How to find a watchmaker to work on your Rolex? A very good question… Naturally, you want the best for your watch, you heart cannot bear to have somebody incompetent working on it. And logically you think that your only choice is an "authorized Rolex center". I do not want to claim that Rolex service is incompetent, not at all. I actually believe that Rolex crevice centers are one of the best watch repair workshops in the world. They do have an exceptional training and equipment that every other watchmaker can only dream of. However, all this is not cheap at all and takes an enormous amount of time: even the simplest timing adjustment can take weeks for a massive Rolex bureaucracy to process.
Another option could be taking your watch to a local watchmaker. If you open your local Yellow Pages your will see an extensive list of masters that are qualified to fix your watch; and they will take care of your watch much more efficient and for only a fraction of what you would pay if going directly to Rolex. Yet, you have to be careful with who you trust.
Following is the list of things you have to look for:
1) Don't even try having your Rolex fixed at your local shopping mall. A watchmaker making his living on installing batteries in $30 quartz watches cannot possible know how to fix a complicated mechanical luxury watch.
2) No watchmaker works on only one watch at a single time. Look carefully at the watches that are currently sitting on the master’s bench. If you see many lower end watches…. Most likely this person does not have much experience in handling Rolex.
3) Watch out for the pushy people and their stories. I have worked with many specialists in the past and from my experience, watchmakers are not very social people (probably because they used to work with watches and not people). If you start hearing stories about decades of experience in working with Rolex and seeing suspicious looking diplomas – run away.
4) No experienced specialist will tell you how much exactly you will end up paying. Watchmakers usually giving you estimates and “hit” you with a final cost when you pick up your watch. After all, they cannot see what needs to be done with a watch until they start working on it.
5) No good watchmaker bothers with providing additional services, like polishing. Don’t trust somebody who offers you to perform a service that you don’t ask. And ignore all scary face impressions like “if you won’t polish your watch today – it will stop tomorrow and nobody will be able to fix it”.
A bottom line is: look for a quiet introvert sitting in a small room away from a public eye. And it will be your guy. How to find this person? Ask around, I’m sure you have friends who needed some kind of services being done to their watches. Referrals are always a good way to avoid being ripped off.
