Rolex Watches Are Among the Best for Resale Values
Renowned for their precision and beautiful designs, Rolex watches are among the finest when it comes to holding their value. Classic watches such as the Oyster Perpetual combine timeless elegance with advanced technology and extensive manufacturing expertise. As expected from a high-end manufacturer such as Rolex, each watch is put through a rigorous examination and testing procedure before being released.
Since its earliest days, Rolex has maintained close links to the sporting and professional worlds and was the first watch to be worn by a cross-Channel swimmer. In 1926, Mercedes Gleitze swam the English Channel in a feat of endurance which lasted over 10 hours. She wore an Oyster watch during the swim and it was still working perfectly when she reached the other side. The Oyster was the first waterproof and dustproof wristwatch which had its movements protected inside a hermetically sealed case. This was just the first of many sporting collections.
Rolex then developed professional watches for activities such as deep-sea diving, aviation, mountain climbing and scientific exploration. In 1953 an Oyster Perpetual accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary to the summit of Mount Everest. Since 1914, when Britain's Kew Observatory awarded a class A precision certificate to Rolex, the brand has become synonymous with precision. Automatic self-winding mechanisms were introduced in 1931. The Rolex perpetual rotor forms the basis for all automatically winding modern watches. Helping it achieve its deserved reputation for accuracy is the paramagnetic alloy parachrome hairspring, upon which magnetic fields have no effect. Its blue colour serves to identify it as being one of the most accurate timepieces.
Each Rolex watch carries its own serial number, which since the 1920s has enabled would-be buyers and sellers to track the year any particular watch was produced. The serial number is located inside the watch's case, towards the bottom behind the bracelet. You will need to remove the bracelet in order to see the serial number, which merely indicates the year in which the watch was made - it does not tell you the year in which the watch was first sold. Any dealer who wishes to buy or sell Rolex watches will need to identify the serial number to aid in valuation. As well as the age of the watch, its condition is also important when considering its value. This involves not only the condition of the case, but also that of the bracelet. Obviously, the better the condition of the watch and bracelet, the higher the resale value is likely to be.
