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bgrisso
·I just sold a 22705 to a collector in NY, it wasn't a watch I had listed for sale, but they wanted it, and I was open to sellling it. It had a full service by the previous owner within 2 years (and they provided copy of the paperwork showing the service in the listing). The watch worked fine for me, but for the past year I haven't really worn it much, so it's basically been sitting in my safe.
The buyer said it stopped running on his wrist twice and that the movement seemed lose in the case. I said I had not had any issues with it running and that it sounded like one of the case clamps was loose, should be a quick and easy fix. My first guess, and question to the buyer, was if the watch was being fully wound, but they insisted it was being fully wound.
They dropped it off for an estimate, and then told me it came back at $2700 repair. The shop was Grand Central Watch, not a place I'm familiar with. Needless to say I was shocked at the estimate, especially given that it had a full service fairly recently.
I asked them to ship it to my watchmaker (Blake, Scotch Watch). Blake said one of the case clamps was loose but otherwise no problems. He said he ran four runtime tests in a row and all of them around 43-44 hours. Amplitude was between 250-300, beat error under 1ms. He said all the numbers are where they should be and the watch does not require any type of service. His first guess was the watch was not being fully wound,
Anyhow the feedback from Blake was exactly what I was expecting to hear, and consistent with my own experiences. Blake had not done the previous service, had no vested interest of any kind in the watch, and was the first time he saw it.
I've never heard of a service estimate of $2700 USD for any UG ever, anywhere, and this one is not even a "UG" cal, it's a V72.
Getting back to the estimate from Grand Central, at face value it seems like price gouging bordering on a scam, but I'm curious of other people's experience and opinion.
The buyer said it stopped running on his wrist twice and that the movement seemed lose in the case. I said I had not had any issues with it running and that it sounded like one of the case clamps was loose, should be a quick and easy fix. My first guess, and question to the buyer, was if the watch was being fully wound, but they insisted it was being fully wound.
They dropped it off for an estimate, and then told me it came back at $2700 repair. The shop was Grand Central Watch, not a place I'm familiar with. Needless to say I was shocked at the estimate, especially given that it had a full service fairly recently.
I asked them to ship it to my watchmaker (Blake, Scotch Watch). Blake said one of the case clamps was loose but otherwise no problems. He said he ran four runtime tests in a row and all of them around 43-44 hours. Amplitude was between 250-300, beat error under 1ms. He said all the numbers are where they should be and the watch does not require any type of service. His first guess was the watch was not being fully wound,
Anyhow the feedback from Blake was exactly what I was expecting to hear, and consistent with my own experiences. Blake had not done the previous service, had no vested interest of any kind in the watch, and was the first time he saw it.
I've never heard of a service estimate of $2700 USD for any UG ever, anywhere, and this one is not even a "UG" cal, it's a V72.
Getting back to the estimate from Grand Central, at face value it seems like price gouging bordering on a scam, but I'm curious of other people's experience and opinion.
