ROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEX

jmiicustomz · 2 April 2015, 11:59 AM

Not that anyone has or would notice but I have taken some as of late away from the forum(like a month.) I have been spending my time and money on my first passion and the one that pays my bills. Now that I have completed my research on my new equipment and what to buy I will probably spend a touch more time. Nonetheless the reason for this post as I digress. In installing my new equipment in my shop I was not overly careful and was wearing a watch (don't panic it wasn't a true high end piece as I don't own any.) I ended up bumping my Marathon GSAR around a good bit and figured it might be wise to consider a regulation as it has always been dead on loosing about 2 seconds a week and now is more like 5. I know it's not a huge deal and still quite accurate but I work in numbers and it's loss has more than doubled. I decided a gamy better judgment to stop in the local shop if you can call it that. The guy advertises to be a watchmaker and states on his advertising that he can work on all brands and that he repairs, buys, sells and trades, luxury watches. I stopped in and said hi. I was greeted warmly and decided to ask a few questions as he told me to feel free to if I had any. I asked what all he worked on and who he had factory parts accounts with. He stated to me that he didn't see the need to set up parts accounts as all the watches made in the last 60 to 80 yrs are pretty much the same and that the swatch group owns them all anyway so it's the same stuff with different names. I stated that as I understood it Rolex was not owned by swatch and nor was seiko or Patek etc. He informed me I was in error and explained that luxury watch customers are a pain and always expect too much. That he could do without them and just stick to normal people. Now normally I might shrug it off and forget about it but this day I had been turning headspace gages on my new lathe and was dirty driving my old Nissan pickup and wearing Carharts and a ratty Polo. I figured I looked pretty normal for a guy in a small mountain town in western NC. I politely bid him a nice day and left as he muttered something under his breath. At this point I am struggling not to send the guy a thick packet of info from swatch, LVMH, Rolex, Patek, Seiko, etc. Stating who owns what and how, but I don't know that it would do any good. The point to the story is be careful and ask questions. If someone doesn't care enough to answer your questions or the answers don't feel right for ANY reason walk away. I have since done a bit more asking around and this guy openly services cheap knock offs as well as one friend was told that the knock offs are commonly more accurate and better watches, that true luxury watches are just a name with the same parts as any other.

themaninblack · 2 April 2015, 02:00 PM

We'll, you come across these cynics and know it all codgers from time to time. I was looking at some straps in a watchmakers once, I was wearing a Tudor snowflake and the guy looks at my watch and says, "why would you want to spend $100 on a strap for a $200 watch?"

c41006 · 2 April 2015, 02:24 PM

Wow, its amazing that he claims to be a watchmaker while shoveling that junk.

mjm800 · 2 April 2015, 02:52 PM

This is not uncommon. There is a shop near me that claims to be able to fully service a Rolex. Yet they do not have a parts account, they cannot pressure test and I've seen after market parts on watches they claim are 100% original.

I was going to buy a Sub from them but I wasn't sure all the parts were legit. I wanted to take a photo and they told me I could not take a photo. They said I insulted them by wanting to verify the watch. I said trust but verify. I told them I did not know enough about movements and wanted to show a friend and get his input. They again said no...so I left.

Furbo · 2 April 2015, 02:58 PM

Good call, that guy would probably just ruin your watch.

kitsuna · 2 April 2015, 03:10 PM

The guy sounds like a jerk and you rightly took your business elsewhere but I'd like to raise a few points:

As far as repairing/or servicing a fake, so what? The counterfeiters have already done the damage, therefore as long as the repairer and customer know it isn't genuine, and don't try to pass it off as one or combine it with genuine parts so as to deceive a potential buyer later, I don't see a problem. Independent watchmakers are rarer every year and I don't blame them for servicing what gets brought in.

Regarding Rolex parts: I don't know what the state of play is in your country, but in mine, Rolex doesn't provide parts to independent watchmakers and try to keep everything within their AD service network. I can understand them not wanting to let random people buy their parts and then do a bad job with it, thus tarnishing rolex's reputation, or perhaps even collecting parts to aid counterfeiting. Those are genuine, valid concerns but at the same time it makes it very difficult for an independent watchmaker to help a Rolex owner. I also am cynical enough to believe that by controlling parts distribution like that it allows Rolex to command servicing prices that would not be sustainable in a properly competitive market. In my own city I have an independent watchmaker who I know and trust to do the right thing, and does get genuine Rolex parts from a grey market source, and his service professionalism is excellent and he doesn't charge what Rolex does.

I suppose that's what it comes down to; trust.

jmiicustomz · 2 April 2015, 08:25 PM

Sure the damage is done when the fake is made but every fake that comes through my shop that I can get my hands on turns into target practice. As for parts accounts, the very nice gentleman who services my rolex (our very own RWT) doesn't have a direct line on parts but has friends whom he can use that do. I have no issue with that. If this guy were to state something similar I would have been fine with that answer, but to say that they are owned by swatch and thus used the same parts threw me.

kitsuna · 2 April 2015, 08:51 PM

Oh yeah his product knowledge is non-existent by the sound of it. No disagreement here on that point.

powerfunk · 2 April 2015, 09:23 PM

Glad you didn't get it serviced there. You really are regulating it for less than one second per day off, though?

jmiicustomz · 3 April 2015, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerfunk

Glad you didn't get it serviced there. You really are regulating it for less than one second per day off, though?

Not if I have to send it off but if the guy had a clue and I could drop it off and pick it up in a few days sure I would.

2 April 2015, 11:59 AM	#1
jmiicustomz "TRF" Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Real Name: John Location: North Carolina Watch: 1953 pre explorer Posts: 2,758	An experience to share Not that anyone has or would notice but I have taken some as of late away from the forum(like a month.) I have been spending my time and money on my first passion and the one that pays my bills. Now that I have completed my research on my new equipment and what to buy I will probably spend a touch more time. Nonetheless the reason for this post as I digress. In installing my new equipment in my shop I was not overly careful and was wearing a watch (don't panic it wasn't a true high end piece as I don't own any.) I ended up bumping my Marathon GSAR around a good bit and figured it might be wise to consider a regulation as it has always been dead on loosing about 2 seconds a week and now is more like 5. I know it's not a huge deal and still quite accurate but I work in numbers and it's loss has more than doubled. I decided a gamy better judgment to stop in the local shop if you can call it that. The guy advertises to be a watchmaker and states on his advertising that he can work on all brands and that he repairs, buys, sells and trades, luxury watches. I stopped in and said hi. I was greeted warmly and decided to ask a few questions as he told me to feel free to if I had any. I asked what all he worked on and who he had factory parts accounts with. He stated to me that he didn't see the need to set up parts accounts as all the watches made in the last 60 to 80 yrs are pretty much the same and that the swatch group owns them all anyway so it's the same stuff with different names. I stated that as I understood it Rolex was not owned by swatch and nor was seiko or Patek etc. He informed me I was in error and explained that luxury watch customers are a pain and always expect too much. That he could do without them and just stick to normal people. Now normally I might shrug it off and forget about it but this day I had been turning headspace gages on my new lathe and was dirty driving my old Nissan pickup and wearing Carharts and a ratty Polo. I figured I looked pretty normal for a guy in a small mountain town in western NC. I politely bid him a nice day and left as he muttered something under his breath. At this point I am struggling not to send the guy a thick packet of info from swatch, LVMH, Rolex, Patek, Seiko, etc. Stating who owns what and how, but I don't know that it would do any good. The point to the story is be careful and ask questions. If someone doesn't care enough to answer your questions or the answers don't feel right for ANY reason walk away. I have since done a bit more asking around and this guy openly services cheap knock offs as well as one friend was told that the knock offs are commonly more accurate and better watches, that true luxury watches are just a name with the same parts as any other.

2 April 2015, 02:52 PM	#4
mjm800 "TRF" Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: USA Posts: 1,950	This is not uncommon. There is a shop near me that claims to be able to fully service a Rolex. Yet they do not have a parts account, they cannot pressure test and I've seen after market parts on watches they claim are 100% original. I was going to buy a Sub from them but I wasn't sure all the parts were legit. I wanted to take a photo and they told me I could not take a photo. They said I insulted them by wanting to verify the watch. I said trust but verify. I told them I did not know enough about movements and wanted to show a friend and get his input. They again said no...so I left. __________________

2 April 2015, 02:00 PM	#2
themaninblack "TRF" Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Australia Posts: 1,058	We'll, you come across these cynics and know it all codgers from time to time. I was looking at some straps in a watchmakers once, I was wearing a Tudor snowflake and the guy looks at my watch and says, "why would you want to spend $100 on a strap for a $200 watch?"

2 April 2015, 02:24 PM	#3
c41006 "TRF" Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Real Name: Joshua Location: Atlanta Watch: Pelagos Posts: 7,933	Wow, its amazing that he claims to be a watchmaker while shoveling that junk.

2 April 2015, 02:58 PM	#5
Furbo "TRF" Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Slovenia, EU Watch: BLNR Posts: 1,507	Good call, that guy would probably just ruin your watch.

2 April 2015, 03:10 PM	#6
kitsuna "TRF" Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Australia Posts: 17	The guy sounds like a jerk and you rightly took your business elsewhere but I'd like to raise a few points: As far as repairing/or servicing a fake, so what? The counterfeiters have already done the damage, therefore as long as the repairer and customer know it isn't genuine, and don't try to pass it off as one or combine it with genuine parts so as to deceive a potential buyer later, I don't see a problem. Independent watchmakers are rarer every year and I don't blame them for servicing what gets brought in. Regarding Rolex parts: I don't know what the state of play is in your country, but in mine, Rolex doesn't provide parts to independent watchmakers and try to keep everything within their AD service network. I can understand them not wanting to let random people buy their parts and then do a bad job with it, thus tarnishing rolex's reputation, or perhaps even collecting parts to aid counterfeiting. Those are genuine, valid concerns but at the same time it makes it very difficult for an independent watchmaker to help a Rolex owner. I also am cynical enough to believe that by controlling parts distribution like that it allows Rolex to command servicing prices that would not be sustainable in a properly competitive market. In my own city I have an independent watchmaker who I know and trust to do the right thing, and does get genuine Rolex parts from a grey market source, and his service professionalism is excellent and he doesn't charge what Rolex does. I suppose that's what it comes down to; trust.

2 April 2015, 08:25 PM	#7
jmiicustomz "TRF" Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Real Name: John Location: North Carolina Watch: 1953 pre explorer Posts: 2,758	Sure the damage is done when the fake is made but every fake that comes through my shop that I can get my hands on turns into target practice. As for parts accounts, the very nice gentleman who services my rolex (our very own RWT) doesn't have a direct line on parts but has friends whom he can use that do. I have no issue with that. If this guy were to state something similar I would have been fine with that answer, but to say that they are owned by swatch and thus used the same parts threw me.

2 April 2015, 08:51 PM	#8
kitsuna "TRF" Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Australia Posts: 17	Oh yeah his product knowledge is non-existent by the sound of it. No disagreement here on that point.

2 April 2015, 09:23 PM	#9
powerfunk "TRF" Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Real Name: Rob Location: Boston, MA Watch: 1530 Posts: 3,799	Glad you didn't get it serviced there. You really are regulating it for less than one second per day off, though?

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