{"id":34944,"date":"2019-06-05T16:53:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T23:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bobswatches.com\/rolex-blog\/?p=34944"},"modified":"2024-03-01T10:42:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T18:42:37","slug":"what-do-thin-lugs-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bobswatches.com\/rolex-blog\/watch-review\/what-do-thin-lugs-look-like.html","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Watches and Thin Lugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For anyone interested in vintage watches, a topic that invariably comes up when evaluating a potential purchase is overpolishing, the leading cause of thin lugs. This is definitely a major topic when discussing vintage Rolex, however, it will affect most watches which have been polished over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first inspection, watch lugs aren’t usually the first thing a buyer will notice. That prize will go to the hands and dial, maybe the crystal as well. But the lugs hold a lot of forensic evidence to figure out what has happened to a watch over the years, and is the most critical part of both watch comfort and watch stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comfort, because they are engineered to curve in a certain way to ‘hug’ the wrist. Stability, because the lugs are where the bracelet joins the watch, springbars holding the watch on the wrist, keeping it from the bottom of the sea (or Mount Sauron…).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In reality, it’s unlikely that thinner lugs are going to make it so your watch won’t stay on your wrist or be significantly less comfortable. So why does this matter when talking about collectible Rolex watch pieces<\/a>? For that, the polishing process must be discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you take a watch to be polished by a local watchmaker or the manufacturer itself, the act of polishing the watch is a process that removes thin layers of metal from your watch. If you have a deep scratch in a metal, the only way to remove it is to lower the metal around the scratch to leave behind a smooth surface. This is less of an issue on the bracelet, as parts of that can be replaced. But on the watch case itself, which includes the lugs, it cannot really be replaced without a fundamental destruction of value and authenticity (if you can do it at all).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New watch casing for a Rolex Submariner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is an incomplete list of things to know when dealing with a vintage watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n