I recently lost my uncle. He was an extremely cool guy who was always a big kid at heart. We always had a great time when we were together and I enjoyed spending time with him. I was very fortunate to live close enough to him so visiting was possible fairly often.

Anyway, among other things he left me his 1967 Rolex Submariner. (Stainless Steel, Oyster Bracelet, no date) I am not thinking of selling it ever.

I have a Submariner of my own so I am not really thinking about making his watch my daily wear or anything...

I would like to have his watch restored. Is there any reason not to do this? There are no "special" marks on the watch...I will always think of him when I wear his watch.

What do you all think?

I got my grandfathers Rolex 1530



I’d never sell it, and plan to give it to my biggest kid.
I had to have someone weld up the last two links as he wore it daily and wobbled out the link pins. I had it serviced and left it alone..still has scratches and what not.

I wear it occasionally. If I were to make it a daily wear, I’d only have it serviced and leave all the previous wear(unless it’s scratched on the crystal.

When I've needed info about having things done to my now 45 year old Rolex I went on www.rolexforums.com to see what I could find there.
Anyone can go and buy a new one, having an older one with family history is another matter.

An early Submariner is worth a lot more in untouched condition. It’s ok to have the movement serviced so it runs and keep good time, but absolutely do not change the dial, hands, bezel insert, polish the case or bracelet, etc. Leave that baby as original as possible!

Having someone “restore” or re-lume the dial and hands is also a big no-no.

You want to keep the original crystal and crown on the watch, as well. Those are two things watchmakers always want to replace.

probably very valuable.

i bought this 1655 explorer in 1974 for $250.

sold it in 2014 for $13k, no box/paperwork.

Very cool watches guys!

I think I will just have the watch serviced and leave it original.

One of my children will end up with this one.

2ADefender beat me to it, but I'd leave the exterior as is.

And post pics....

Let's see a photo, please.

I would not restore it unless it is truly battered, and borderline broken. As in missing the bezel, or with a bent lug. Restoring it will, absolutely ruin any collector value, and a 1967 Sub may have significant collector value.

If you send it to Rolex for service, be crystal clear with them that you DO NOT want any restoration - no new hands, no new dial, no polishing of the case, etc. - replace broken parts only. Rolex will do that other stuff unless you tell them not to. They'll switch out hands with dead lume, for example. They will polish the case, and while they do a good job, it shows, and most people don't like it. Again, this wrecks the watch for a collector.

To layer on this, and in agreement with all of the above, Rolex IS who you want servicing this.

As is. My father is a watch collector and it’s always more valuable to leave it in original condition.

DON'T send it to Rolex! Find a local person to do a COA [clean oil adjust] ONLY. I wouldn't trust Rolex with the original dial, hands & bezel.

Sorry about your uncle. Glad you have this momento of him

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
To layer on this, and in agreement with all of the above, Rolex IS who you want servicing this.

Rolex does a good job on the service, but it isn't cheap. On the other hand, this could be a $20K watch.

But do make them swear on their Grosi that they won't do any restoration.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
To layer on this, and in agreement with all of the above, Rolex IS who you want servicing this.

Rolex does a good job on the service, but it isn't cheap. On the other hand, this could be a $20K watch.

But do make them swear on their Grosi that they won't do any restoration.

That's the possible issue. I wonder how many watch owners, not knowledgeable, have had genuine watch parts swapped out, with new parts, and the watch shop keeping the more valuable parts.

I think most shops are honest. However, it would be terrible to find out 2 years later, this happened.

But I've only had one watch restored, and the restorer was upfront about what needed replacing and asking my permission.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
To layer on this, and in agreement with all of the above, Rolex IS who you want servicing this.

Rolex does a good job on the service, but it isn't cheap. On the other hand, this could be a $20K watch.

But do make them swear on their Grosi that they won't do any restoration.

That's the possible issue. I wonder how many watch owners, not knowledgeable, have had genuine watch parts swapped out, with new parts, and the watch shop keeping the more valuable parts.

I think most shops are honest. However, it would be terrible to find out 2 years later, this happened.

But I've only had one watch restored, and the restorer was upfront about what needed replacing and asking my permission.

Rolex returns all parts. But they are most valuable on the original piece. They less valuable if transferred.

Yeah, all parts replaced are returned.

But to jhe's point...yup.

I daily wear my uncles SMP300. Nowhere near the collectors value of your watch but it matters not to me and hopefully it won't matter to him whom I leave it.

Omega returned all parts replaced.

Honestly, if you really never plan to sell, get it restored to modern, working condition and wear it every day. You're not saving it for the next owner. Sell your own modern Sub and wear the vintage one as your daily driver. Who cares if it's been polished or had the hands re-lumed? Collector value means nothing when you plan to never sell. I'm a Rolex guy too and I beat the hell out of my watches. When I'm gone, they're someone else's problem and Mrs. Lee doesn't need the money.

I can think of a few other watchmakers I might actually want to do the service, but for the love of God, no matter what, DO NOT HAVE THIS WATCH POLISHED OR "CLEANED UP" (which is code for polished) in any way.

Truly, I wouldn't even service it.

If you're not going to wear it, then what you're doing is spending money (the least of my concerns in this case) and taking risk -- which is my point here. The risk in shipment, the risk in miscommunication, the risk in the human factor (did you get the best guy they ever hired, did you get the new kid that has never seen the old stuff?). Did you guy the guy with questionable morals? You don't need it to run like new, and 99.99% of the time it will be stopped in whatever storage you will use. So leave it be. Cherish the gift, your memories, and let her be as safe and as-pristine as can be. And save the money to boot!

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:
probably very valuable.

i bought this 1655 explorer in 1974 for $250.

sold it in 2014 for $13k, no box/paperwork.

And worth nearly twice that now! Mind you, I have a dozen examples where I've done the same. <facepalm>. My buddy has a rule "never sell a Rolex". He and I both regularly ignore this rule. But always to our long-term peril. Haha. I it were about money, we'd be miserable.

I adore the 1655. Wanted one forever. It's my favorite Rolex ever. But it's always seemed too expensive. I think the first I'd looked they were pushing $8k or $9k. Oh well, hindsight.