Rolex Sea Dweller '666' pitted case

[T1MWV]

Hi all,

Im new to the Rolex Forum site, so hello to you all.

I am the proud owner of a 1983/84 Rolex Sea Dweller 16660. Ill try and keep this as brief as I can without waffling on. I have had a scratch on the glass for a long time and decided to have it replaced, with it being a Sea Dweller i couldn't use my local Rolex Specialist as Rolex wont provide the glass and it has to be done by them so had to bite the bullet and send it to them for the service which was fine, knowing it would come back like a new watch.

After a few weeks I was contacted advising that there was a problem with the clasp (news to me), the face was slightly tarnished and the helium release valve needed replacing. This was going to cost £1280 including the service and the glass. Which after a lot of deliberation, I decided to go ahead with. Some 2 weeks later they then came back reporting a problem with the case, saying that it had corrosion inside where the glass met the case and that it needed a new case at an additional cost of £3035!!!

At this point I had to hang up and take a few deep breaths and try to get my head round this!! Rolex pride themselves on the quality of their workmanship and materials used so I cant understand how high grade stainless steel could corrode?? They pointed out that it was due to poor maintenance as it hadn't been back to Rolex for servicing since 1994. However I have had it serviced through my local Rolex specialist where they have never picked up on any problems. When they service it (last time Feb 2011) they pressure tested the watch to Sub depth of 656 feet and it passed with flying colours.

Rolex advised me that they could service the watch but it wouldn't even be shower proof, scare tactics I'd say! I spoke to a few people that have been in the industry and they have never heard of anything like it.

However I tried claiming on my insurance which the watch was itemised on and it has since been knocked back due to Rolex's report they kindly provided them, as they just put it down to lack of maintenance!! Fuming isnt the word!

Whilst this claim was been investigated my watch came back fully serviced with a yellow label saying it was dust proof and not waterproof. They seemed to want to get it off their hands pretty quickly by the looks of things! They are quoting 6 months turn around at present and mine came back in no more than two and a half months!!

I have had it pressure tested again and it has passed the Sub Mariner 656' test again so a bit more than dust proof I'd say.

Any advice from you guys would be much appreciated.

If you got this far, thanks for taking the time for reading this.

Tim