ROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEX
7 October 2010, 09:16 PM | #1 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 20
|
Does Rolex make its own movements?
Does Rolex manufacture its own movements? Or does someone else build to their specs? Is there anything special about their movements? I mean there are other high quality accurate watches available. What sets Rolex apart? Is it just the style? Or is there more on the inside?
|
7 October 2010, 09:21 PM | #2 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: --
Posts: 2,097
|
They make their own movement. It's nothing special, just your average chronometer movement. You'd find better finishing and attention to details elsewhere.
The good thing about their movements however is that they're built to last, and will outlive you even if you don't take the best care of it. |
7 October 2010, 09:30 PM | #3 |
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Hollywood
Posts: 198
|
why the two red colored gears (wheels)? IS that just a Rolex trademark/tradition kind of thing?
|
7 October 2010, 09:31 PM | #4 |
Banned
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Maryland
Posts: 6,268
|
Now that Rolex manufactures there own Hairsprings its safe to say the entire movement is in house. Yes, the movement although simple is proven to be accurate and built to last many lifetimes.
|
7 October 2010, 09:35 PM | #5 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Real Name: Chris
Location: England
Posts: 8,150
|
|
7 October 2010, 09:43 PM | #6 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Real Name: Chris
Location: England
Posts: 8,150
|
Quote:
However, ETA will be stopping this practice in the near future, selling only finished movements instead. You'll notice that a lot of brands are beginning to produce in-house movements, such as the Breitling B-01, for example. I believe it's going to take quite some time for rival brands to build up the necessary infrastructure to produce their own movements on the same kind of scale as Rolex, and even longer to reach the same levels of reliability and after sales care that Rolex provides. Omega, for example, might have a more high-tech movement (in the form of the cal. 8500) than Rolex's equivalent (cal. 3135), but in my experience, it has been having some quite notable teething issues. The previous generation movement (cal. 2500) went through 3 iterations (A, B and C specs) before they resolved all the reliability issues. Rolex, on the other hand, has been using the cal. 3135 for about 20 years now, albeit with a few tweaks here and there, most recently to the hairspring and shock absorbers. However, it is very accurate, one of the most rugged and reliable movements money can buy, and very easy to service. Parts availability in the future will also be excellent, so as such, it is very hard to beat a Rolex movement. Yes, it might not be as pretty as some other movements, but as a workhorse, you can't get much better |
|
7 October 2010, 09:45 PM | #7 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Real Name: Norman
Location: Jakarta
Watch: All of 'em..
Posts: 2,926
|
Yes they make their own movements. Nothing like grande complications such as minute repeaters or annual callenders or perpetuals and that sorts. But robust reliable and accurate movement.
__________________
My collections.. Plus PAM 233, 232, 249 & PAM 417. |
7 October 2010, 09:47 PM | #8 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: USA
Watch: ♛
Posts: 4,408
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
7 October 2010, 10:14 PM | #9 | |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Dorset, UK
Watch: Rolex DateJust
Posts: 273
|
Quote:
Can you, or anyone else, tell me a bit more about the Caliber 2235 which is in my new 31mm DateJust (178240) please? Thank you! Wen |
|
7 October 2010, 10:18 PM | #10 | |
"TRF" Life Patron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Real Name: Peter
Location: Llanfairpwllgwyng
Watch: ing you.
Posts: 53,062
|
Quote:
So Hans of Rolex being a very clever and shrewd man, took a sideways move and fitted their new Oyster cases with a movement from FHF (Fontmelon)factory just down the road from Gruen and then tried to find a US distributor. They came across the firm of Abercrombie and Fitch,this was then a store specialising in sportsman's' equipment; whether you wanted to go shooting in Africa, fishing for salmon or trout around the world, Abercrombie and Fitch was the place you went for all your sporting equipment. Everything from fishing rods to double barrelled shotguns could be found under their roof. As the sportsman's store they seemed the ideal place to sell the first oyster watches, which were already building a reputation as the sportsman's watch. It may have seemed the ideal place but it did not work out that way, firstly because Rolex sold the cheaper down-market version of their watches in a high end store, and also because Abercrombie & Fitch did not advertise the watch sufficiently. Now these Abercrombie & Fitch watches are probably the rarest of all the cushion case oysters, in all my life I have only ever seen one; it was signed "Abercrombie and Fitch (Seafarer) on the dial and the case and movement were signed Oyster Watch Company.The case was quite badly pitted because then they were made from a base metal, a chromed zinc material that did not last very long,a bit like the relationship between Rolex and Abercrombie & Fitch.Now they went on to become the USA main distributor for the Swiss Heuer watches, probably more of a sportsman's watch to speak of, being mainly chronograph watches. After a couple of years in the wildiness Rolex decided to give the USA market another try. This was after they had been approached by Zell Brothers, a jewellery store chain in the Pacific North West of the USA, headquartered in Seattle. Zell had seen the great success of Rolex in Canada, and in Vancouver in particular (Seattle and Vancouver are only about 150km apart). They asked to be made the exclusive importer for Rolex in the Pacific North West, and Rolex eager to get a US foot hold accepted their proposal. The strange thing is that, despite the Canadian success either Zell or Rolex decided not to use the famed "Oyster" name but substituted the name Turtle Timer, (IMHO undoubtedly Zell) Once again these were non-Aegler (non-Rolex) movements, so as not to disturb the three way relationship with Gruen. Zell were much more successful than Abercrombie/Fitch had been, but can hardly be described as having made a major market breakthrough. I have seen around 5 or 6 pictures of these watches and because they were made when Rolex was using real stainless steel the cases looked to have lasted much better than the A&F ones ever did. But Zells had two major problems as far as Rolex were concerned; firstly they were a regional not national chain and their insistence on using their own Turtle Timer name and not Oyster meant that Rolex would never reap the benefit of any of the new oyster case success.Now in these early days of Rolex only about 1 in 5 had the name Rolex on the Dial,the rest were blank dials when they left the factory.But after the arrival of the oyster case most of the oyster cased ones did have the name Rolex on the dial.But most Rolex movemnts were made by Aegler and even today a member of the Aegler family still runs the movement side of todays Rolex company movement factory with some of the finest long lasting movements made today. .
__________________
ICom Pro3 All posts are my own opinion and my opinion only. "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you actually own the time, Place no faith in time, for the clock may soon be still for ever." Good Judgement comes from experience,experience comes from Bad Judgement,.Buy quality, cry once; buy cheap, cry again and again. www.mc0yad.club Second in command CEO and left handed watch winder |
|
7 October 2010, 10:19 PM | #11 |
Banned
Join Date: Sep 2010
Real Name: Jinder
Location: Ontario
Watch: 116713
Posts: 601
|
Good reading!
|
7 October 2010, 10:21 PM | #12 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Real Name: Chris
Location: England
Posts: 8,150
|
Quote:
There's not a massive amount of detail out there about it, but I would recommend reading this article - goes into quite some detail about the mechanics of the movement. The other nugget of information that I can remember about the cal. 2235 is that it has the highest first time pass rate of any movement undertaking COSC testing Hope that helps Chris |
|
7 October 2010, 10:23 PM | #13 |
"TRF" Life Patron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Real Name: Peter
Location: Llanfairpwllgwyng
Watch: ing you.
Posts: 53,062
|
Well in proportion to the movements sent for testing at the Swiss CO SC the cal 2235 has one of the highest first time pass rates.And for a considered small movement its got a very good record for accuracy, and IMHO its one of Rolex finest movements to date.
__________________
ICom Pro3 All posts are my own opinion and my opinion only. "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you actually own the time, Place no faith in time, for the clock may soon be still for ever." Good Judgement comes from experience,experience comes from Bad Judgement,.Buy quality, cry once; buy cheap, cry again and again. www.mc0yad.club Second in command CEO and left handed watch winder |
7 October 2010, 10:31 PM | #14 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 20
|
Thanks to all. Lots of good information
|
7 October 2010, 10:42 PM | #15 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Real Name: Myron
Location: New York
Watch: GMT IIC; Sub Date
Posts: 3,166
|
Quote:
|
|
7 October 2010, 10:46 PM | #16 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Boston
Posts: 3,177
|
Agreed, and simple is the name of the game - for example, the new Daytona movement, the Rolex 4130, uses far fewer parts than comparable chrono movements.
|
7 October 2010, 11:11 PM | #17 | |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 20
|
Quote:
|
|
7 October 2010, 11:46 PM | #18 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Peterborough, ON
Watch: your mouth.
Posts: 1,023
|
Quote:
|
|
7 October 2010, 11:56 PM | #19 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Peterborough, ON
Watch: your mouth.
Posts: 1,023
|
ETA is the main movement manufacturer for the Swatch Group and for many other non-related watch manfacturers. They have been in business for many decades, and most of their movements have been in production long enough that they have been refined to the point of excellent performance and reliability. For the most part, they are good workhorses, not designed to be pretty like AP, FP, GP, VC, Patek or other horology houses' movements, but some companies decorate them to dress them up. I would consider their design to be form-follows-function, far from ugly. The 2834 is available in several levels of build refinement to improve accuracy and consistency. It is capable of COSC performance in the upper levels of construction.
|
8 October 2010, 12:16 AM | #20 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Real Name: Chris
Location: England
Posts: 8,150
|
Quote:
|
|
8 October 2010, 12:20 AM | #21 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: May 2009
Real Name: steve
Location: dallas area
Watch: 50's TT t-bird
Posts: 3,689
|
Eta
Quote:
My biggest concern is that I don't know what grade of movement is in my ETA-movement watches. ETA makes several grades of some of their more common movements. In the case of some of the higher grade watches, the watch maker has upgraded the ETA movement. Because I bought ETA-movement watches from decent watch companies, I feel secure but don't actually know what I've got. Rolex is always Rolex, and that's pretty comforting. |
|
8 October 2010, 03:21 AM | #22 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 20
|
I made a typo- I actually have a ETA 2834-2 movement
|
8 October 2010, 03:59 AM | #23 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Real Name: Jonathan
Location: Ottawa
Watch: 116610LN
Posts: 1,246
|
This has been a very interesting thread. Thanks all.
|
8 October 2010, 04:43 AM | #24 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: cambridgeshire
Posts: 14
|
excellent read, thank you
|
8 October 2010, 04:52 AM | #25 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: London
Posts: 675
|
|
8 October 2010, 04:58 AM | #26 | |
Banned
Join Date: May 2010
Real Name: James
Location: UK
Watch: Tissot
Posts: 1,454
|
I believe the ETA 2892-A2 is considered a broad match for the Rolex movements.
Quote:
|
|
8 October 2010, 06:06 AM | #27 | |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Real Name: Jason
Location: USA
Watch: Rolex/Tudor Divers
Posts: 7,973
|
Quote:
For Instance, I have a Doxa GMT that has an ETA 2893-2 movement. When I first bought it, the watch was deadly accurate with being less than one second off per day. It stayed like this for about 1 year. I have never dropped it, bumped it, and am always careful when wearing it. Now that the watch is 3 years old, it is +5 sec/day. I am sure that I could probably have it regulated, but it still keeps decent time. I also have one that has an ETA 2824-2 movement. It needed a service after just 3 years. I realize that these are only 2 instances, but all of my Rolex watches keep within COSC time, and several are 8-10 years old without a service. These are less expensive watches, and I wouldn't say that the ETA movements really compare to the Rolex movements much at all. Just my 2c
__________________
Best Regards, Jason Just Say "NO" to Polishing Card-Carrying Member of the Global Association of Retro-Grouch Curmudgeons LIfe is too short to wear inexpensive watches PLEXI IS SEXY |
|
8 October 2010, 06:59 AM | #28 |
Banned
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: texas
Posts: 10
|
There was a magazine article speaking of the Rolex movement factory, located in Bienne, founded in 1878.
|
8 October 2010, 07:45 AM | #29 |
2024 SubLV41 Pledge Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Real Name: Bob
Location: U.S.A.
Watch: 1655
Posts: 64,248
|
Rolex built..............takes a licking & keeps on ticking!
__________________
Founder & Card Carrying Member of the Global Association of Retro-Grouch-Curmudgeons |
8 October 2010, 07:48 AM | #30 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Real Name: john
Location: Scotland
Watch: sub 16610Lv
Posts: 13,523
|
a very interesting topic. thank you all.
__________________
"AFTER DARK" BAR AND NIGHT CLUB GM. |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | |
|
|
*Banners
Of The Month*
This space is provided to horological resources.