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Rolex is not a 'real' Rolex if it has been modded. So that means..


Lil princess

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I was reading on another Rolex owners forum and the AD's say that if you modify a gen Rolex using gen parts then they consider that watch not being manufactured by Rolex.

So, if you have a great Rolex rep which you modify and make as good as gen it is no different than a gen Rolex that has been modded with gen parts!

What are people's thoughts on this?

I love the Franken watches, even gens! Makes them much more interesting and different.

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I think they're nuts over wherever you saw that.

 

I have a 6536 from the late 50s and I installed a gen tropic crystal.  According to those guys, it's not a real Rolex anymore?

 

So I took it in to my A.D. and asked them to check a winding weirdness, and the watchmaker (a buddy of mine) was all excited to pop it open and have a look.  He disappeared in back, then came back 10 minutes later.  He had to call the people back at HQ and those guys said I had to sign a disclaimer before he could open it, in case the dial flaked.

 

Sooooooo if they have a real liability, to the point I have to sign a disclaimer, then I'd say in their A.D. opinion it's still a "real" Rolex.

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I think they mean by changing the appearance to one not of that model. I phoned up my friend who is an AD and he says its true! If you modify it in any way by using gen parts but change appearance it's considered not manufactured by rolex. Crazy

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And also, if you bring it to an ad or to rolex, they will refuse to work on it. The first rolex I bought was a datejust with a tapestry dial and a sapphire crystal. Being that is was used and I was young, I brought it to rolex on 5th ave here in NYC to have it looked at. After about 15 minutes they came back with the watch and told me that it was genuine but the crystal had been changed from an acrylic to a sapphire and that rolex would not ever service it. I returned it and bought a vintage gmt :)

 

Moral of the story is, if there is anything on a rolex watch that is not correct to the case, movement, dial, period, etc, they will not touch it, excluding bracelet. But they never said it was not a real rolex, only that they wouldnt service it because it had aftermarket or non matching parts.

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I'm not sure that this is the arrogance of Rolex as much as it is a liability problem. in the case of the watch that was changed from acrylic to sapphire,Rolex could never guarantee the water resistance because it had been altered.Same with aftermarket parts. I believe that Rolex will work on the watch, but they will remove the aftermarket parts, destroy them and replace with genuine Rolex parts. AFA the bracelet, I would just bring the watch head in only, or put it on a Nato. IF they ask, all you have to say is my original bracelet broke and this is all I've got.  

 

As long as there are good well trained Rolex watchmakers out and about, I don't see any reason to take a watch back to an AD or to a RSC unless it's in warranty.

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"Rolex is not a 'real' Rolex if it has been modded. So that means.."

 

A...What if the Gomer putting 'The Watch' together in 'The Factory' puts a screw (The Original Screw!) in a watch and then scratches the head of the screw while tightening it, removes 'The Screw', discards it, and reaches into a cup of screws and gets another one and installs it. The 'Original Screw!' has been replaced by a 'Screw! Not Original To The Watch' aka 'screw-modification'. By their own rules, "It's a Fake!" before it leaves The Factory.

B...Once the back is opened and the 'Hallowed Swiss Alps Air' escapes, then is replaced by 'foreign air' (aka 'air-modified')...this means "It's a Fake!" from that point on.

C...Same goes for fingerprints...one 'foreign fingerprint' (non swiss relaxy factory) and it has been 'fingerprint-modified'. So...from then on, "It's a Fake!"

D...How about environment...since they are 'Born and Bred' in 'The Swiss Factory!', any change of location renders them 'modified by enviromental forces'. "It's a Fake!" from the second it left the factory.

 

Therefore...they are All Fakes!  

I can live with that. :pimp:

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Ha ha! That GMT is gorgeous but hey, even with gen mods the idiots at Rolex would call that a franken and thus not manufactured by Rolex... Why are they doing this? Seems pretentious to me. We all love modding our watches. Even gen ones. Why does it give the AD right to say what we can and can't do after WE buy their product.

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It is Rolex (not an AD) that prescribes what RSCs define as a genuine Rolex watch. You are free to do whatever you want with your Rolex watch, but if you want Rolex to repair it, the watch must be genuine. If it contains incorrect or non-Rolex parts, Rolex will either reject it outright (this is what usually happens) or (in rare cases) they may agree to accept the watch contingent on your agreeing to let them replace all of the incorrect parts with correct replacements.

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