Explorer Not Working after Knock on Counter

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by SirHillary

I was wearing my 14270 (~1991) when I knocked it on the edge of my kitchen's quartz countertop. I didn't think it was particularly hard, but my wife joked: "way to go, you ruined your watch." To my surprise/devastation, my watch was no longer running when I looked down. I tried to wind it, but was faced with immediate resistance, so did not try to wind it further. And now I hear and feel something loose in the case (a large object, maybe the rotor?).

The watch is insured, and I'm going to take it to a repair shop tomorrow to get an estimate, but I'm just dying inside a little bit and also wondering how a watch of this quality just completely broke after one knock. I bought the watch preowned from a reputable dealer less than a month ago (authenticity guaranty, inspected and serviced) - it has been working great since I got it, but now I'm wondering if there was some sort of defect.

Has this happened to anyone else and, if so, what was the result?

Welcome to the world of mechanical watch ownership
As my Grand father used to say. "There's no experience like the experience you pay for".

As others have wisely counciled.
A trip to a Rolex service centre or a highly respected independent watchmaker such as LA Watchworks(that has a Rolex parts account) will be in order to remedy your troubles and it takes as long as it takes.
Besides, you have to pop your cherry at some point and there's no better occassion like you now have especially as you have no service history with the watch.

As an example.
I have recently sent one of mine in for a movement service to our only RSC and it took about 2 weeks for a quote to come back with an unexpected surprise contained within it which I hadn't anticipated at all as the watch basically seemed just fine, except for a slightly notchy feeling when manually winding that was intermittent. Timekeeping was great as well
I think it was caught in the nick of time
The expected turn around without polishing is potentially 12-14 weeks according to a verbal estimate from my contact at the Rolex dealer who i went through.
Then again i have it in print from someone higher up that it will probably take considerably longer. Then again, that person originally assessed the watch upon casual inspection as probably not really needing a service
Take from that what you will, but I'm inclined to go with my direct contact on this one

Many things can go wrong with these little machines and the numbers can add up unexpectedly.
There's a fairly recent post over at the watchmaking sub-forum which can bare witness to the scope of work that may be encountered on a 33 year old watch.
Vanessa had outlined a number of years ago how she goes about a standard service.
It's worth just checking that sub-forum out in order to familiarise yourself as to how these things can go