What is going on with 32xx Rolex movements

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by East of Eden

Possibly these problem watches are being sent to a different service center than where Bas works. I’m not seeing any fewer issues on this forum.



Exactly, however I feel bad for those who spent their hard earned money on a watch with a defective movement that Rolex DID know about? How is this not grounds for a class action suit? Imagine that discovery process.

The outbursts will be epic when 32xx owners find out repairs are at full cost when out of warranty. If Rolex did otherwise they’d be admitting culpability.

Personally, life has enough unpleasant surprises for me to buy a known problem. Hope is not a strategy.

Discovery process?
I imagine one may have as much success in China or Russia as with Rolex.
As you note, there will be no possible admission of culpability, but they might offer a new and vastly improved world beating new movement as an exchange with a 33 in front of its designator. It will be an exclusive offer of an upgrade path for the life of the watch to original owners provided proof of purchase and regular RSC service history.
An industry first to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to their customer base
It will run along side the CPO programme

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by East of Eden

TRF seems to be the only place it’s being addressed

It's probably the only place where the issue is being addressed in earnest outside of the Rolex black hole.
But it crops up all around these internet forums which are dedicated to watches from time to time from what I've seen.
So it is out there and I'm sure that the Mothership would be wishing that it went away as only they can do something about it by sorting it right out.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Harry-57

Possibly, but many owners, prospective owners and motoring journalists criticised the cars and they developed a bad reputation in the wider world outside the Mercedes devotee bubble. They are still regarded as junk. Things like this will not be lost on Rolex but being Rolex, any remedial action going forward will not be revealed in much detail.

The 32xx is the modern day equivalent of the Reliant Robin or Holden Camira

[enjoythemusic]

Originally Posted by Dirt

The 32xx is the modern day equivalent of the Reliant Robin...

Oh my, the Reliant Robin fan club will surely not be happy with your post. The RR is actually quite entertaining. Perhaps the most 'interactive' truly hands-on driving experience of any reasonably-price car on the road today. In fact band members from Human League might even give you a hand.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

Oh my, the Reliant Robin fan club will surely not be happy with your post. The RR is actually quite entertaining. Perhaps the most 'interactive' truly hands-on driving experience of any reasonably-price car on the road today. In fact band members from Human League might even give you a hand.

Oh yes.
RR now there's one that doesn't really come to mind very often.
What is it they say about Rollers?
Oh it's coming to me now A Rolls Royce never breaks down, they only fail to proceed.

[DoDe]

Originally Posted by Driver8

Not sure of the need to be patronising to the OP and others there, but let's just remember that this is a watch forum and by its very nature it's all about discussing a topic (i.e. reasonably expensive mechanical watches) that is utterly inconsequential in the grand scheme of life. So whether it's back-slapping how amazing Rolex is and how they can do nothing wrong at one end, or talking about occasions where they aren't quite so amazing at the other, it's all just as valid, and simultaneously as utterly irrelevant, as each other.

If you don't care about accuracy, then that's great. But when people do care about it, it doesn't mean they "aren't equipped to deal with life". It just means they've read the Rolex marketing spiel and would kind of like their tens-of-thousands-of-pound watches to perform as expected.

This

[East of Eden]

Originally Posted by Dirt

Discovery process?
I imagine one may have as much success in China or Russia as with Rolex.

Surely US ADs knew of the issues with the 32xxs they sold.

[Bro Watch]

Excuse me, but may I politely inquire if you happen to be near any strong magnets? There's a slight possibility that your watch might have become magnetized. As an admirer of the Explorer, I don't recall encountering any issues with its timing.

Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

[East of Eden]

Originally Posted by Bro Watch

Excuse me, but may I politely inquire if you happen to be near any strong magnets? There's a slight possibility that your watch might have become magnetized. As an admirer of the Explorer, I don't recall encountering any issues with its timing.

Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

Why would magnets only impact 32xx movements?

[CedCraig]

Reasons why I think the 32xx movement issue is undercounted and not common knowledge outside of enthusiast circles (in no particular order):

-Few people own timegraphers so most in the “my 32xx watch runs great” crowd don’t know what their amplitude is. WatchTracker app screen shots showing good accuracy don’t mean the movement doesn’t have the low amplitude virus.

-Grey market dealers and flippers want to keep the issue quiet so people don’t start hesitating about buying watches with 32xx movements. Regular owners who frequently sell their watches are also in this category.

-Many watches are safe queens, especially newer models.

-Many newer watches are, um, new, and haven’t developed the problem. “I just got my BLRO and it’s run great in the first month!”

-Many people have collections and rotate their watches so frequently that -10spd or more just isn’t noticed.

-For the people who wear their watch every day, they will not notice the accuracy drop off when dipping into the power reserve, for example after 24 hours or 48 hours of non-use.

-Rolex watches are status bracelets now so who cares about good timekeeping anyway?

-A few people here have had multiple 32xx watches break bad and to get any reasonable probabilities for this to happen you have to incorporate a high failure rate into the calculations. I can’t remember the exact details, but I recall the failure rate was north of 30% for those examples (2 of 3, 3 of 6 and 5 of 8 going bad, or something like that).

-Major watch blogs and YouTubers are too afraid to open this can of worms for fear of being blacklisted by the most powerful brand in the watch industry. Kudos to Worn&Wound for asking what’s going on, but even they have dropped their inquiries.

-Fanboys who paid a lot of money for a Rolex can’t bear to think their precious is anything but perfect and want to sweep the issue under the rug.

-The Rolex ecosystem of ADs, SAs, RSC staff have a vested interest in not admitting anything is wrong. This is the Rolex way. The fact that a few insiders have admitted to problems suggests to me quite a widespread issue.

My October 2022 Air-King is running close to spec. In year four of the warranty I’ll get a timegrapher to check the amplitudes and if it’s bad, I’ll get it repaired then sell it and get a JLC Polaris or something similar. In the meantime I’ll enjoy the watch but will keep up on this issue.

[Pepperjack]

Originally Posted by East of Eden

Surely US ADs knew of the issues with the 32xxs they sold.

I don't know about that. Every time the SA brings in one for me to check out, I have to explain to them that there is a known issue, and I have to explain that the watch needs a full service.

I would like to corroborate what Bas has mentioned - I have also been receiving fewer 32xx movements into my shop for warranty issues.

[sgt10p]

Originally Posted by CedCraig

.

My October 2022 Air-King is running close to spec. In year four of the warranty I’ll get a timegrapher to check the amplitudes and if it’s bad, I’ll get it repaired then sell it and get a JLC Polaris or something similar. In the meantime I’ll enjoy the watch but will keep up on this issue.

So if your Air King is running fine you don't have an issue with the 32xx series do you?

[saxo3]

Originally Posted by CedCraig

-A few people here have had multiple 32xx watches break bad and to get any reasonable probabilities for this to happen you have to incorporate a high failure rate into the calculations. I can’t remember the exact details, but I recall the failure rate was north of 30% for those examples (2 of 3, 3 of 6 and 5 of 8 going bad, or something like that).

https://www.rolexforums.com/showpost...postcount=3860

[Driver8]

Originally Posted by sgt10p

So if your Air King is running fine you don't have an issue with the 32xx series do you?

At this point in time, that appears to be the case. So that's great news.

Whether it stays like that in future is anyone's guess. Hopefully it will, but who knows.

[Driver8]

Originally Posted by Bro Watch

Excuse me, but may I politely inquire if you happen to be near any strong magnets? There's a slight possibility that your watch might have become magnetized. As an admirer of the Explorer, I don't recall encountering any issues with its timing.[/IMG]

Unlikely, as firstly the 32xx is highly anti-magnetic due to the materials used in the Chronergy escapement, and secondly when a watch is magnetised it usually speeds up dramatically, not slows down, due to the effective "shortening" of the hairspring.

I say "usually" above, as a watch can slow down as a result of magnetism if parts other than the hairspring is magnetised but it's much more unusual (and I assume Rolex has that covered in terms of anti-magnetism too).

[Gearjockey]

Originally Posted by Dirt

The 32xx is the modern day equivalent of the Reliant Robin or Holden Camira

Was thinking Trabant myself.


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[sgt10p]

Originally Posted by Driver8

At this point in time, that appears to be the case. So that's great news.

Whether it stays like that in future is anyone's guess. Hopefully it will, but who knows.

I'm in the same boat, my LV is running fine at -1 sec per day long may it continue. But to be honest, any time after 5 years is fine and I'll just send it in for service. I don't expect 10 years, that's 2,495,232,000 movements of the pallet fork (PADI)

[Easy E]

Originally Posted by saxo3

https://www.rolexforums.com/showpost...postcount=3860

Math is a brutal thing

[Easy E]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

I had no idea this was a thing. Amazing really. At least none of my 32s almost killed me.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Pepperjack

I don't know about that. Every time the SA brings in one for me to check out, I have to explain to them that there is a known issue, and I have to explain that the watch needs a full service.

I would like to corroborate what Bas has mentioned - I have also been receiving fewer 32xx movements into my shop for warranty issues.

Thankyou so very much for the feedback
It's encouraging news.

[alphadweller]

Originally Posted by CedCraig

Reasons why I think the 32xx movement issue is undercounted and not common knowledge outside of enthusiast circles (in no particular order):
(...)

Brilliant summary of why it's a non-issue for most owners .

[Scholar]

I saw a post from last year that finally gives me some clarity on why so many people here get angry about this discussion. I don't agree, obviously, but it illustrates a motivation/thought process that was indecipherable to me before.

The person said something like, "I'm sick of people saying that the watches I own are bad," or something like that.

In other words, some people seem to take criticism of the movement as a personal insult to them as owners, when to the rest of us, the only persons who are the target of that criticism are the Rolex execs/designers who put it through.

[CedCraig]

Originally Posted by sgt10p

So if your Air King is running fine you don't have an issue with the 32xx series do you?

I don’t know if my Air King is fine. Since I don’t have a timegrapher I don’t know what my amplitudes are. It’s running close to the -2/+2 spec now, but watches with the low amplitude virus do keep good time for a while, then begin running -30spd, -40spd or more. That’s why I’m just keeping an eye on the timekeeping for now and will get a timegrapher in year 4 of the warranty period, unless the timekeeping really degrades.

I do have an issue with the 32xx series because a company like Rolex shouldn’t have these problems. And if problems like these arise, an upstanding company should be clear about what the problem is, what the actual real fix is, and should extend the warranty to the 10 year maintenance interval for movements that develop the problems in years 5-10. I realize none of those things will ever happen, so it’s up to me to monitor the health of the movement and then dump the lemon if problems arise. I’d never, ever buy a used 32xx watch, that’s for sure.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Scholar

I saw a post from last year that finally gives me some clarity on why so many people here get angry about this discussion. I don't agree, obviously, but it illustrates a motivation/thought process that was indecipherable to me before.

The person said something like, "I'm sick of people saying that the watches I own are bad," or something like that.

In other words, some people seem to take criticism of the movement as a personal insult to them as owners, when to the rest of us, the only persons who are the target of that criticism are the Rolex execs/designers who put it through.

Very well said
I suppose that to an extent, the watch with it's movement and all sort of defines them somehow and there's a lot to fully factor in around that

[Booth9999]

Well my sea dweller anniversary from 17 went in just 1 month after the warranty expired. They took it in but said I might have to pay but will see if they can do it on good faith. If not they said $1600 out of pocket. It’s been a few weeks so we will see when it gets back…. Low amplitude

[Calatrava r]

[QUOTE=CedCraig;13249507]Reasons why I think the 32xx movement issue is undercounted and not common knowledge outside of enthusiast circles (in no particular order):

-

-Grey market dealers and flippers want to keep the issue quiet so people don’t start hesitating about buying watches with 32xx movements. Regular owners who frequently sell their watches are also in this category.

Flippers are just ordinary folks who were able to buy a Rolex at retail and then for whatever reason decided to sell their watch to a used watch dealer. This whole movement issue is a non-event to them. They are not trying to keep quiet about anything, I believe, except hoping their AD doesn't find out they sold their watch and being blacklisted from that store.