Did Rolex release this watch like this?

[tarrda]

After I noticed this messed up rehaut I was told by the seller that this was a watch straight from a Rolex AD showcase and it came from Rolex looking just like this. hmmm I called New York, Rolex inc and ask to speak to someone about their quality control ie workmanship and was transferred to a gentleman who was very polite and after discussing my rehaut he said Rolex would never release a watch in that condition. Their Quality Control would never pass this watch. Now my question is how could this rehaut get messed up? Does anybody have any ideas how this could have happened. To me it appears to have been held some sort of holder and twisted because all the scratches go to the right. Any ideas from your experience with watch repair how this could have happened would be appreciated. FYI I did return the watch and got my money back but not without a hassle from the seller, who insisted this was the way it came from Rolex. At this point I am just curious.

[JohnR725]

Did you purchase this is a new watch? Then Rolex would've never of let this leave the factory looking like this.

 

[Graziano]

Hi there, the introduction of the engraved rehaut was actually an action taken to make it more difficult for counterfeit watches to be instantly recognized, as this type of engraving on the Rolex watch is extremely precise and quite difficult to do. Of course, this worked in the beginning, but counterfeiters soon caught on. They have a hard time reaching the same level of perfection in the engraving as Rolex has, but today, it is still common to see fake watches have engraved rehauts.Glad you got your money back 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Graziano

[clockboy]

5 hours ago, tarrda said:

After I noticed this messed up rehaut I was told by the seller that this was a watch straight from a Rolex AD showcase and it came from Rolex looking just like this. hmmm I called New York, Rolex inc and ask to speak to someone about their quality control ie workmanship and was transferred to a gentleman who was very polite and after discussing my rehaut he said Rolex would never release a watch in that condition. Their Quality Control would never pass this watch. Now my question is how could this rehaut get messed up? Does anybody have any ideas how this could have happened. To me it appears to have been held some sort of holder and twisted because all the scratches go to the right. Any ideas from your experience with watch repair how this could have happened would be appreciated. FYI I did return the watch and got my money back but not without a hassle from the seller, who insisted this was the way it came from Rolex. At this point I am just curious.

Absolutely not. It has to be a copy.

[tarrda]

14 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

Did you purchase this is a new watch? Then Rolex would've never of let this leave the factory looking like this.

 

It was through a Grey Market dealer in Calif, they advertised it as new, from the AD showcase.

[JohnR725]

31 minutes ago, tarrda said:

It was through a Grey Market dealer in Calif, they advertised it as new, from the AD showcase

The problem with gray market? Conceivably it's exactly what they say it is but since it was not that is an issue. If it had come from an real dealer it would've had warranty paperwork. You could a send it back to Rolex for warranty repair and it would've been fixed. Or the dealer themselves would have the ability to fix the problem. That is providing this really was a legitimate Rolex and not something that either totally fake or modified changed whatever just to sell the thing. Gray conceivably means the seller does not have to tell the truth.

 

[JohnR725]

One of the things that was bothering me with this discussion is the engraving looks good. Even though I just said the engraving looks good the rest of it looks like total crap. It absolutely positively would've never of left Rolex looking like this. not only that anybody who looked at this would reject it.

I looked up the term graymarket supposedly it it's legit new items sold at a big discount for variety reasons usually don't have a warranty. But watches are interesting there sealed up how do you know it's legit? How do you know if it has the right movement. Then if you go to vintage they start mixing and matching bits and pieces to give you a watch that's probably basically totally crap. Or refinishing watches to look like new some things are too good to be true for a reason.

Because the engraving looks good I was curious I emailed a friend the photographs. He's taken classes given by Rolex now retired and that included the classes on spotting counterfeit Rolex watches. I'm pasting his answer below in any case returning the watch was a good thing.

"this looks like an example of a mediocre case refinish on a reconditioned watch, not new product. Perhaps the original crystal was smashed which would have scratched up the dial ring and top of the crystal seat. If a coarse grit was used to refinish the case it would end up looking like this. The white stuff looks like lint from the cloth/paper towel used to clean it off. The engraving itself doesn't look that bad.I would vote for bad refinish, rather than counterfeit."