Should You Have Your Watches Serviced?

[JustinCase 0]

NEED FOR SERVICING A WATCH (GENUINE & REPLICA)

 

I thought of posting this in the watch Repair section but then changed my mind. Watch servicing is of sufficient general interest to warrant a post in the General Discussion

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Let's face it: servicing a watch is expensive. A minimal service cost only $50 but I cannot recommend it. A typical service at you local watch-repair shop ranges from $100 to $250, almost as much as the costs of your reps. A full service at an authorized service center--of course you have better sense than to take you reps there--costs around $500. So, why such high cost? And is it a rip-off or is it worth the money? I will try to help you answer these questions.

 

The bottom line is that you have limited options. If you do not care to spend a lot of money to fully service your mechanical watch, you can:

 

a. Wear it until it becomes unreliable or breaks down--and it will.

b. Do a minimal lube job.

c. Learn how to service the watch yourself.

 

I would not recommend the last option unless you are willing to spend a lot of time learning and a lot of money acquiring proper tools. But then again you may find that you have aptitude and passion for working on watches, so this could become a very satisfying hobby, as it did for me. Last option: buy a quartz watch.

 

A brand new mechanical watch will require servicing in 3-5 years, even if you do not wear it at all--lubricants will dry out; seals will leak. A replica watch with inferior movement--Swiss ETA movements in replicas are a hodge podge of ETA parts of various grades and vintages--may require even more frequent service, especially if they have not been properly serviced at the factory. If you want to keep your mechanical watch in good working order for a long time, eventuallky a full service will become necessary.

 

Servicing a watch--lubrication is only a small part of it--requires a partial to complete "overhauling" of the movement.

 

A complete service consists of:

 

1. Disassembly

2. Cleaning

3. Inspection and part replacement as necessary

4. Lubrication

5. Regulation (timing)

6. Adjustment.

 

WATCH-SERVICE DESCRIPTION

 

Depending on the price quoted, your local watchmaker may curtail or skip some of these steps all together.

 

DISASSEMBLY. A near-complete disassembly is best to facilitate the next two steps. Your watchmaker may not have the proper tools to service a particular brand or model so some tasks could be omitted or done improperly resulting in damage to the watch. Even at the very initial step of the service--opening the watch case--a $25 wrench may leave marks on a the case back. A good wrench for a serious watch hobbyist will set you back $500-$600. A safe vacuum tool used by top repair centers costs around $5,000-$7,000.

 

CLEANING. There are some parts--unfortunately very few--that can be cleaned satisfactorily in an ultrasonic cleaner. Most parts require disassembly for proper cleaning.

 

INSPECTION/REPLACEMENT. Critical moving parts that can be worn out or damaged (mainspring, escape wheel, balance wheel, pallets, pivots, jewels, bearings, etc.) should be carefully inspected. Cheap services simply assume that these parts are OK without actually doing the time-consuming inspection. At the minimum, seal and gaskets should be inspected before re-use to avoid water damage. Worn, scratched or bent parts, or cracked jewels should be replaced. It is also possible to damages watch parts with improper handling (e.g. haispring is tricky to handle) during disassembly; they should be replaced. Your local watch repair shop may not have access to the right parts and may simply re-use worn out or damaged old parts.

 

LUBRICATION. Correct lubrication requires that different qualities and quantities of lubricants be used for different lubrication points. For example, a typical JLC in-house movement requires up to five different lubricants to be used for different parts of the watch (pallets, different wheel bearings, etc.). This is no different than using different fluids for the brakes, transmission and engine. The IWC Mark XII was notorious for working erratically when too much lubricant was used. Most $50-$150 service is simply a "lube rinse" in the ultrasonic cleaner. It's like giving you car an oil bath and hoping that some oil will get into the right place in the engine.

 

REGULATION (TIMING). It is a relatively simple process of changing the effective length of the hairspring via the regulator, or changing the center of mass of the balance wheel to affect the absolute rate. This is routinely done to give the watch an acceptable base timing rate.

 

ADJUSTMENT. This is a much more involved process of fine-tuning the balance wheel, hairspring, and regulator to stabilize the watch's rate over time. This should be done for five positions: dial up/down, crown up/down, and crown left--the crown right position is the least critical and typically omitted, unless you are a contortionist working for Cirque du Soleil. Even with an electronic timer, this is a time consuming process that can take several hours. It can also be done in 10 minutes with expected results.

 

PARTING WORDS

 

A watch service may take 1 to 10 hours depending on how thorough it is. The cost may be as little as $50, and as high as $500 (or more if critical parts are replaced) which may seem high relative to the cost of the watch, particularly a replica. The cost is usually commensurate with time spent servicing the watch. You may elect to just wear your replicas until they break down. You may opt for the $50 job, which is simply a lube rinse in the ultrasonic cleaner that may do some good. But remember that all mechanical watches, genuine or otherwise, require servicing every 3-5 years or so regardless of wear to ensure high performance and prevent damages. Whether you consider a particular watch worthy of this maintenance or not is up to you. If you want to keep your watch in god working order for a long time, I strongly recommend a full service every 3-5 years.

[AllergyDoc 40]

Nice write-up.

 

One alternative is buying a watch with a cheap Asian movement that can be replaced for $25 or less. Or if you don't want to pay for a service on a ETA you could replace it with an Asian-clone ETA. Most would rather service the ETA, but it is an option.

[P_Diddy 0]

how many members have owned a rep longer than 3-5 years?

 

assuming that you have not flipped it, would you really want to spend $80 - $120 on a full movement service, given that the watch cost less than $300 - $350 approx. [ Yes I know some members do spend more $400+ WHY?]

 

This is a convincing arguement to get reasonably priced used gens rather than expensive high end reps!

 

makes little financial sense when servicing costs approx 30% of purchase price.

 

With the used gen, you are guaranteed to get 60 - 80% on re-sale, with a rep hmmmm maybe ....0%

Edited April 19, 2010 by P_Diddy

[greg_r 81]

I've owned a rep longer than 5 years, and I agree - up to a point. Even though it had a gen ETA movement, the fact was that later reps were much closer to the real thing, so it made no sense to get it serviced when the keyless works broke. That was what got me to join RWG1, as things had changed a lot since I'd last bought a rep.

 

However, it's not a convincing argument to buy cheaper used gens if they're not the specific watch you wanted in the first place (if they were, why buy reps). It's just a good reason to buy the latest and greatest rep.

[sconehead 5]

...plus the thing is all mechanical watches, rep or gen, will need a service sometime...

[venusbloo 0]

Just give it some of this...

 

[greg_r 81]

Ah yes. WD40, duct tape and a hammer. All you need to fix anything.....

[cybee 0]

how many members have owned a rep longer than 3-5 years?

 

I have about seven or so that are going on almost 4 years and none of them has stopped working yet. Figure if I can't service them or if they get flubbbered when I try to reassemble, I will just drop in a new movement, whether DG, swiss, or clone.

 

Keeping fingers crossed

 

Heading out now to get some duct tape

[dmisgod 0]

I even use a WD-40 on my hotdogs, when they are too hard

[lildaddym 0]

DG?

 

how many members have owned a rep longer than 3-5 years?

 

I have about seven or so that are going on almost 4 years and none of them has stopped working yet. Figure if I can't service them or if they get flubbbered when I try to reassemble, I will just drop in a new movement, whether DG, swiss, or clone.

 

Keeping fingers crossed

 

Heading out now to get some duct tape

 

 

I do plan on keeping mine for as long as possible...and repairing them as needed!

[AllergyDoc 40]

DG?

First two letters of Chinese-made movements:

 

http://www.ofrei.com/page1119.html

[fakemaster 0]

Watch servicing in general can't be looked at from a cost effectiveness point of view. Even in the gen world watch ownership is a losing proposition like anything else. They're consumable products just like cars or televisions. And like cars, with the exception of a few brands/models, the value goes down over time. But you still service/fix your car because it is a tool that you need to run correctly. Or because you really like it. Or it has some sentimental value to you.

[sconehead 5]

You can get a splash and dip done, or buy the stuff to do it yourself...not ideal but it can only make it better if you can't fork out for a full service...