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Old 17 February 2020, 02:41 AM   #1
FinWatch
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What is happening with Rolex quality???

There are plenty of differenet videos about poor quality of Rolex watches:
Dust on the hour markers (Hafiz J Mehmood, Datejust 41), rattling noice, loose bezel and terrible painting in GMT Master II BLNR 126710 (Clockbait); just a few to mention.
And just recently Rolex decided to increase the prices quite a lot...
What is happening? Even though Rolex-watches are mass produced, we are talking avout watches which are very expensive.
Is it all about greed; Rolex is relying their strong brand name and don’t give a #%*^ anymore? People are still buying their watches, so it doesn’t matter if the quality is poor?
Has it always been like this with the quality?


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Old 17 February 2020, 02:56 AM   #2
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I'm not sure that a dozen or so examples on YouTube makes a pattern. Complaints make for good click bait. Don't fall for it.

How many of your watches have had issues? You've had quite a few.
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Old 17 February 2020, 02:58 AM   #3
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Don't you know it's a mass produced watch and only nitpicky people with OCD care about such things. Throw away the loupe or buy a Grand Seiko.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:01 AM   #4
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This is more a YouTube trend focusing on these topics than it is an actual issue with Rolex. Don't fall into the category of sheeple believing this stuff.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:01 AM   #5
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Don't you know it's a mass produced watch and only nitpicky people with OCD care about such things. Throw away the loupe or buy a Grand Seiko.
Even if you’re joking this comment is pretty spot on. Most buyers of rolexes do not noticed this stuff.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:01 AM   #6
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I think Rolex quality is very good. I suspect a very small percentage of their watches have any issues. With mechanical devices some will not work right or have something off. Amazing the job Rolex does to keep that number so small.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:17 AM   #7
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Can we be sure those watches shown as having quality control issues real not fake watches?
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:22 AM   #8
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They produce about one million watches per year.
What do you expect?
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:27 AM   #9
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First of all, I doubt you believe everything you see on the internet.

Secondly, even if all of them complaint videos were trustworthy, how many of those videos do you see on the net? Compare that number to the the number of Rolex watches in circulation globally, you get the idea.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:28 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FinWatch View Post
There are plenty of differenet videos about poor quality of Rolex watches:
Dust on the hour markers (Hafiz J Mehmood, Datejust 41), rattling noice, loose bezel and terrible painting in GMT Master II BLNR 126710 (Clockbait); just a few to mention.
And just recently Rolex decided to increase the prices quite a lot...
What is happening? Even though Rolex-watches are mass produced, we are talking avout watches which are very expensive.
Is it all about greed; Rolex is relying their strong brand name and don’t give a #%*^ anymore? People are still buying their watches, so it doesn’t matter if the quality is poor?
Has it always been like this with the quality?


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In the real world quality is still excellent considering the amount of Rolex watches made each year.Whats changed mainly is many of today's Rolex owners with loupe mania,alignment point syndrome and the many other Rolex syndromes of today's age.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:28 AM   #11
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Don't you know it's a mass produced watch and only nitpicky people with OCD care about such things. Throw away the loupe or buy a Grand Seiko.


OCD comment = funny

Grand Seiko comment = spot on

I live in an area where GSs are very rare. Very fun to walk into the Rolex AD and have them grab a loop and see everyone “oohing” and “aahing”about it.

There are lots of high quality watches out there.


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Old 17 February 2020, 03:29 AM   #12
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Consider: for the one watch with a reported/posted issue, thousands of pieces ship trouble free.

Pretty decent track record IMO.

***I have no data to support my remark but if quality really is widespread & deteriorating there would be 100's of complaints.

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Old 17 February 2020, 03:47 AM   #13
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It's the same quality...just the price increase makes people more OCD about these details.
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Old 17 February 2020, 03:52 AM   #14
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How do you know if the watches are bad quality? If you dont even know that their design spec is.

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Old 17 February 2020, 03:56 AM   #15
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Round up to a million units produced per year for the sake of the maths.

Assume for the sake of argument that 0.1% have “unacceptable” defects then that’s a thousand watches every year for people on YT and forums to bitch about.

What of the remaining 99.9%?

I think it’s highly unlikely Rolex quality is decreasing (though it’s possible). Rather, they’re selling more watches and people have ever larger numbers of platforms on which to moan publicly about anything and everything.
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:02 AM   #16
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If it was all about greed then how do you reconcile the company’s expansion of warranty coverage from two years to five years in mid-2015?
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:03 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by FinWatch View Post
There are plenty of differenet videos about poor quality of Rolex watches:
Dust on the hour markers (Hafiz J Mehmood, Datejust 41), rattling noice, loose bezel and terrible painting in GMT Master II BLNR 126710 (Clockbait); just a few to mention.
And just recently Rolex decided to increase the prices quite a lot...
What is happening? Even though Rolex-watches are mass produced, we are talking avout watches which are very expensive.
Is it all about greed; Rolex is relying their strong brand name and don’t give a #%*^ anymore? People are still buying their watches, so it doesn’t matter if the quality is poor?
Has it always been like this with the quality?


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I know that video mate. However I am not sure if they are telling the truth or not.

However, sure there are imperfections at some Rolexes but not at all of them. My current SUB C doesnt have those problems at all.

I believe that RSC and AD servicing are causing problems to Rolexes with lots of unnecessary servicing ( high air pressure tests which break glasses then replacing glasses unnecessarily, attempting to change the glass gaskets, unnecessary polishing and so on) which really ruin the watch.
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:06 AM   #18
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Quality issues happen with any manufactured product, other brands included: Patek, AP etc., accept it.

IMO, it’s more important how these companies respond to the issue
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:21 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy63 View Post
Don't you know it's a mass produced watch and only nitpicky people with OCD care about such things. Throw away the loupe or buy a Grand Seiko.





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Old 17 February 2020, 04:22 AM   #20
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I bought two submariners new from my AD within a period of about 5 months and both of them had badly misaligned rehauts. One had a misaligned bezel, and the other had misaligned dial text. Ended up getting rid of them both, I couldn’t get over it even though I tried. My black bay 58 had better quality control than the more than twice as expensive sub. Both subs did run excellent though, no complaints there.


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Old 17 February 2020, 04:23 AM   #21
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No one is perfect. Rolex comes darn close. Explore other luxury brands and you’ll appreciate The Rolex way. I’ve had many over the years and not one quality problem or issue. Can’t say that about anything else I’ve purchased.
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:23 AM   #22
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I'm not sure that a dozen or so examples on YouTube makes a pattern. Complaints make for good click bait. Don't fall for it.

How many of your watches have had issues? You've had quite a few.


Good point. Also it is interesting that so many are pointing out similar problems with different Rolexes. Maby it is just click baits?


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Old 17 February 2020, 04:24 AM   #23
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First thing I checked was the paint application on the GMT hand. Looks perfect, to the naked eye and zoomed in phone images. I'm sure of I looked hard enough I'd eventually find something with enough zoom.
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:26 AM   #24
FinWatch
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Originally Posted by Calatrava r View Post
I think Rolex quality is very good. I suspect a very small percentage of their watches have any issues. With mechanical devices some will not work right or have something off. Amazing the job Rolex does to keep that number so small.





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Old 17 February 2020, 04:26 AM   #25
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It's anal retentive people on watch forums and youtube videos that examine these watches with 50X magnification and over scrutinize every little thing. Before all this people actually wore and enjoyed them for what they are.
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:28 AM   #26
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Can we be sure those watches shown as having quality control issues real not fake watches?

So many different professionals—I think they know what they are doing.


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Old 17 February 2020, 04:28 AM   #27
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No one knows how many Rolex watches they produce. Last bit of data was 2016. That's 4 years ago. They could be producing 400,000 for all we know.
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Old 17 February 2020, 04:28 AM   #28
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They produce about one million watches per year.
What do you expect?





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Old 17 February 2020, 04:30 AM   #29
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It's the same quality...just the price increase makes people more OCD about these details.

If you pay 10k to 20k for a watch I think the focusing on details is understandable. Unless you are that rich that it doesn’t really matter to you.


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Old 17 February 2020, 04:34 AM   #30
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Consider: for the one watch with a reported/posted issue, thousands of pieces ship trouble free.

Pretty decent track record IMO.

***I have no data to support my remark but if quality really is widespread & deteriorating there would be 100's of complaints.

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^^^Agree 100%
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