Gifting a Rolex
Discussion
I am going to gift my Rolex to my son in April
He is at university at the moment so it will be three or four years before he wears it regularly. It was serviced by Rolex 2 or 3 years ago
Is it best to put it in the box until he wears it regularly or should I leave it in the watch winder?
The watch is about 21 years old
He is at university at the moment so it will be three or four years before he wears it regularly. It was serviced by Rolex 2 or 3 years ago
Is it best to put it in the box until he wears it regularly or should I leave it in the watch winder?
The watch is about 21 years old
Fatrat said:
He is at university at the moment so it will be three or four years before he wears it regularly. It was serviced by Rolex 2 or 3 years ago
Out of interest, what makes you think that? Or is that what you'll tell him to do? I know a couple of people that wear a Rolex to uni and I don't think they've ever had any comments or anyone really noticing. If I had a Rolex I'd wear it every day, especially if dad had given it to me. Edit: As for the original question, I can't imagine keeping it in the box or on the winder will result in harm to it but if it's not running there'll be less wear on the mechanism.
3 or 4 years of sitting still wont harm it but may speed up any degradation of the oils. The reason is that oils (fairly obviously) degrade most where they're in contact with the air.
If the watch is running the oils get stirred around so it all gets its turn at the surface. If it's sitting still then the surface suffers all the oxidation etc which, with old style oils, could go as far as developing a solid skin. When the watch starts up again that "skin" breaks up and turns the whole lot into a gritty mess.
With modern synthetic oils that's much less of an issue than it used to be - and probably not an issue at all over the sort of time you're talking about. That said, the technically nicest way to treat it would be to put it away but run it for a day or so every couple of months to stir everything up.
If the watch is running the oils get stirred around so it all gets its turn at the surface. If it's sitting still then the surface suffers all the oxidation etc which, with old style oils, could go as far as developing a solid skin. When the watch starts up again that "skin" breaks up and turns the whole lot into a gritty mess.
With modern synthetic oils that's much less of an issue than it used to be - and probably not an issue at all over the sort of time you're talking about. That said, the technically nicest way to treat it would be to put it away but run it for a day or so every couple of months to stir everything up.
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