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Embarrassing Royal Oak for sale - buyer beware

guaranteed.rohu
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they should have noticed for sure - but if it's a simple correction probably not the end of the world?

Again for 55k USD, everyone deserves to be picky obviously.

totally agree with comments on 'buying the seller' being overrated. I typically buy and sell off forums, but bought a breitling top time from hodinkee. was a very fair price and listed as "serviced" but definitely was not serviced. they paid for the servicing costs locally, but still not impressed.
 
gdupree
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guaranteed.rohu guaranteed.rohu
they should have noticed for sure - but if it's a simple correction probably not the end of the world?
If the person who installed those screws didn't know how correctly assemble one of the simplest parts of the watch, I don't want to know what they did to the most complicated parts of the watch. That's not how you want to spend $55k dollars.
 
guaranteed.rohu
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gdupree gdupree
If the person who installed those screws didn't know how correctly assemble one of the simplest parts of the watch, I don't want to know what they did to the most complicated parts of the watch. That's not how you want to spend $55k dollars.

totally agree!

They're not really screws though - more just bolts - but yeah fair point, it's one of the defining factors of the Royal Oak. There isn't actually anything technically different (other than the aesthetics) with having them unaligned, so I think some are making the point that - it could conceivably be a fine watch to purchase regardless
 
guaranteed.rohu
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it's conceivable that a skilled watchmaker simply unfamiliar with the royal oak in detail serviced it...
 
gdupree
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guaranteed.rohu guaranteed.rohu
it's conceivable that a skilled watchmaker simply unfamiliar with the royal oak in detail serviced it...
If you're clueless about one of the most iconic items at the core of your profession, do you really call that person skilled? Skilled at something, perhaps... but not at watch making.
 
bigdubnick
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Appears that the OP's link now has updated photos with the 'bolts' correctly positioned. My OCD is calming down now....whewf...but you can't un-know what we saw here 😀
 
Stumbellina
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Traveler Traveler
I usually try not to post ‘negativity’ but I couldn’t let this go. I will also add that I have had an unsatisfactory experience with this dealer before, but that is unrelated to this post.

For a ‘big name’ dealer that has been featured in several magazines and blogs, to offer this watch in it's current state, is just appalling laziness and borders on contempt for the consumer and other dealers that take their job seriously....

https://thekeystone.com/collections...iguet-royal-oak-jumbo-a-series-watch-ref-5402

How to turn an A series Royal Oak into a Hublot...

All of the screw heads should align to form a circle with their slots. They have all been butchered and only one has been replaced correctly. That a watchmaker would do this is sad - that an ‘expert’ dealer would offer this for $55k is a lot worse than that ....

4E51BCE6-4D03-4A5A-B2A0-1A7BCD74A0E3.jpeg

Even as a relative newbie, the alignment on the screws alone would make me dismiss it out of hand, as a probable fake.
 
wsfarrell
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Speaking of precision threading, the "captive nut" illusion is mighty impressive.

 
Socks
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Stumbellina Stumbellina
Even as a relative newbie, the alignment on the screws alone would make me dismiss it out of hand, as a probable fake.

My first impression, on this post, before reading the text (I’m a pictures person) was “why don’t the slots on those captive heads line up round the dial?” Short sighted on a 1k watch, but a 55k one!!! I thought watch making/servicing was the very epitome of engineering. I’m a newbie, not even familiar with a Royal Oak (sorry), but it was the first thing I noticed (I’ve got a bit of engineering OCD). If anything the heads don’t even sit middled in the hex seat of the bezel plate. You can see where the nut beneath has been tightened and the stud left to rotate free and stop against the hex recess, and not held and middled within the recess. Shocking.
 
Dan S
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wsfarrell wsfarrell
Speaking of precision threading, the "captive nut" illusion is mighty impressive.


As a total amateur who hasn't done any machining in 25 years, I could make this easily. Drill and tap the ends of two rods and connect them with a set screw. Then turn the entire assembly to have the correct profile and threads on a lathe. Unscrew and add the nut. Clever, but not impressive or precision machining.
Edited:
 
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