The Future of Watchmaking

iht · Oct 21, 2025

Archer
I've never had (nor wanted) a Rolex parts account - I already have more work that I can handle so there was never a business need to desire an account. I still serviced these watches occasionally, because parts were available on the open market (I bought a bunch of parts from a retiring US watchmaker at one time for example), but I service very few these days - maybe one every year or two. In Canada, where I am, there have not been truly independent accounts for a very long time. The only accounts here are at Rolex AD's who put the money into having an on site watchmaker and shop.

In the US those truly independent accounts, in other words people who do not work for an AD but just have their own business and are certified by Rolex, are mostly gone now. It's a bit of a long story, but there was a some deception involved I believe...

There was a time when watch companies would send watchmakers parts they wrote in asking for, free of charge - the good old days that were long before my time in the industry. But at one time it was apparent that the Swiss industry in particular employed monopolistic practices, and by 1960 they and their industry associations were considered a cartel by the US government, and a consent decree was imposed.

Back in 2006, Rolex applied to have this consent decree removed - information here:

https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-do...-motion-rolex-watch-usa-inc-order-terminating

The final agreement has Rolex paying $750,000 to cover costs. Essentially, this removed the restrictions on Rolex to limit the supply of parts and was a real turning point in how they operated.

Curiously, the AWCI (originally the AWA back in 1960) - the trade organization representing watchmakers in the US, agreed to this. This seems rather strange considering that this group represents watchmakers, and to be honest the membership were not pleased. However, the AWCI was working with Rolex to develop the CW21 watchmaker certification process at this time, and not long after the consent decree was removed in 2007, Rolex announced that all watchmakers with a parts account had to become CW21 certified by the end of 2010, or they would lose their accounts. The AWCI and Rolex were considered "partners" at this time.

Everyone was required to take the 4 day long test, and these were held at AWCI headquarters near Cincinnati - you had to pay for the test, pay for the travel and lodging, and you lost a week of income. They also ran refresher courses to prepare watchmakers for the exams. I was in many of those classes just for my own continuing education, and all the watchmakers with parts accounts were shitting bricks because they knew they would likely be out of business if they lost their accounts. They were also very bitter that their own organization was involved in the removal of the consent decree.

The AWCI said that other brands were going to adopt this CW21 certification as a requirement, but none other than Rolex ever did. When I was at Swatch in NJ for training on servicing the co-axial escapement years ago, someone in the class asked the instructor about Swatch adopting the CW21. The response:

"That's got nothing to do with us. That's a Rolex thing."

Then some time went by, everyone was (reasonably) happy, and Rolex just started closing all these parts accounts anyway. In all Rolex agreements, there is this clause:

"Both the parts account and Rolex are free, at any time and for any reason, to discontinue their business relationship, without cause and without prior notice."

So Rolex played the long game to get rid of the consent decree, the AWCI got played, and US watchmakers paid the price for it.

This is one reason why I personally get frustrated when people say these companies operate the same way, or that all of them are cutting off parts supplies. It's just not true at all. There are some very good companies to work with, and I personally count Swatch among them. I don't agree with everything they do certainly, like since 2015 they have jacked up prices to sometimes absurd levels on things. But for the most part all my own experiences working with them have been good. They have helped me when needed, and sometimes even recommended me to people for vintage repairs. It's a good working relationship. As long as I do the work right and don't be an idiot, they leave me alone to run my business and we are both happy.

A good friend of mine is a watchmaker for a Rolex AD here in Canada, and when he told me how Rolex operates with him, it was astonishing. With Swatch I can order whatever parts I feel are appropriate for me to have in stock at any given time, so if I want to order 50 mainsprings for a specific caliber, I just order them and nothing is said. In contrast Rolex won't let him just buy the spare parts he wants to stock - he has to only order what's needed for a specific watch in front of him. He must log the replacement of every part (even a screw) to a specific serial number. He must take a photo of that watch on a specific pad the Rolex provides., He must be able to pull up the records of any watch he's serviced if Rolex asks him to. It is extreme micro-managing.

Another good company is Nomos in Germany. I recently ordered some parts for a customer's watch, and the first thing they said was thank you for taking care of one of our customers for us. They actually sent me the parts before I paid for them (actually even before I had a copy of the invoice) to help speed up the process.

The contrast between Rolex (you should be happy we allow you to buy parts from us) and Nomos (we are happy you are helping us) is huge. Personally I prefer working with companies who want to work with me, not against me.

Sorry, this ended up being much longer than I intended...😉

Thanks for sharing this very detailed account @Archer.

It's a shame the trade association didn't stand up for its members. I wonder why. I suppose Rolex would have their influence...

Unfortunately, what you described also mirrors how these companies treat their consumers. With Rolex, it's no different to the consumer literally begging for their daytona allocations. It seems they get away with it because their demand is so absurdly high. I imagine Rolex was trying to control supply of their parts so they don't end up in the secondary/black market, just like their watches. Other brands probably don't have the same problem, and if/when they do, the reality is they would probably behave just like Rolex.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to hear Swatch is still looking after those with accounts and you are able to get good supply.

Sigh too bad for me you are all the way in Canada. Hopefully the postal strike is being sorted? I ordered a part from Perrin for my watchmaker but they had to cancel the order because of the strike.

iht · Oct 21, 2025

southwest timers
I closed my watch shop in 2014. When Rolex stopped supplying watch material long ago to Independent's I became concerned, since it represented about 30% of our vintage watch repair/restore shop business. Then Swatch jumped in on the act and would stop supplying Swatch related repair parts to our watch material houses. The writing was on the wall that Rolex and Swatch had changed their business model, and Independents do not fit into that model.

Sorry to hear 🙁 I imagine that would have been a tremendous shock to many.

Dan S · Oct 21, 2025

Great explanation, Al, I didn't know some parts of that story. The only thing I can add is some perspective from my friend, who is a long-time holder of a Rolex parts account (his father worked for Rolex, and later was an independent watchmaker and retailer for decades).

A few years ago, I began hearing on the forums about Rolex canceling parts accounts for no reason. They just cancelled or failed to renew them. At the time, the accounts had already been depleted, I was hearing estimates on the order of 1,000 remaining accounts in the US before this purge. I asked my friend about it, and he was immediately concerned. He contacted several friends with parts accounts, and indeed, their accounts had been canceled. The conventional wisdom was that fewer than 100 accounts remained, but I think this is pretty speculative.

Several months later, he was told of a surprise inspection, and following the inspection his account was renewed. And it has been renewed since then. However, as Al mentioned, many parts are provided on a replacement basis only, and he is allowed to order only limited numbers of some other expendable parts (e.g. crowns and tubes and seals and crystals). He cannot get parts for certain references at all, e.g. I think I recall that Rolex really doesn't want independents to service modern Daytonas.

southwest timers · Oct 21, 2025

Yes, they also closed our Rolex account. Rolex wanted most of our testing/repair equipment to be upgraded and we just did not have that kind of cash flow to upgrade everything they wanted. We did manage to obtain some Rolex material from a fellow watchmaker in Germany but he also lost his account later.

sheepdoll · Oct 21, 2025

In the 1990s when I was active in the local San Francisco Bay area NAWCC chapters there was one young member who got the training and would only service rolex watches.

Most of the watch collectors were into rolex (gold) and railroad grade pocket watches (also favoring gold.) This meant that they would often save the GF Omega watches for me 😀 There was also a tendency to warn me about fake omegas. I think a few had gotten burned with fakes. Rolex also trended to fakes.

Curious how the clock collectors for the most part did not want much to do with the watch collectors. Often complaining watch collectors did not pay sales tax. CC also seemed to be more into DIY. Watch collectors more about investments and flipping.

Both groups liked marine chronometers and ships clocks.

This is a pretty broad generalization. I had a few friends who did take the time to mentor me. It was also a place where the estate buyers would dump a box of picked over watches in the silent auction for 5 to 15 bucks before the internet spoiled all the fun.

I still think anyone who is passioned will find a way. Who knows what is still out in the estate supply chains? If there is demand some will figure out how to use tools like fiber lasers and 3d printing to make parts and probably cases. At the moment the high cost of gold is sending even more really nice movements out into the wild, although I suspect most are winding up at the landfill and the metal extraction that the pre sorting does.

Humans though are curious by nature. So young ones will get a hold of some of these parts. Could be like the steampunk aesthetic where the stuff is used in art projects. Eventually they start looking at the parts being thrown away. Will be interesting to see what social media does do to these behaviors. There may be a trend to stifle this inventiveness by preventing competition. Banning information in the name of health and safety.

I knew one rolex person who went on the Henry Fried trips who was from S. America. He learned to file street sweeper bristles (sadly now they are plastic.) into screwdrivers using paving stones. Young people will make it their own and write their own rules given the opportunity. The information is out there. And we are ignoring the Elephants and Pandas in the room. I stopped worldwide eBay searches years ago as the listings were all from India, and other Asian countries.

We also tend to forget there are billions of watches in the world. Cell phones are quickly catching up one took 500 years the other 20 years. While we are taught that phones and electronics are not fixable. In some parts of the world they are parted out and the parts sold in night markets. It is likely this massive amount of eWaste will affect things for a really long time.

iht · Oct 26, 2025

I was tempted at some point to purchase a vintage Rolex (DJ/Pepsi), but at the time my watchmaker warned me that even if I get a legit one - a challenge in the first place, any part replacement would potentially be a serious issue because Rolex may not make or stock that part anymore, or replace it with a period incorrect part, and because independent watchmakers can't get them either, so third-party parts may be the only option, but then that'd put into question the authenticity of the watch when selling. He said Omega buyer tends to be much more forgiving about this sort of thing, and parts are generally more plentiful anyway, though for him it's been getting harder to obtain too and now I have to get parts from ebay for him to work on.

I followed his advice. I thought a company like Rolex would honour their own history by keeping those oldies alive given their heritage is such a big part of their marketing, but then again maybe the majority of their clientele doesn't care about this kind of thing.