Rolex 580 endlinks worn tubes

[GSTT]

Hi everyone,

New member here.

My friend has shown me her Rolex Explorer II 1655. The bracelet is a 78360 with 580 endlinks.

During cleaning of the bracelet, one of the tubes inside the endlink came off.

Looking at the endlink tubes more closely, we can see that they measure only 0.1mm in wall thickness. This leads me to believe that either this is a previous repair job, or these tubes have been completely worn out through years of use.

Please see the pictures of the endlinks. Do these appear to be original?

My question now is what should we do? Is it worth to repair the tubes if these are indeed original endlinks? Or should we just find replacement parts?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[zapokee]

Originally Posted by GSTT

Hi everyone,

New member here.

My friend has shown me her Rolex Explorer II 1655. The bracelet is a 78360 with 580 endlinks.

During cleaning of the bracelet, one of the tubes inside the endlink came off.

This happened to one of mine. I just wear it without the tube. It doesn't make much difference. The link doesn't rattle around like I thought it might.

[TimeLord2]

I would take it a jeweler and get it repaired. if you have just one, that one too will eventually break with the added stress. Just my opinion. My bracelet is an old American made oval link and it doesn't have any tubes. been considering replacing just the end links with new ones from a swiss bracelet that have the tubes but decided against that after seeing the price. New from Rolex $1200. EBAY, $350 -$850. Might as well get a new or slight used whole bracelet for that price but I bet a jeweler could do it for like $50.

[Tools]

Soldering in new tubes is pretty easy for most jewelers repairmen.

[GSTT]

Thanks a lot for your replies! I will take it to a jeweler, and see what they can do.