We often see Rolex watches in our workshop. Rolex make high-quality, luxury timepieces, and these watches are well worth maintaining. Here we have a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch with a blue dial and stainless steel case and bracelet.
On arrival in the workshop, this watch was not working. Inspection of the calibre 2231 automatic movement showed lots of fine metal debris throughout the mechanism, and a very worn-out rotor axle. As the axle was worn out, the rotor was not rotating properly and it was wearing against other parts of the movement. This rubbing caused the debris, and the eventual build up of this combined with the failure of the axle caused the watch to stop.
To repair this watch it needed to have a full service, including a new mainspring and rotor axle. We also gave the case and bracelet a clean and brighten on the polishing machine.
A full service involves complete disassembly of the movement and running it through our specialist watch movement cleaning machine. After cleaning, the movement is carefully reassembled and oiled, before being adjusted and tested. The entire watch is then tested on our rotating testing machine to confirm the automatic winding mechanism is operating correctly.
As part of the servicing work, we replaced both the rotor axle and mainspring. To replace the rotor axle we use a specialist tool called a staking set, to remove the axle, before then securing the replacement in place with the correct punch for this Rolex calibre.
For the vast majority of watches, we recommend servicing every 4-5 years. This is to ensure optimal performance of the movement (as the oils and greases needed to keep the movement running properly need to be kept fresh)and to allow the movement to be checked for signs of wear and tear.
After a full service, new mainspring, rotor axle and a clean and polish of the case and bracelet, this beautiful Rolex is running very nicely again. It is ready for testing before return to our client.
Yours sincerely
David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director