Cost of spares?

[pyromaniac2112]

A thought occurred to me today. I have seen people purchasing new bezels, and straps and I wondered...

...would it be possible to build your own watch, from brand new Rolex replacement parts, and how much would it cost?

Does anybody have any idea if you can buy say, a spare (new) case complete from Rolex and a movement complete??


Just a thought.......

[Whiskey]

Unless you know a watchmaker who has a Rolex parts account. Building your own Rolex watch would be very difficult.

Most times, Rolex Service will repair and replace parts on a watch on a "exchange" basis.

So, if you need a new bezel, you have to surrender the old bezel.

This is to prevent people from taking back the used parts and installing them on fake Rolex's.

[watchmaker]

The case middle, case back, dial, mainplate on the movement are some of the parts that Rolex will only exchange. Any authoried watchmaker with a parts account 'should' be returning these parts to Rolex for credit, indeed as pointed out to keep them away from fakes.

Frankly, the only thing stopping Rolex from not supplying parts AT ALL to watchmakers is the fact their service centres cannot handle all the repairs themselves.

At present, there are 80% less watchmakers than are required to replace those that retire each year. Even the new - retiring ratio was equal, there is still a massive deficit of qualified watchmakers.

This has advantages and disadvantages. There is plenty of work, but sadly it is becoming harder for people to train.

[postiff]

Originally Posted by watchmaker

The case middle, case back, dial, mainplate on the movement are some of the parts that Rolex will only exchange. Any authoried watchmaker with a parts account 'should' be returning these parts to Rolex for credit, indeed as pointed out to keep them away from fakes.

Frankly, the only thing stopping Rolex from not supplying parts AT ALL to watchmakers is the fact their service centres cannot handle all the repairs themselves.

At present, there are 80% less watchmakers than are required to replace those that retire each year. Even the new - retiring ratio was equal, there is still a massive deficit of qualified watchmakers.

This has advantages and disadvantages. There is plenty of work, but sadly it is becoming harder for people to train.

Well that would answer one of my questions from my new thread.