Rolex and Handgun Shooting

My grammar school graduation watch lasted through high school and a couple years of college.
When it quit, my Dad loaned me his Girard Perregaux which I managed to get stolen.
Mom said she would get me a new watch for Christmas 1968, what did I want?
Rolex GMT Master, of course.
But she couldn't afford that, a whopping $150, so I settled for an Omega Seamaster at only $85.

Rolexes are built like tanks. I've shot with mine for over 20 years.

I would venture to guess a watch sees more G force shock from being whacked against something in daily use than from gun recoil.

Its only barely snug and a lot soft fleshy stuff between it and the gun.



I came to realize that there are clocks everywhere or I'll see one in very short amount of time.

And where/when that isn't the case, good chance that it's not that important.

Jim Watson said:

My grammar school graduation watch lasted through high school and a couple years of college.
When it quit, my Dad loaned me his Girard Perregaux which I managed to get stolen.
Mom said she would get me a new watch for Christmas 1968, what did I want?
Rolex GMT Master, of course.
But she couldn't afford that, a whopping $150, so I settled for an Omega Seamaster at only $85.

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That's not much settling, the Seamasters are beautiful watches. Omega's have a great history, people on watch forums are all excited about the new space launch because Omega was one of the watches the early astronauts wore.

One snuck his personal watch on board, and that watch is now a collectible. The Pogue model Seiko.

chicharrones said:

At $14,500.00, you're right. I wouldn't give that a second look. No matter that it is 56 years old. Lol.

My apologies. I have clearly posted in a thread I have no experience in.

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Watch collectors are like gun collectors, they want originality and patina. If you notice on that watch the painted lumination on the dial has turned from white to a mocha color, collectors love that. Same for original hands, even if they've lost the lumination.

Funny thing is, Rolex is not considered a very expensive brand among serious collectors. There are Swiss brands out there most of us haven't heard of, extremely expensive, that go for 3-5 times and more than the price of Rolex.

The public knows of Rolex because they advertise a lot, sponsor racees and yachting events, and hey, James Bond wore one.

The only time I ever heard of shooting a gun damaging a watch was when a cop was in a gunfight and the other guy managed to hit the cops watch.

This is not all that unusual, often people involved in gun battles have bullets hit their gun and hands.
It's instinctive to focus on the threat, and the gun IS the threat. The threat is where the bullet goes.

One way to make a good watch last is to have the case and crown gaskets replaced every few years, and don't expose the watch to hot water, as in taking a bath or shower with it on.
The heat causes the neoprene gaskets to deteriorate and leak.

The amount of force needed to damage a modern mechanical watch is more then the amount needed to damage YOU.

Speedo66 said:

The public knows of Rolex because they advertise a lot, sponsor racees and yachting events, and hey, James Bond wore one

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Not to further skid off the tracks, but Bond wore an Omega mostly, at least in the movies ...

Yes, but in the books Bond wore a Rolex Oyster Perpetual.

Me? I switch around. IWC Fliegerchronograph or a Bremont ALT-1Z.

In one of the books, at least, he removes his Rolex Submariner and uses it as a form of brass knuckles.

I'm not going to say Bond was the reason I bought a Submariner, or my PPK/S, but I couldn't say it didn't somewhat influence me, either. lol

Mike OTDP said:

Yes, but in the books Bond wore a Rolex Oyster Perpetual.

Me? I switch around. IWC Fliegerchronograph or a Bremont ALT-1Z.

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Sounds like part of a very nice collection! Do you fly?

Something Old, Something New (kinda new anyway)


Without going into too much detail, this Tudor Oyster (case by Rolex) watch has been in the water in 2 oceans and 3 seas, and it was on my wrist as I ran many thousands of rounds through a few M-60s. Later on, it was on my wrist as I ran thousands of rounds through various big game rifles, and tens of thousands of rounds through dozens of different large bore handguns. It still works.
In fairness though, I haven’t worn it much in the last 40 years or so, and hardly at all during my 30+ working years. The electromagnetic fields surrounding the high-amperage bus bars I often worked around would ruin any watch in short order.
One other thing that could have ruined my Tudor Oyster watch in 1971 (about a year after I got it) was shorting its band across the ammeter terminals in my classic ’55 T-Bird. I was installing an 8-track (remember those?) in my T-Bird, and I was reaching up underneath the dash when I managed to short-out the car’s ammeter terminals with my watchband. Which in turn, spot-welded the band’s clasp shut, and it got real HOT, real FAST! Amongst a shower of sparks, I yanked my arm out of there of course, but I couldn’t get the band’s clasp undone because of the spot-weld. So I grabbed the band with my other hand and tried to break it. It blistered all 4 fingers on that hand. While yelling and dancing around, I managed to pull my shirt off and run it down my arm to tuck under my watchband until it cooled.
Anyway, I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns all the way around my left wrist (which left me with a wrist-watch like scar for many years) and 2nd degree burns on my fingers on my right hand. However, the watch itself was okay, and except for a few arc-weld spots, the band was okay too once I broke the welds loose. The band finally gave out a few years back though, and I need to replace it.
I can’t. Genuine Rolex bands are terrible expensive (a lot more than I paid for the whole danged watch in 1970) and there’s just too many sentimental things about those arc-weld spots on that old watchband. I was still wearing a bandage around my left wrist when I asked my wife to marry me in May of 1971, and even if I have to tape the band together, I’ll be wearing my Tudor Oyster watch when we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary next June.

Impacts and shocks should be avoided with mechanical watches. It includes activities like golf, tennis and shooting recoiling guns.

Next time you take your mechanical watch in for service ask them about high impact activities and the risks. I would tell you if I could, I just know my watch guy told me to avoid impact activities when wearing my watch.

Never had an issue after years of shooting w Rolex

they do require periodic cleaning and maintenance

.308 Norma said:

In fairness though, I haven’t worn it much in the last 40 years or so, and hardly at all during my 30+ working years. The electromagnetic fields surrounding the high-amperage bus bars I often worked around would ruin any watch in short order.

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Have you considered the Rolex Miligauss? Very attractive watch capable of working in a 1000 gauss field.

https://www.rolex.com/watches/milga...=AL!141!3!407381912371!b!!g!!+rolex +milgauss

Happy Anniversary!

As others said, i shoot with a citizen watch. With high volume shooting, i never had a issue.

The rolex?? i can not answer that. i do not own one.

I'm not actually a "watch guy" and would never have bought this for myself, but it was gifted to me 20 years ago and, like the commercials say, I have worn it mountain climbing, scuba diving, etc.

I often remove it and slip it into a pocket while shooting, but just as often forget to, so it has withstood quite a few rounds, including things like the .500 S&W. Still works, and I never have had it serviced.

<edit> And it is just now that I realized it must have been telling me the wrong date for the entire month of May, at least. The days do all run together during quarantine.

I have 2 Timex watches. One has survived 1000s of rounds of shooting, 2 motorcycle crashes at Road America, maybe 500 or so zero to 150MPH runs at the dragstrip, a couple of years hanging off the handlebars of various bicycles etc, etc. Still works. The other is my good watch.

Speedo66 said:

Have you considered the Rolex Miligauss? Very attractive watch capable of working in a 1000 gauss field.

https://www.rolex.com/watches/milgauss.html?ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIxda1z8Xg6QIV0sDACh1KrQ2sEAAYASAAEgKfHfD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!141!3!407381912371!b!!g!!+rolex +milgauss

Happy Anniversary!

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Thanks!
Yeah, I don't know how strong the electromagnet field was around those bus bars where I used to work. The bars were carrying 3-phase current to 4, large electric furnaces for melting phosphate ore. The furnaces drew somewhere around 200 mega-amps per phase, and when I walked under the bus bars (7 or 8 feet above my head) I could feel the metal buttons on my overalls vibrate. Anyone wearing a watch could watch it go so fast that the minute hand was moving almost as fast as the second hand usually moved, and the second hand would be going around every few seconds.
It doesn't matter now. I've been retired since 2005, have lots of time for shooting and goofing around on the internet, and the elemental phosphorus plant where I used to work isn't even there anymore.
I wear a "Cabela's" (I don't know what brand it is) watch nowadays, and because I'm not very careful with it while working around the place here, I've had to replace its leather band 2 or 3 times in the last 5 years or so. However, shooting hard kicking handguns doesn't seem to bother the watch. But then again, I don't see why it should - I'm right handed, and wear my watch on my left wrist of course. A cylinder full of "Ruger Only" 45 Colt loads in my Blackhawk will have my 72 year-old tendonitis right elbow scolding me for a week, but it doesn't bother my wrist-watch arm one bit.

Paul7 said:

Do you know of this actually happening? Because that was my OP question and those who responded said they've shot many thousands of hi-power handgun rounds while wearing a mechanical watch with no problems. I think your watch guy is wrong, Jack Nicklaus wore a Rolex for 50 years during his playing career:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/10/jack-nicklaus-gold-rolex-watch-sells-for-1-million-at-auction.html

Roger Federer wears a Rolex while playing tennis:

https://hk.asiatatler.com/style/5-rolex-watches-worn-by-roger-federer

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Mechanical watches have shock absorbers but impacts should be avoided if possible. Here's an article that helps explain mechanical watch maintenance. https://gearpatrol.com/2018/11/20/mechanical-watch-maintenance-guide/

FWIW I wear my mechanical watch while shooting and sometimes it takes impacts from daily wear. I treat my watch like I treat my truck. Both are not delicate and can take use and some hard use, but they are machines with moving parts and their repair can be costly.