Another incredible Rolex in for servicing that you do not see every day is this Rolex Oyster Quartz Day Date Model:19018 from 1978.
What makes the Rolex Oyster Quartz so unique?
Well it is the only quartz movement Rolex has ever made and is a one of a kind powerful quartz movement with a unique method of working. It took them 5 years to design and develop the movement and to this day it is still one of the best quartz movements. What makes it so unique is instead of a rotating magnet it uses a motor unit which rotates from one side to another mimicking the job of a balance wheel in a mechanical watch. This motion is then transferred to a wheel with a similar but different design to a mechanical watches escape wheel, here called a second wheel. The only difference is that instead of the gear train wanting to unwind in a mechanical watch, this watch pushes the gear train around from the motor unit.
It produces an incredibly accurate movement that can keep time to seconds a year when well adjusted.
For a more in depth look at the different models and history of the Rolex Oyster Quartz we highly recommend: http://www.oysterquartz.net
Servicing the movement:
Here you can see the movement before servicing with the motor unit under the bridge labelled ROLEX S.A. GENEVA. Just beneath this the pallet fork and the second wheel.
Here is the second wheel zoomed in showing the terrible previous oiling and the hugely over oiled teeth.
When we service watches everything is fully disassembled and we only use original parts. Here you can see the movement parts laid out ready for assembly, not as many parts a mechanical watch, but easily double the number of parts of a standard quartz watch.
Rolex only produced approximately under 25,000 oyster quartz watches making the oyster quartz range uncommon.
This watch still had its Rolex Oyster Quartz booklet and Rolex service papers dating from 1993.
Could you believe it only used to cost £145 to fully service a Rolex Oyster Quartz at a Rolex service centre! The current Rolex list price in 2019 is £500, however we offer this service for significantly less, using original parts, surface treatment and oiling to updated Rolex Oyster Quartz specification. We have the parts, the manuals, the training, the experience and the knowledge. Why risk giving it to someone else?
In our on-site service centre we over see restorations of Rolex without altering the originality of them. To see more examples of this please check our other blog posts.
