Explorer II date change

[gregvisser]

90% of questions in this forum fall in the 'is it normal.....' or 'is it safe to.....' boxes.

I am going to stay true to form and go for an 'is it normal post'. My Sub C has a crisp date switch-over at somewhere between 12 and 12:01. My Explorer II has some difficulty. Is it normal for it to do only a half a date change and then at some later time get the job done? So at 12:01 the date shifts so that neither today or tomorrow is fully visible. I haven't sat up watching it, but when I wake up the next morning, it is all good.

It isn't affecting the functionality at all and I don't care about it too much, but if it is symptomatic of something else, I'd rather get it in for a look over before the warranty runs out.

Thoughts?

Greg

[improviz]

My GMT IIc had this problem when new: it would "stick" between new and old dates, finally turning over to the new date around 1:30-2:00 AM. One guy recommended cycling through all of the dates of the month, but this didn't fix it...however, while doing so, I noticed that it was only sticking on certain dates, so when I got to a date that stuck, I tried going back and forth across midnight several times, and lo and behold, the date got un-stuck and started changing promptly at 12:00.

So what fixed it for me was to do that for all sticking dates: with crown in position 2 (hour hand only moves), cycle to a "sticking" date, go back and forth past midnight until it gets unstuck, advance to next "sticking" date, repeat. Had to do it more than once for a few dates, but since then it's been fine. I posted about it and others were able to repeat my success, so give it a shot, takes 15 min. or so, much faster turnaround than shipping it off!

[gregvisser]

This watch is 12 months old, so should be broken in by now, but your advice makes a lot of sense and I will give it a go.

Cheers
Greg

[joe100]

Cycle it and if that doesn't help it might need a quick service

[gregvisser]

Cycled through the month and found 5 sticky dates. The rest were nice and crisp. Then proceeded to move the date back and forth across the sticky ones. After a few changes they too became nice and crisp. Stepped through the month again and still had one sticky date left. Cycled that a few more times and it too became crisp. Stepped through the month again and everything is as it should be. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes from now on, but seems like it is heaps better.

Thanks!
Greg

[lland]

Last night, the date on mine (216750) switched "crisply" from 31 to 1, but not until about 12:10. Is this normal (as of today, I've had the watch for one month, but not a lot of wrist time).

LL

[SPACE-DWELLER]

The exact same thing happened with the newly bought GMT IIc of a friend of mine... the trick of cycling the date wheel through a month did seem to solve the problem.

[xhype]

mine change at 12

[improviz]

Originally Posted by gregvisser

Cycled through the month and found 5 sticky dates. The rest were nice and crisp. Then proceeded to move the date back and forth across the sticky ones. After a few changes they too became nice and crisp. Stepped through the month again and still had one sticky date left. Cycled that a few more times and it too became crisp. Stepped through the month again and everything is as it should be. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes from now on, but seems like it is heaps better.

Thanks!
Greg

You're most welcome, glad I could be of some help!

[mjclark32]

Originally Posted by gregvisser

Cycled through the month and found 5 sticky dates. The rest were nice and crisp. Then proceeded to move the date back and forth across the sticky ones. After a few changes they too became nice and crisp. Stepped through the month again and still had one sticky date left. Cycled that a few more times and it too became crisp. Stepped through the month again and everything is as it should be. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes from now on, but seems like it is heaps better.

Thanks!
Greg

Hope it's solved

[77T]

Originally Posted by gregvisser

Cycled through the month and found 5 sticky dates. The rest were nice and crisp. Then proceeded to move the date back and forth across the sticky ones. After a few changes they too became nice and crisp. Stepped through the month again and still had one sticky date left. Cycled that a few more times and it too became crisp. Stepped through the month again and everything is as it should be. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes from now on, but seems like it is heaps better.

Thanks!
Greg

Some bit of lube or metal filings or both is on the backside of your date wheel. It's a symptom that something is slightly amiss. How it got there is maybe worth learning during a routine service - when did it have last overhaul?

[Bulldurham08]

My date changes around 12:06-07 every night : ( Why won't you change around midnight ?!?!

[improviz]

Originally Posted by 77T

Some bit of lube or metal filings or both is on the backside of your date wheel. It's a symptom that something is slightly amiss. How it got there is maybe worth learning during a routine service - when did it have last overhaul?

My GMTIIc was doing this from the day I got it, brand spanking new, until I hit on the back-and-forth cycling on the sticking dates fix. Padi was saying something about a tad bit too much oil somewhere causing it, I forget where though...anyway, I've had it for a bit over a year and a half now and it's been fine since.

[Lagunatic]

My date changes at 12:04AM

[77T]

Originally Posted by improviz

My GMTIIc was doing this from the day I got it, brand spanking new, until I hit on the back-and-forth cycling on the sticking dates fix. Padi was saying something about a tad bit too much oil somewhere causing it, I forget where though...anyway, I've had it for a bit over a year and a half now and it's been fine since.

Understand...it happens in new ones as well as older ones. Totally a personal choice on waiting until its first service.

[Bangel]

It happened to my sub c several months ago. I used the crown to complete the date change on that occasion. It has never happened again since.

[gregvisser]

Originally Posted by 77T

when did it have last overhaul?

The watch is 1 year old. No need for an overhaul yet. Lets see how she goes....

Greg

[alan515]

My Exp2 16579 V series also has this "sticky" date change, it is neither today or tmr after 12:00, and will only complete the date change around 2pm(14:00). Not all dates are affected , some do change around 12:10. I tried the suggeted method, some of the dates still "sticky'. And i am not sure by turning the hours hands to check all the 31 dates, will it damage the mechanism ?

[Cutterjack]

All of these "date" watches are beautiful and I'm not criticizing anyone else's choice...but it's issues like this that help reinforce my decision to go with a standard Submariner without the date wheel.

[gpfps]

A while ago my DD had the same problem lucky enough it was still under warranty from a service. Rolex fixed it saying the two disks needed just a touch of lube between the day of the week and date discs .

[improviz]

Originally Posted by alan515

My Exp2 16579 V series also has this "sticky" date change, it is neither today or tmr after 12:00, and will only complete the date change around 2pm(14:00). Not all dates are affected , some do change around 12:10. I tried the suggeted method, some of the dates still "sticky'. And i am not sure by turning the hours hands to check all the 31 dates, will it damage the mechanism ?

On mine it took several cycles through the entire range of dates, each time stopping whenever a "sticky date" and repeating the back-and-forth across midnight until the sticking stops, repeat with every "sticky date" and recycle across all dates and repeat until it stops.

I think it took maybe two or three times through, with a fewer number of "sticky dates" each time. Maybe 10-15 minutes total, time well spent. It probably just cycles the lubricant to the needed spots, at least that's what I hope it's doing!

Seems like Rolex has a real QA issue in this area, they should get this fixed at the factory. Non-WIS types aren't going to be reading these forums, and will NOT be happy about their new multi-thousand dollar GMT/EXP date sticking...and it's not a new issue, been arould for quite some time!

[mrlongisland]

Gregvisser -

Thanks for sharing and I hope that the solutions described above alleviate your problem.

On my Sub C, my issue is not one of "stickiness" but rather tardiness. The last time I checked, the date window on my timepiece changed at 12:07:40-ish. When the date window changes, it happens quickly, but it happens late after midnight. Other than servicing (because my timepiece is less than a year old), what can be done to fix this?

P