As Rolex fans and general horology enthusiasts, it’s hard not to become excited by any news from one of the watchmaking giants. 1st July 2015 marks the launch of the new Rolex five year warranty, covering everything the old guarantee covered, but for more than twice as long.
Now let’s be honest – a five year warranty is hardly an innovation. Brands of similar ilk (although many will argue there are none) like Breitling and Omega have been offering five and four year warranties respectively over the last few years. However, any savvy consumer will soon realise that to qualify for said warranty, you have to shell out an extra few pounds and buy their premium product.
In the case of Breitling, for example, £6760 will buy their Chronomat 44 equippped with their in house 01 calibre. Admittedly you get a lot of watch for your money: not only is the Chronomat easy on the eyes but it’s waterproof to 500m, has a unidirectional bezel, screw-down pushers, and of course a chronograph. On top of all this you’ll be given a Breitling five year warranty which now manifests itself in the form of a fancy little futuristic gadget. So far so good. Now to the small print: in order to take full advantage of this fancy new warranty, you must take your watch to an authorised dealer every two years for them to test the watches water resistency. What happens if you forget?. Time flies , you could have three new watches to switch between by then!. Not only that, but if you decided to go for a classic like the Navitimer 01, a pilots watch with virtually no measurable water resistancy, you still have to do the same or risk forfeiting your extended warranty and putting yourself out of pocket should any “water resistence problems” arise.
Comparitavly, albeit more expensive, £7950 will buy you an iconic Rolex Cosmograph Daytona in stainless steel. For your money you get a minimum of 100m water resistence, a chronograph, a tachymeter bezel, screw-down pushers, and..well..a Daytona. Add that to a tried and tested in-house calibre 4130, and you have all the makings of an icon. And to top it off, a five year international warranty. No conditions. And the best part is that this warranty covers the entire Rolex range – not just the top end. So, it doesn’t matter if you buy a £5000 Submariner or a £50,100 Platinum Daytona – everyone receives the same standard and gets the paperwork to prove it!.
There’s also some good news for those who bought a Rolex between 1st July 2013 and 30th June 2015, a one year grace period has been added to your watch, effectively giving you a three year warranty. For many this will make no difference. However given that along with this announcement, Rolex have confirmed that they now officially recommend service intervals of 10 years on each and every watch that they produce (on our last count 800,000+ annually), this demonstrates an incredible confidence and credibility in all the products they manufacture, a universal standard across the board.
