The Watches CRK People Wear...

richardgoldfinger said:
Rolex reliable? - not mine! Please read and tell me your experiences.
Actually my new 3 year old Submariner was doing fine until I noticed a funny feeling like something was moving inside it when I moved my wrist. My AD said it sounded like a rotor (?) problem and that he had to send it to Rolex for service. They said it needed work (not sure what exactly yet) and they would give me " a deal" and only charge me $500. Now, I have been very careful with this - never dropped it or banged it against anything. The most violent thing I do to it is jog slowly. My AD swore it was a rugged reliable "sport watch" and could certainly take a lot of use, so I feel really bummed out over this. And a bit cheated by Rolex. I mean come on, no abuse, no accident and this rugged watch breaks after three years! Did I get a lemon - did any of you have similar experiences? I get it back in a few weeks and may learn more about it...
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Your rotor issue may have been caused by jogging, which causes excessive wear on the rotor mechanism. Rolex's movements are very hearty -- some reports of 10 yrs between servicing -- but the term "sports watch" really doesn't include jogging and any impact activities. The term goes way back to when most watches were of the dressy nature, that you didn't dare take near the water.
 
You might want to buy a beater for jogging? that Submariner is a bit heavy anyway.
 
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richardgoldfinger said:
Rolex reliable? - not mine! Please read and tell me your experiences.
Actually my new 3 year old Submariner was doing fine until I noticed a funny feeling like something was moving inside it when I moved my wrist. My AD said it sounded like a rotor (?) problem and that he had to send it to Rolex for service. They said it needed work (not sure what exactly yet) and they would give me " a deal" and only charge me $500. Now, I have been very careful with this - never dropped it or banged it against anything. The most violent thing I do to it is jog slowly. My AD swore it was a rugged reliable "sport watch" and could certainly take a lot of use, so I feel really bummed out over this. And a bit cheated by Rolex. I mean come on, no abuse, no accident and this rugged watch breaks after three years! Did I get a lemon - did any of you have similar experiences? I get it back in a few weeks and may learn more about it...
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Please keep in mind that you always want to send it back to Rolex factory authorized repairs only I believe it's still NY,NY. It's not uncommon for unscrupulous watch repair shops to swap out the works of high end watches. You wouldn't know it until the next repair and difficult to prove years later. It's worth every bit of $500.00 they will repair and clean it properly and it will come back to you new just like sending your CR in for a refurb.
 
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Sean_K said:
Your rotor issue may have been caused by jogging, which causes excessive wear on the rotor mechanism. Rolex's movements are very hearty -- some reports of 10 yrs between servicing -- but the term "sports watch" really doesn't include jogging and any impact activities. The term goes way back to when most watches were of the dressy nature, that you didn't dare take near the water.
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Sean: very interesting comment re:jogging. I was naturally very cautious with my new expensive watch and asked my authorized Rolex dealer what I could and shouldn't do. I specifically said that I use an elliptical machine with arms (back and forth swinging) and slow jogging, not running - like 12 or 13 minute miles on pavement. He has been an AD and a jeweler for a long time and said these activities were ok. Only something much more impulsive (shockfull, i.e. g inducing) like driving golf balls should bother it. I accepted his word and went on with that. So, do you, or any of the rest of you who know mechanical watches really think he is wrong, and that jogging cou do this? Maybe I should ask Rolex directly? I didn't in the first place because I trusted my AD had been all through this rather obvious question before with Rolex and their reps and didn't just make it up based on gut feelings.

Regarding the weight, yes it's heavy but who cares/ I'm not racing with it; I'm exercising.
 
Richard: lots of rolex and auto winding owners wear their watches for all activities including running -- some without issue -- but it's my feeling that these activities do cause added wear to the rotor, thus shortening the service interval. I will say that for the money rolex charges (another price hike coming in May!), they really should offer a longer warranty period than just two years. I had an omega that was covered for five years...more in line given the price we're paying for these things.

Your AD is not incorrect in saying the watch can take anything, but machines do wear out and break down the more you use them as I'm sure you're aware. Perhaps I'm over cautious with my watches, but I tend not to wear automatic pieces for running or elliptical workouts. I've worn a manual wind speedmaster for such as there's no issue of over working a rotor since there isn't one. I mainly wear a g-shock for the rough stuff, but this summer I may just be temped to do it all with my sub since it never seems to leave my wrist.

Sorry to hear about your failure, perhaps you just got unlucky.
 
I have worn automatics for a number of years now and have never had any issues with the actual mechanisms, I have had a bezel and a bracelet fail on me from "hard use" (I mean being worn when falling down things or training etc. rather than the watch being looked at roughly by "hard use", of course) but the watches themselves still worked fine despite that uncaring use.
I don't think it's right to say I have just been lucky with my auto watches and I have owned a few in my time. As already said a watch is a machine and disaster is only a second away. :p The people that have issues seem to be few and far between, but obviously that comes as little consolation to those that do. I would say in my experience an auto watch mechanism can take anything it might have to while being worn and that a breakage is probably more likely to be down to a parts or production failure than through use. I have also easily had just as many if not more issues with quarz watches so there is nothing exclusive about problems to automatics either. :)
 
Same as Haze. Rolex... cuz once you've worn one, nothing else will do!
 
Now that I finally have a watch, I should post in this thread. Not carrying a CRK today, though.
 
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Simple manual operating tools for me. Panerai Logo Base, in my opinion it's Sebenza of watch world :)

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