fatboyharris
42
I think you are quite right to be circumspect about later hand written guarantee papers
Nov 02, 2015,01:13 AM
in general.
However, there are certain German and Swiss dealers such as Bucherer who were issuing non punched papers into the late 70's. Which is why when I had a valuable watch with such papers I did some further research with Rolex and Bucherer.
I have confirmed with Rolex Geneva and Bucherer Geneva for a specific 1977 watch with a Bucherer typed serial number guarantee that Bucherer was supplied the watch by Rolex and Bucherer did issue non punched warranty papers.
Bucherer could not confirm from their records when they stopped issuing the non punched papers but a long serving employee felt that happened sometime in the 80's. My wife has a mid 90's Bucherer watch and that came with punched papers,
This is not meant in any way to detract from your excellent article, But values have been mentioned here and it would be unfair to create a view that only punched papers are authentic,.....you have to be circumspect around punched papers, as the punch hole machines are still in circulation and in the past original blank guarantees papers believed to be coming out of India are being tailored to produce complete box sets, So, its a case of also checking other elements on the paper such as any guarantee printed date in the bottoms right hand corner of the guarantee coincide with the serial number date of the watch concerned.
Great article,
Many thanks
John