent it back and they sent it off back to Geneva where they said they adjusted it. It is now still out and I just left it at that as every time I returned the watch it came back with some scratches. Also the time keeping is very precise so I will wait till it get serviced.

My opinion is there should be no excuse from Rolex that they make 800000 watches a year some will slip through QC. The price they charge I would expect every watch to be perfect in the setting.

Sent to Geneva and it comes back scratched, that's unacceptable in my opinion.

To the OP-
Yes, the misaligment is slight but I can see it. It would bother me too. As someone posted above take the time at your AD if that's where you are making the purchase to throughly check things out. (I know, hindsight is always 20/20.) I took a pair of magnified reading glasses when I laid mine away and took a good 10 -15 minutes looking everything over. I had them bring it out again on one of the days I went to make a payment to do the same thing again.
I wanted everything to look good to me before I made my final payment.
I know it's going to take lots of knocks in the following years but they should be "memories" made by me and not a QC problem from day one. I then committed what many WIS's consider to be an "asking for trouble" action and took out a loupe when I got it home and all was absolutely perfect.

What about having a independent repair person to fix it once it's out of warranty?
I hate to see - hear of things like this.

[bofon13]

I should have made better pictures but i hope that is clear that in the first picture the hour hand is not on the middle, but when the minute hand is 3 minutes bfore 12, the hour hand is perfect. The GMT hand is properly aligned.

Thank you Rolex Richie, and thank you all.

PS - in real life the misalignment is more clear.

[versatile1]

Originally Posted by bofon13

I should have made better pictures but i hope that is clear that in the first picture the hour hand is not on the middle, but when the minute hand is 3 minutes bfore 12, the hour hand is perfect. The GMT hand is properly aligned.

Thank you Rolex Richie, and thank you all.

PS - in real life the misalignment is more clear.

I see it.
Pretty clear, it would drive me nuts too

[padi56]

Originally Posted by bofon13

I should have made better pictures but i hope that is clear that in the first picture the hour hand is not on the middle, but when the minute hand is 3 minutes bfore 12, the hour hand is perfect. The GMT hand is properly aligned.

Thank you Rolex Richie, and thank you all.

PS - in real life the misalignment is more clear.

We are only talking about a fraction of a mm or a cats whisker here,myself would leave it till normal routine service time .And it would most certainly not even worry me in the slightest, and with these old eyes I had to look quite hard at the 6 O'clock marker to even see it even when picture is magnified.

[bofon13]

I dont wear it because of that, my SUB i get a perfectly allignet hands, including seconds hand (this is tricky) and on Daytona it works perfectly, all 6 hands of it. :)

Indeed, the right word is drives me crazy. :)

So, i dont think i can wait a few years until service time, and i can't wear it like this (takes a little bit of the joy out. So... what should i do?

[SeaDweller50]

It's just a case of advancing the minute hand by 3 minutes. Any watchmaker worth his salt could fix that no problem.

[Rolex Richie]

I've got to admit, it wouldn't bother me at all, but we are all different and have different concerns.
The chap at the service centre is really good. He has helped me a couple of times.

[kilyung]

I'd leave it for the next service

[crowncollection]

it would not worry me, but any decent watchmaker can reset the hands

[Bangel]

My sub also has the same issue, though not nearly as obvious as yours. I'm guessing mine might be 1-2 minutes out.

I'm planning to leave it for service time as I don't want to be without my watch and it doesn't bother me too much.

[allen993]

Doesn't really matter if it bothers anybody else...if it bothers you...especially to the point where you don't wear it...then you should get it fixed now.

[stockjock1975]

It takes a lot to bother me as it relates to watches. Scratches.....no problem! Fingerprints on the crystal......no problem! Etc...etc... Misaligned hands.....with THAT i have a big problem. Personally I would send it in to have it corrected post haste.

As stated in a prior post, I guess we all have our own unique breaking points. Good luck with it!

[ecsub44]

Wow. I'm surprised (well, maybe not really) at how many folks would get that fixed.

If it bothers you, by all means, get it fixed. But I barely even notice it with the magnified side-by-side shots.

[kerytch]

it's just a slight misalignment. if you cant live with it, i suggest you go to the nearest RSC and have it fixed. it wont be a problem

[TARDIS]

Shouldn't happen on a Rolex. Not at that price.

[bofon13]

Update: - I spoke on the phone with Rolex UK, in Kent, and they said they need...





...wait for it...






.... wait for it....






... SIX WEEKS for fixing this!

[DJ16234]

Originally Posted by bofon13

... SIX WEEKS for fixing this!

6 weeks???? what will they do... Make new set of hands or what??
So sad I hear this. Its an easy fix. I would not let them take my watch for 6 weeks, maybe 60 minutes, so they dont need to rush.

Open watch, take out mechanisem with dial, take all 4 hands down, set watch to 24.00 hours (so date is set on midnight) put back on all 4 hands, mechanisem back in the case, pressure test one more time and voila.


I think I would faster do that job, than I was writing this post.