Provenance and Rolex Watches

[Foxer55]

Provenance and Rolex Watches

I have seen many comments from posters here on these fora about their Rolexes and the related papers, records, service, use, and the watch value. It all really boils down to a discussion of something known as “provenance.” From this link, “The primary purpose of tracing the provenance of an object or entity is normally to provide contextual and circumstantial evidence for its original production or discovery, by establishing, as far as practicable, its later history, especially the sequences of its formal ownership, custody, and places of storage.” Now I’m not an expert on the minutiae of provenance but I understand the concept very well.

Whether you intend to keep your Rolex throughout eternity or if you’re going to “flip” it in the short term you need to understand how to keep its value – so that your bank account can keep its value. If you’re buying a previously owned Rolex, you still need to know about keeping its value as high as possible to save yourself from economic loss with this prized commodity. You’ll also need to know how and why the watch has value as well as to be able to establish beyond a doubt its validity.

How do we do this? Well, you want to have an accessible record, primarily a paper record of the watch’s history that is proof of legitimacy and history. This could include boxes, wrappers, sales receipts, seller’s appraisals, calibration data, certification papers, repair records, photographs of the watch in use, news and media articles, and anything else that would attest to the watch’s origins and uses throughout its life. Of course, we have the serial number on the watch to help. There is a caution here, however, as some individuals will go to great lengths to make something seem what it isn’t so you need to carefully assess the documents and data that is given as authentic.

I know Rolex now provides cards with all the watch data digitized on them rather than paper receipts and records. Keep that card safe as it has all the OEM data stored on it and you may need to access that data someday. My 1965 GMT and all its papers were bundled together including the calibration and certification data when I bought so this isn’t a problem for me. My latest Rolex was delivered with a data card but the dealer also gave me a written, signed, certified appraisal as well. Make sure you get an appraisal if you buy from a dealer and keep that card! Most dealers will gladly provide a free appraisal for a new Rolex.

When you buy a previously owned watch you should ask for the papers. If they aren’t available you should investigate a little further to see why not and to assure yourself you are making a wise transaction. If you acquire the watch and they are not available it would be a good idea to pay a fee for an appraisal or even send it to Rolex for service which will give you certifiable, traceable records by default in the future. A watch without a known history may not have been well taken care of and you can reverse that trend as soon as you own it by having it serviced and documented. Either an appraisal or a Rolex service will become part of the history of the watch’s life or its provenance.

Provenance is very, very important to serious collectors, museums, auction houses, and even amateur watch buyers and collectors like you and me. Serious collectors, museums, institutions, and buyers will pay top dollar for something that has strong, irrefutable provenance. As an example, you might have a Submariner that was sold to you as Steve McQueen’s personal watch. Can you prove that? You may think the watch is worth a lot more than the average Submariner because you believe it belonged to a famous celebrity but how are you going to defend that position? Do you have any records like the sales receipt, the buyer’s signature, the exact place of sale? Suppose someone else refutes your claim by providing just those documents with a Submariner watch they own? Your watch then has a value far less than you thought or even paid for it. Your watch has no provenance and your bank account has no increase. Indeed, it might even decrease.

Let’s try another hypothetical case. Let’s say you acquired an early Rolex that is believed to have been given to General Whoever by his parents when he graduated from West Point in 1939 and there are papers that accompany the piece. The sales receipt is lost but the watch has a serial number, and manufacturing data that identifies it as having been made in 1939. The watch also has some deep gouges in the case and it is known that the General was injured by shrapnel from mortar fire during the Battle of Wherever. You have photographs of the general wearing a Rolex just like the one you have. Just a few more examples of authenticity will make it possible for you to demonstrate conclusively this watch belonged to General Whoever. This Rolex would be highly desired by a museum or military historian making it considerably more in value than the ordinary model of the same watch because it has provenance. Imagine a museum putting this watch on display with the explanation that it is the personal watch that General Whoever (then Major) was wearing at the Battle of Wherever and that the gouges in the case were from actual mortar fire during the assault. That’s a pretty cool history lesson brought to life by provenance.

What we need to know about provenance is it enhances the value of a Rolex. It enhances the value of many fine things such as guns, jewelry, cars, musical instruments, and even ordinary objects so it’s important to understand the concept. If you keep a history of your Rolex or a Rolex you have acquired along with a history of the care you’ve given it you may realize an additional 10%-20% in its value at some future date. Maybe more if it belonged to a celebrity. Such a percentage of a $10,000 or $20,000 transaction amounts to no small number indeed. Not only do you enhance your equity in a Rolex by your stewardship you enhance mine and everyone else’s. You enhance the potential future opportunity of the buyer you sell a watch to because he builds provenance on your provenance. And he helps the next guy by maintaining the provenance. In that way the Rolex marque continues to have universal value which benefits all of us.

Don’t get the idea I’m suggesting you baby your Rolex. No, indeed, these watches are bulletproof and are made to work. They don’t need subtle treatment in the boardroom or girlie treatment in the cocktail lounge. They’re robust as the dickens. My GMT below is almost 50 years old and has been worn every day since purchase. It’s been in airplane engines, car engines, in the laboratory, hammered away on my wrist while I pounded away on a coupling somewhere, scratched, scraped, drowned, and heated and cooled. It’s been covered in oil, grease, dirt, and chemicals. It gets soap, water, and a scrub right along with me in the shower every day. It goes to Rolex for an overhaul and comes back looking like it does in the picture. Never a problem. And I have provenance. I have the original sales receipt in longhand, time and place; I have the original calibration papers with the technician’s signature. I have the tags, the box, and all the repair records. I’ve been offered trades and deals but, No Sir! This is my Rolex.

If you build the provenance for your Rolex, keep all the documents and records, take care of it well, you might help your great-great-great grandson become a very rich man 100 years from now when he sells it to the Smithsonian Museum.