Rolex Watches

Miss_RST

Hi
I am interested in buying a ladies Rolex, and know the exact model I want. I can find loads of retailers on the internet, but am a little wary of paying so much before having seen the watch. Can anyone recommend any sites they may have purchased such a watch from, or maybe a jewellers that offers excellent value? I live in the Manchester area, and would be willing to travel within about a 100 mile radius.

prowla

I bought my wife a Rolex watch some years ago.
It is a nice piece of jewellery, but is rubbish at keeping the time and the winder broke at about 2 years old.
It cost something like £2000, but I would have been better off buying a piece of cheap toot from a pound shop.
So, in answer to your question; no, I can't recommend that you buy one.

Miss_RST

Hi
Are you sure it was genuine? If it was new, then I'm sure you would have returned it/utilised the warranty? The one I am looking at is £6k so I don't want to get stung by anything dodgy. For that sort of money, I expect more that a nice piece of jewellery - I want a watch that looks the business, and keeps perfect time.

bcl999

I'm sure prowla would have known if the watch wasn't genuine. The fact is that, as far as accuracy goes, a battery watch for a couple of quid off the market will probably be more accurate than most mechanical watches. Having said that, Rolex are one of the most accurate of the mechanical makes although you might find it needs to go back to them for adjusting after you get it.

My first one, which was bought new from an authorised jeweller, was back 3 times initially to be regulated. Since then I have only ever bought second-hand. I've bought from eBay, from jewellers selling 2ndhand, from watch forums on the internet and fortunately have had no problems.

I recently bought one from an eBay seller, markworthingtonjewellers (that's the seller ID to search for on eBay), who has fair prices and excellent service. They also have a shop in Wilmslow, Cheshire which I think might be within the 100mile limit you mention.

Eric_Pisch

Miss_RST wrote: »

Hi
Are you sure it was genuine? If it was new, then I'm sure you would have returned it/utilised the warranty? The one I am looking at is £6k so I don't want to get stung by anything dodgy. For that sort of money, I expect more that a nice piece of jewellery - I want a watch that looks the business, and keeps perfect time.

hi quality mechanical watches keep terrible time compared to cheap quartz and battery watches, even if you spent 100k on it the time keeping would be poor (i know people with 50k watches)

there more jewellery than time pieces maybe an expression of love or individuality with something rare and exclusive or an appreciation of the craftsmanship

you also need to be careful where you wear them as they make you a target for mugging, a family member had his door window smashed and his diamond covered rolex stolen at knife point in london whilst sitting at traffic lights.

Blacksheep1979

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

hi quality mechanical watches keep terrible time compared to cheap quartz and battery watches, even if you spent 100k on it the time keeping would be poor (i know people with 50k watches)

you're talking rubbish - most rolex watches are certified chronometers and have to go through fairly stringent cosc testing before being sold. This measures the watches timekeeping in a variety of positions and temperatures and they need to be accurate to within the below limits


*edit* can't paste table - have a look on wikipedia or half way down here http://www.timezone.com/library/wbore/wbore631733384647656250

Anyone really need their watch to be more accurate than a couple of seconds a day?

The people who are experiencing issues have most likely not had the watch serviced in years (yes it does cost a fair bit) - but do you blame your car for breaking down if you go 3x over the recommended servicing period?

goRt

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

you're talking rubbish - most rolex watches are certified chronometers and have to go through fairly stringent cosc testing before being sold. This measures the watches timekeeping in a variety of positions and temperatures and they need to be accurate to within the below limits


*edit* can't paste table - have a look on wikipedia or half way down here http://www.timezone.com/library/wbore/wbore631733384647656250

Anyone really need their watch to be more accurate than a couple of seconds a day?

The people who are experiencing issues have most likely not had the watch serviced in years (yes it does cost a fair bit) - but do you blame your car for breaking down if you go 3x over the recommended servicing period?

Sorry, I've 'got' a tag and yes, it's beautiful , shockingly bad at time keeping - I have only seen it for the odd day over the last 6 months as its been in the jewellers being repaired.
I get it back and the best it's been is gaining 10 seconds per day (I've a pulsar that's within a second in 3 months)
Not to worry, I'm promised that I'll have it back keeping time or a full replacement on 1st April 2010...
...oh wait, that's gone and I've still not had a call !!!!!!.

Eric_Pisch

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

you're talking rubbish - most rolex watches are certified chronometers and have to go through fairly stringent cosc testing before being sold. This measures the watches timekeeping in a variety of positions and temperatures and they need to be accurate to within the below limits


*edit* can't paste table - have a look on wikipedia or half way down here http://www.timezone.com/library/wbore/wbore631733384647656250

Anyone really need their watch to be more accurate than a couple of seconds a day?

The people who are experiencing issues have most likely not had the watch serviced in years (yes it does cost a fair bit) - but do you blame your car for breaking down if you go 3x over the recommended servicing period?

If it looses a min in 3 months its inaccurate in my book, a min in less than a week and its ****

bcl999

Yes, it's marvellous that a mechanical watch can meet the certified chronometer tolerances but the fact remains a cheapo battery/quartz is a better timekeeper. I wouldn't have one on my wrist though as I appreciate the work that has gone into a quality mechanical timepiece.

I haven't checked the link you gave but Rolex did have a few quartz models at one tme and I think the tolerance on them was something like 3 seconds a year - something amazing anyway. That would seem to settle the argument about mechanical versus quartz accuracy.