Lowered expectations...

[automatico]

I have spent the last 10 years away from doing hardly any work at all on genuine rolex watches belonging other people because of the 'no parts for you' situation but have recently been talked into working on some 'outsider' watches with cal 15xx movements purchased by 'watch friends'. (With friends like this...Ha!)

Have also looked in a lot of genuine watches lately.

 

So...what's new?

 

1...There is a lot more junk now than there was 10 years ago.

2...A lot more botch jobs are showing up, probably due to high repair prices.

3...A lot of worn out movement parts are still being used in a lot of watches...reversers, rotor axles etc, probably because of 'npfy'.

 

One example:  Looked at a 1601 DJ with the hands out of correspondence (hour hand at 12, minute hand at 30 minute mark).  It had been dropped, hit on the back, and the minute hand fell down a little bit.  The owner cranked the time around later on trying to set it and moved the minute hand out of whack.  He also said he had to hand wind it (before the drop) because it would no longer auto wind.  He bought it a few months ago and the seller claimed it had been 'recently cleaned'.  It looks clean and the balance has good motion so that is probably true.

 

There was a screw jammed between the winding rotor and the case back.

Q...Where did it come from?

A...It was one of the lower autowind plate screws.

Q...How did it get out?

A...The whole a/w assembly was loose on the movement along with every other screw I checked from the back side except for the two casing screws.

Q...How come?

A...Either whoever put it together did not tighten the screws enough or the owner has been mowing, riding his H-D (Ha!) or doing something with a whole lot of shakin' goin' on.  Who knows?  I'll ask but they never know...or tell.

 

My takeaway from seeing the junk and botch jobs is:

1...If you have a nice genuine vintage rolex or Frankenstein with a good genuine movement...keep it because the pickings are getting very slim and much more expensive.

2...Some of the work is not as good as it used to be, maybe because so many of the better repair guys have left the trade.  Maybe they left because of 'npfy'. 

3...There ain't no mo affordable  vintage rolex parts.

[freddy333]

Based on my own experience as well as conversations with Ziggy (way back when), none of this is new. More than 10 years ago, I began telling people not to complain about the 'crazy' prices being asked for gen Rolex parts (when you can source them), because those prices will seem like (missed) bargains next year. & that is precisely what happened & the pattern has continued to this day. As the old-timer watchsmiths retired, there are fewer 'old-timers' to take their place. Those few coming out of Lilitz & similar (Rolex-sponsored) schools may not be prepared for the cut-throat world they will enter upon graduation - assuming they can find quality, sustainable employment. That leaves the franken owner stuck with choosing between risking trouble with Rolex if they attempt to seek service within The Network or having their pride-&-joy mucked-up by a wannabe or bottom-line-driven bargain watch 'modder'.

I think it also worth mentioning that all the major watch forums are experiencing slow-downs as new technology (eg, smart watches), ever-rising purchase/repair costs & just plain boredom spirit eyeballs (& attention) away from watches. Unfortunately, I do not have all the answers, but I can recognize a pattern when I see 1 & this is not a good 1.

[panerai153]

I agree with Freddy. I remember him saying on several occasions years back, that the parts you thought were insanely expensive would be bargains in a few years.
I really don't know what the future holds relative to repairing older Rolex watches. Replacing worn out parts with used almost worn out parts is "fools gold", but what does one do if new replacement parts aren't available.
AFA the future of watches in general, I agree, it looks pretty grim. Most of the younger folks are either not wearing a watch at all, or they are wearing "smart watches, fitbits, etc. They don't need a watch, their phone is permanently implanted in their hand!!


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[Nanuq]

Roger all that. My vintage gens have been serviced and now for the most part sit in the safe. There's no good reason to wear them out when I have pieces that look about the same and beat with ETA hearts.

Perhaps it's time to hoard some "incredibly expensive" parts now? Like Freddy said today's prices will seem like bargains in 2-3 years.

[Sogeha]

I think it will eventually peak. Rolex itself does not have total parts availability, they could of course remanufacture parts, but then so could someone else and my bet is that when the price is high enough and supply none existent, someone will.