A "serious problem" with non-complicated Rolexes

[Lumberjact]

Hi all,

About 2 months ago I bought my first Rolex: an Exp 214270. I love it - it is elegant, simple and subtle. For the first while it was running about 3.5 seconds a day fast, measured over a number of weeks, so I decided to bring it back to see if it could be regulated. It being my first chronometer, I figured it could be a bit more accurate (even though it was well within tolerances).

I got it back a week ago, and it hasn't missed a beat since then. (I might add that its absence was the longest week of my life!) Of course, I now have a bit of a problem. Without a need to correct the 3-4 seconds a day, I have no business unscrewing the crown and making adjustments. Since I have no date function, I don't have the ends of the short months to look forward to to skip ahead to the start of the new month. No rotating bezel, no chrono, no GMT. There are only so many times I can extend and reduce the bracelet with the easy link! In fact, assuming I don't leave my timezone or let it idle to a stop, the only justifiable excuse I will have to adjust this watch and unscrew the crown in the foreseeable future will be to put it an hour back to GMT/Winter Time in October!

In short, this watch is too damn good!

[up2nogood]

Sounds to me like you need another. Perhaps a nice GMT for those more sporty occasions?

[capote]

Get a GMT2/Exp2. Then you don't have to stop the watch ever, even
when its summer time

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Lumberjact

Hi all,

About 2 months ago I bought my first Rolex: an Exp 214270. I love it - it is elegant, simple and subtle. For the first while it was running about 3.5 seconds a day fast, measured over a number of weeks, so I decided to bring it back to see if it could be regulated. It being my first chronometer, I figured it could be a bit more accurate (even though it was well within tolerances).

I got it back a week ago, and it hasn't missed a beat since then. (I might add that its absence was the longest week of my life!) Of course, I now have a bit of a problem. Without a need to correct the 3-4 seconds a day, I have no business unscrewing the crown and making adjustments. Since I have no date function, I don't have the ends of the short months to look forward to to skip ahead to the start of the new month. No rotating bezel, no chrono, no GMT. There are only so many times I can extend and reduce the bracelet with the easy link! In fact, assuming I don't leave my timezone or let it idle to a stop, the only justifiable excuse I will have to adjust this watch and unscrew the crown in the foreseeable future will be to put it an hour back to GMT/Winter Time in October!

In short, this watch is too damn good!

So a mechanical watch that was showing 99.997% accuracy was not good enough for you.What are you going to do next time your watch is gaining about 3 seconds out of the 86400 in a day.And even if you reset your watch say once a week it would have been less than 30 seconds fast.I am sure your life is not run to the exact second if it is well then I feel sincerely sorry for you.And unscrewing the crown will not hurt your watch in any way.Thousands perhaps millions of Rolex and other manual wind watches with screw down crowns get would every day for decades without problems.And things like crown tubes and crowns are normal serviceable items and often get changes as part of service.

[McLovin]

OP, I'd recommend a Daytona so you'll have something to fiddle with. Glad you're happy with the Expl. -- that's a great one.

[HRV]

what a serious problem to have

[karmatp]

Even if I wear my watch every day, and I am active, I still give my watches a full wind once a week.

[azguy]

Originally Posted by karmatp

Even if I wear my watch every day, and I am active, I still give my watches a full wind once a week.

me too

[floater156]

LOL, I know the feeling. My watch runs 3 sec. fast a day and i'm a little embarassed to admit that I look forward to resetting the time, because I get to fiddle with the watch a bit. :)

[Dan Pierce]

Not sure I could live without a bezel to fiddle with. Too many useful functions to miss out on.
dP

[Lumberjact]

Originally Posted by padi56

So a mechanical watch that was showing 99.997% accuracy was not good enough for you.What are you going to do next time your watch is gaining about 3 seconds out of the 86400 in a day.And even if you reset your watch say once a week it would have been less than 30 seconds fast.I am sure your life is not run to the exact second if it is well then I feel sincerely sorry for you.And unscrewing the crown will not hurt your watch in any way.Thousands perhaps millions of Rolex and other manual wind watches with screw down crowns get would every day for decades without problems.And things like crown tubes and crowns are normal serviceable items and often get changes as part of service.

I was actually being tongue-in-cheek. I was claiming in jest that I now have no reason to do what I love - fiddle with my watch, open it, close it, wind it etc.

Have a nice weekend.

[Lumberjact]

Originally Posted by McLovin

OP, I'd recommend a Daytona so you'll have something to fiddle with.

Liking the advice. Not sure how that would go with the Finance Committee though. The first one only made it through because of the excellent business case I presented about the huge savings in batteries by going mechanical!

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Lumberjact

Liking the advice. Not sure how that would go with the Finance Committee though. The first one only made it through because of the excellent business case I presented about the huge savings in batteries by going mechanical!

You know, a camel is a horse designed by a committee. If I listened to my committee I'd have no fun at all!

[Megalobyte]

Is there a problem even better than 1st world problems?

I actually know what you mean. My Sub C is so perfect, not much room for obsessing. :)

[MoBe]

Be carefull what you wish for,it might be a Rolex.

[Boothroyd]

You need what is shown is below to complement your 214270....(no, not an Audi or a sailboat).

[rodrob59]

Wear something else for a few days until it runs down. That's why I have the USNO Master Clock set as a favorite. What is our TRF clock set by?

[franklin]

Originally Posted by karmatp

Even if I wear my watch every day, and I am active, I still give my watches a full wind once a week.

Why?

[franklin]

What is the reason for winding an automatic rolex? What purpose would it serve?

[~JJ]

I agree, I'm so glad I picked the exp i

Enjoy and let's see a wrist shot

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Lumberjact

I was actually being tongue-in-cheek. I was claiming in jest that I now have no reason to do what I love - fiddle with my watch, open it, close it, wind it etc.

Have a nice weekend.

I thought it was a funny post!

Buy a G Shock! You can spend hours fiddling with some of those just to figure out how to set the time and date; and you'd never even have to take the Explorer off of your arm!

[GradyPhilpott]

Every automatic could use about forty winds every week to ten days, just to keep it running at peak accuracy, so there's hope.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Lumberjact

I was actually being tongue-in-cheek. I was claiming in jest that I now have no reason to do what I love - fiddle with my watch, open it, close it, wind it etc.

Have a nice weekend.

I saw what you did.

Peter is not like me, he likes to be exact - but he was way out with this calculation.

The correct accuracy is 99.996527777777%..recurring?

[Incorrigible]

Explorer 2

[Hairdude1]

GMTIIC or EXII next!!! Go for it!

[Joey_V]

All hope is not lost my friend... it's time for a GMTIIC!!!

[Roley]

LOL!...Great Watch.

[Brenngun]

You consider this a serious problem?? Frankly you have a more pressing issue. You need to decide between a GMT, Sub or Chrono for you next purchase ....

[Megalobyte]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

Every automatic could use about forty winds every week to ten days, just to keep it running at peak accuracy, so there's hope.

I have to respectfully disagree. Im not saying don't manually wind occasionally, it's probably good for the watch just to keep the parts oiled and "limber" :), but every time I went to give my Sub C a manual wind, I was surprised that it was virtually always just about fully wound, it would only take a turn or 2 before I felt the clutch mechanism. Any winding beyond that point I have to believe will start to affect the functioning of the clutch over time, as the crucial amount of grease between the spring and barrel gets used and displaced.

The ONLY time I can give it more than 1-2 winds is after it's been on my night table for 6-7 hours overnight. Even then I only get about 7-10 winds before the spring starts slipping in the barrel. And the watch gets a full 47-50 hours of power from a full wind, so no PR issues.

[TSW]

Originally Posted by padi56

So a mechanical watch that was showing 99.997% accuracy was not good enough for you.What are you going to do next time your watch is gaining about 3 seconds out of the 86400 in a day.And even if you reset your watch say once a week it would have been less than 30 seconds fast.I am sure your life is not run to the exact second if it is well then I feel sincerely sorry for you.And unscrewing the crown will not hurt your watch in any way.Thousands perhaps millions of Rolex and other manual wind watches with screw down crowns get would every day for decades without problems.And things like crown tubes and crowns are normal serviceable items and often get changes as part of service.

Exactly