I'd buy used, but yes I'd sell an older Rolex to fund a new one. Nearly two years ago I sold a Speedmaster for £2150 on eBay that was 8/9 years old. At the time newer big box version could have been bought for similar money, certainly less to change than the cost of a service.
And now I've a 14060m from 2003, again I'd rather sell that on eBay and find something newer like the 114060 that sold here recently for £4800, or the 14060m that had just returned from a service. Either watch would cost me a lot less than an £800 service.
Whoever you spoke to has the prices all wrong. The 3135 equipped 16610 is indeed 550 to service. Its in the "modern" category. Ask to speak to someone who can read.
When I rang St James a couple of months ago, they quoted £550 for my 2007 16600.
I will re-check with my other local dealer (who quoted £585) on Tues.
My understanding is the price increase is very recent, but why apply it to the age of the watch rather than the model.
My sub is 14 years old, and this would be it’s second routine.
Are they trying to discourage servicing, milking the market, or is this the true cost/benefit?
My wife’s Rolex went to Rolex via Goldsmiths in Newcastle .
They charged me extra for new crystal as and I quote “ it was chipped on the inside “ , I queried this and was told by an after sales assistant “ it might have been damaged after being hit by my wife’s bracelet “ , the fact she doesn’t wear a bracelet on the same wrist as her watch passed him by.
It had to be replaced to be guaranteed waterproof apparently, the fact she never wears it in the bath or shower and cannot swim was irrelevant.
Comes across as nothing more than getting more cash out of the customer, almost confirmed by the fact that they wouldn’t show any communication from Rolex stating what was needed.
Clueless , and unprofessional with it.
This thread has unfortunately become relevant, as my Sub’s keyless works have started playing up, to the extent that I can no longer adjust the date or hack. This is especially disappointing since in addition to the price increase mentioned here, my Sub has been more or less a safe queen, since its last service 4 years ago. It’s only been used for a handful of special occasions, so I’m peeved to say the least that the crown and stem have given up the ghost after so little use. Grrrr....
I have checked with Rolex Service at Kings Hill. I have been told that they still use the rule of thumb that if it has a plexi-glass then it counts as classic and would be £800 plus anything else that needed quoting for.
The current RRP for ANY Professional model other than a Daytona or Yacht-Master ll/Sky-Dweller is £550 unless otherwise quoted by Rolex.
The confusion comes from the new pricing lists that they sent out where they say that Classic watches are "Watches and calibres that have not been in the sales catalogue for 10 to 35 years and/or special watches and calibres"
My gripe would be having to pay £35 postage or whatever Goldsmiths want to call it.
Last edited by Oracle; 29th May 2018 at 16:07.
I’m happy for the OP. But for those of us with watches from the 60s, 70s or 80s this is scant consolation. Rolex is further squeezing the vintage market, I presume to drive new sales—or, in the case of SS sports models, to swell their waiting lists still further.
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If the service was carried out by Rolex and you have all the details along with the Service card although they will have it all on record , write a letter or better still do what I did and go in person to express your disappointment in how little the the watch has been worn and condition verifies this.
I had the same issue with a 1665 that was out of service Warranty that had developed a problem , the watch was sent back with no promises but as a gesture of goodwill this was sorted all within a couple of weeks , be firm but polite and you never know as this is something that you don’t expect from such little use .
I love the way £550 is now seen as reasonable. What a crazy bunch of Rolex nut huggers we are:
(Yeah include me too)....
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I think the service was around £400 in 2016, then they increased it to £485 and now £550. I guess it is reasonable compared to AP because at least it includes polishing
I spoke to Rolex St James today about the cost of a service and was quoted £500 + vat.
Just for info - in a reputable Rolex dealer the service is €550 in France (upto €660). It may be worth taking your watch to the other side of the channel.
Of course it is, it’s all relative and as I mentioned earlier “in comparison with other manufacturers”
As to whether servicing across all premium brands is over priced, that’s another discussion. Also think about what goes into a service, and only once a decade, yeah I still think the price is still pretty good
Anyone know long a typical service takes (actually being worked on, not the weeks/months in a queue)?
Longines also do this. And a few others. Not as easy to get parts as with rolex though where it can be done locally.
A day, with polishing, then 4 days of test cycle. Half a day if someone else does the polish. This for a basic 3135. Some movements take a little longer.
How much do you spend on having your car serviced if it's done by the main dealer?
And do you spend that every year on something that sits idle most of the time, unlike a watch that runs 24/7?
Don't forget, too, that Rolex now advise a service every 10 years for the newer calibre models equating to 15p per day running cost.
I'd say that's pretty good value.
Just got off the phone with Rolex on an unrelated matter and a service cost on a modern professional model (at least 2006 onwards) is £550
Bought a diamond ring from them about 10 years ago (I was naive, OK)? Carefully chose one with no visible flaws in the diamonds. Needed it re-sized - to which they said "No problem, Sir...".
To cut a long story short, after about 8 weeks of wrangling & phone calls the shop manager admitted that they'd sent our ring to somewhere in the Far East to be sized, & it hadn't returned (bear in mind that this was in central London, where I could have walked 1/2 a mile in more or less any direction & found someone to do it in the same day). Eventually the ring arrived back and was returned (with apologies). A short time after slipping it on her finger, the (then) girlfriend literally screamed as she spotted the massive inclusion in what was previously a stone that we'd specifically chosen as there were no flaws visible to the naked eye. It had clearly been swapped. Ring returned & refund offered with (suspiciously) little argument.
I might buy from them again if they had something I wanted that was massively reduced, but I would never entrust them with a service or alteration...
I’ve just been quoted £800 service cost for my 1680 Red Sub.
I’m happy to pay that but OPs watch should surely be cheaper?
That’s fair, though I was comparing Rolex today with Rolex 10-15 years ago, before the company reduced the supply of spare parts to independents and drove more business to its own service centres.
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Eye opening this thread - 800 quid for a not-very-old Sub is crazy, that's Royal Oak service money (and AP often get, unfairly in my view, criticised for their "exorbitant" prices!).
It's 585 that's the quote I got back for lv service today
See the posts further up - that’s the charge for a watch up to ten years old. A day older than that and it’s 800!
Didn't think the 1994 is that old
It's a classic move to restrict part supply to independents thereby reducing service competitors and allowing prices to move up.
What's not to like if you are Rolex and wanting to push your overall brand image upmarket from being a solid manufacturer of good quality timepieces to an international purveyor of luxury.
'YES, I WANT A GOOD WATCH' - was the strapline they used to have in their old literature; sadly this now seems to have been overtaken by the rather arrogant sounding 'Rolex - There is Only a Way' (is there really no other way to build watches?) of today.
In my view the reality is that if you put all the expensive branding to one side the bulk of the Rolex range is still built around a single calibre architecture with few complications to justify top end pricing. This is in marked contrast to most other high end manufacturers in the haute horlogerie sector where beautiful complications are almost a pre-requisite of membership.
This all brought to mind an interview I saw a few years back where the CEO of Rolex stated that they weren't in the watch business they were in the luxury business (or words to that effect).
I can now see more clearly what he meant in as much as luxury is essentially a customer illusion. This is created by mixing premium pricing, product scarcity and skilful marketing to create product desirability. This in turn justifies and reinforces the price premium paid for luxury in the consumers mind.
You should therefore be glad that the service charge is high because you are in the fortunate position of being able to afford this little luxury - go on treat yourself YOU deserve it!
For myself, I finally sold my last two Rolex the other week and can honestly say that I haven't felt a pang of regret! I'm happy to leave Rolex to push ever onwards into the jewellery business and inflate their prices to their hearts content.
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Yes, they issued new service price lists recently, and there's an error quoted above, which if you only bother to read that top portion of the price list, as a simple shop staff person probably would, one would quote the wrong price.
Further down on the price lists are all models listed by calibre and family, there are two pricelists, one Classic one Modern. A 2004 submariner is 100% in the modern category and should be £550.
Still awaiting clarification, but on checking the papers, discovered it's actually Nov 2005 - so only 12.5 years old.
Wrote to Rolex, and both Goldsmiths and Rolex called me.
There had been an error, wrongly identifying my Sub as a 'classic/vintage' model, and the correct Service charge is in fact £550.
I was told this would have been picked up at service invoicing, so I would never actually have been over charged, despite the erroneous quote.
However, there will be a cut off point between newer and older models, so worth checking.
This is quite apart from servicing your old banger that you rely on to get to work. This is playing the game of ornamental accessories that also happen to function as workhorse tool watches. It's not the other way around unfortunately. Unfortunate because on paper they are still pretty great functionally.
At least the service price issue has been cleared up. But these are still very expensive in the scheme of things.
Was it ever actually confirmed that Rolex, the company, 'advises' that you wait ten years before service? As in, does there exist somewhere a press release, or a line in a guarantee booklet, that actually says this? Or does it just stem from that internal memo that claimed the average customer brings their watch in after about ten years?