Rolex Service Centers Tales: What's Yours?

[Taffi Abernathy]

Many members over time have posted tales of their respective experiences with RSCs. What's yours? Did you have a good or even great experience whereby one of the staff went above and beyond standard treatment? Conversely, do you have a tale of disappointment? Were you left angry at the way in which you and/or your watch were treated? Please discuss your unique experience and let us know which service center was associated with your tale.

[Gaijin]

I had a great experience at the one in Japan. I wrote it up before. Excellent excellent experience. Prompt, professional, courteuous and great work on my Zenith Daytona.

[The GMT Kid]

The Dallas RSC did a beautiful job on my GMT II. After nine years of constant use, it came back looking brand new and the accuracy went from +3 to +1.

[Taffi Abernathy]

I don't know whose thread came first, this one or the one inquiring about the best RSC? I was basically asking the same question while additionally requesting members post their experiences to substantiate why they feel as they do. If any mod wanted to combine these two threads I don't have a problem with that.

[PhilK]

When I sent my Datejust in for a service via my UK AD (I am guessing the DJ was sent to the RSC at Bexley, Kent), I was disappointed on its return. Whilst a number of scratches had been polished out, the angled "brushed" effect on each of the lugs was far to heavy and also seemed to form a "ring" around the bezel (as if it had been polished in situ). I refused to accept the watch back and it was sent away again. On its return it was better (albeit the brushed effect was not as matt as on a new watch). I have seen this recently on a friend's Sub Date. He sent the watch in for a service via a London AD and, several weeks later got it back. He was very pleased with the way it had cleaned up. However, comparing his SD to my own SD (14 months old), his bracelet was much shinier (ie the brushed matt effect was not as good as the original). Have others had this experience? Is it difficult for an RSC to get the brushed matt effect as good as the factory original?

[Latrodectus]

My AD Merkley Kendrick Jewelers sent my GMT II to Dallas. It was back after 7 weeks and first I thought it was not mine...they did an excellent job on everything and my watch truly looked new!

[Evergreen]

I had a service with RSC of Bev. Hills. I hear this service dept. is no longer open. They did the usual movement service with crown and tube replacement. They did an exceptional job on removing dings from the case, and refinishing the bracelet to like new condition. They removed the sticker from the caseback which I found odd. aprox 4 weeks. Watch has been keeping great time since.

[Skullring]

I sent in my SD a few months ago to the Dallas RSC and it came back in great shape it is 25 years old and looks like new. It runs spot on if I am wearing it and if I take it off at night and leave it face up it will gain a second or two. Very pleased with the service from Dallas RSC.

[azone5]

My GMT Master II just came back from NY RSC. I had worn it daily for 17 years without a full service. It came back looking brand new; almost didn't recognize it.

[Singslinger]

The RSC in Singapore is a great place to visit - friendly, polite staff who do their best to accomodate customers' requests. You can even watch the repiarmen at work because the partition between the waiting area and the workshop is made entirely of glass.

My most recent experience was when I took my Milgauss GV in to have the bracelet resized to fit my wrist. The RSC lady recognised me from previous visits, was courteous and bothered to go back and forth between the waiting area and the workshop several times until I got the fit I wanted. All in, it took only 15 minutes.

[walds11]

I had a terrible experience with the NY RSC a few years ago. Sent a watch in for warranty work. It came back with slight scratches on the caseback. F'in butchers! Had to send it back again to have it rectified. What a pain in the a**. Absolutely no QC!!! Next time, I will use another RSC for warranty work and a local guy for general services.

[Flyjet601]

Outstanding service and they have done a great job on all my pieces. Only drawback is they usually dont let you talk to the tech who works on your watch.....

[T5AUS]

I posted the following post on here back in March 08.

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MARCH 2008
I was in Sydney last week working and thought I would take my vintage 16750 GMT in to the Rolex service centre there for a service since it gains about a couple of minutes a week. I dropped it in on Monday for a quote telling the charming young lass in reception that I only wanted the movement cleaned and regulated and did not want the hands, dial or bezel replacing. I went back on Tuesday to see what they thought and was given a written quote which came to a staggering 1,314.50 Au.!!
They had totally ignored my request about me wanting to keep the original hands, dial and bezel and insisted that if I went ahead with the service it would only be done if the hands and bezel were replaced but I did have the option to keep the original dial although they didn't recommend it, which would save me $341.00 Au. and thus bring the price down to a mere $973.00 for the service. They insisted that the hands had cracked lume and that it could drop out during service, perhaps it could, but I was happy to take that risk. To me the bezel is fine, I can replace that myself when I locate a good original one of the period.
Needless to say, I declined to leave it for a service and was glad to be on my way with my baby back on my wrist.
(but wait, there is more)
The following morning in my hotel I noticed my watch hands were out of sync.!, (see pic) when the hour hand was on the hour, the minute hand was down at the half hour mark, not on the hour, ahhhh, what had happened.
I took it straight back to the service centre to see what they thought might have happened, all very odd. The service guy who actually did the quote said via the receptionist that it was nothing to do with him, all they do when doing a quote is to take the back off just to see the movement. I could not believe it, it was just too much of a coincidence, my watch had been working perfectly up to this point then straight after the quote it's wrong, very strange. I asked to speak with the technician, I needed to hear it from his mouth, and that's exactly what he told me, it could not have happened here.
By this time, we were all getting a bit excited so it was decided to send for the boss!! A nice enough lad, he explained to me exactly as the other guy had, no way it could have happened here, they don't touch the hands when quoting, just take the back off to examine it, you must have bumped it. So that was that, what could I say. He said as a show of good faith he would sort the hands out for me for $50.00 which I agreed to, accepting that I must have bumped it, cant possibly imagine what I did to cause them to jump out of sync. guess it WAS just a coincidence, it certainly left an odd feeling in my gut for my first ever visit to a Rolex service department though. I finally received my watch back the next day, hands all back as they should be and it's still going fine.
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced their GMT hands jumping out of sync, how common a problem is this?
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Photo below is my watch as it was returned to me on that fateful day, note where the hour and minute hands are
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Now, a year and a half later, it has never "jumped" or "bumped" out of sync. and I still wonder what really happened in that Rolex service centre on that stomach churning day.

Just briefly, as a complete contrast in professional service, I took a Tudor sub of mine into Rolex Melbourne to have a new bracelet fitted and was treated very well, the whole job being done while I waited in a cordial, friendly atmosphere

[taipan168]

I was annoyed at RSC Hong Kong for replacing the original dial and hands on my 1970 5500 Air-King without asking me first. I took it in for a service, and at that time being a n00b to vintage Rolexes, didn't ask them not to touch the dial and hands which had nothing wrong with them (at least as far as I could tell).

When I returned to collect it, they showed me the watch which clearly had the dial and hands replaced. I asked for the originals back but they told me it was too late, that they had already been shipped back to Switzerland so I was stuck with the dial and hands that were now on the watch. Oh, and they charged me US$500 for the privilege :(

Guess it was my own fault for not telling them not to touch the dial and hands, so I guess that's the price of inexperience.

[Taffi Abernathy]

I try not to editorialize, but sometimes Rolex makes it difficult to not do so. One of my main objections which I have expressed in a prior post, is that we, namely Rolex owners, are a captive lot and here's why. Let's say you purchase a brand new watch but decide after the fact you want the gold bezel replaced with a diamond one, and spend considerable money for this modification. What is likely to occur when you need your watch serviced? One course of action is that you will be informed by Rolex that you have modified their watch, rendering their warranty null and void. Yet another (infuriating possibility) is that your watch will be serviced, and Rolex will take it upon itself to replace your current bezel - for which you may have spent thousands of dollars - and replace it with one of their gold ones. Moreover, after you are charged for a new gold bezel, Rolex will confiscate the diamond bezel, and it will not be returned to you! As far as I am concerned, this is legalized robbery. After all, if I want to alter my watch after having spent thousands on acquiring it, it should be my business if I add a different bezel. What I think would be fair and reasonable is for Rolex to have the right to refuse to service it, but should they choose to do so, they ought not confiscate my property!!! What do you think?

[sea-dweller]

RSC San Francisco - good experiences.

(The former) RSC Los Angeles - good experiences, somewhat snobby though.

RSC Hong Kong - polite, but inflexible in terms of policies, etc