A bit of background - I've owned my 2500 PO since 2011 and had it serviced for the first time last year (after dropping it on the floor ). I've only really started wearing it again since the service in recent weeks. Since then I've felt that the bracelet is looser around the links with more gaps / stretch between links than previously.

Is it possible that the service / repairer did something to create stretch or bigger gaps between the links? I know the links were dealt with during the service because when I first went to pick it up, the bracelet actually came apart in my hands and had to go back (my watchmaker said something about his guy replacing the pins but not the cuffs...).

Is this something I can reasonably go back to my watchmaker to address? I've also added some photos below - does it look like an unacceptable level of stretch here, or am I being more critical / paranoid than usual?

 

He might suggest that there is no way he could have caused more deterioration in your bracelet in the short time he had the watch, than you could have caused over the 10+ years you wore it. Best of luck, and be sure to let us know how he reacts to your suggestion that he damaged it.

 

The portion of the bracelet that your photos are focused on, closest to the watch head, are mostly fixed links that do not come apart. So none of the work the watchmaker did on the bracelet in terms of replacing pins and tubes, would have an impact there simply because those links don't come apart. You can look at the sides of those links and see there are no pins to drive out.

The first thing I do when I remove a bracelet from a watch that comes in for service, is to throw it into my ultrasonic tank and give it a good clean. This can dislodge all kinds of packed in dirt the has gathered in the bracelet. I suppose it's possible that when your watchmaker cleaned the bracelet, he removed the built up dirt and this has made the bracelet feel a bit looser.

Most likely, you just don't recall what it was like previously. It's not unusual for customers to suddenly notice something after a service, that's been there all along. I've had people come back and tell me that the watch has a scratch or dent on it that wasn't there when they sent it to me, and I've been able to shows them that when I took photos of the watch when it arrived, those things were clearly visible. People aren't doing this intentionally - it's just a natural thing to pay more attention when something comes back from being repaired. No need for any overreaction from the watchmaker as Canuck seems to be suggesting - that's unprofessional. But I would advise against being aggressive if you plan to ask.

Cheers, Al

 

Haha I can appreciate how he might feel about that, hence me raising questions in advance. I'm not sure if my concerns were that the watchmaker contributed to normal stretching (e.g. by pulling on it a lot or wearing it too tight on a big wrist) - more that there might have been issues within his control about how the bracelet was taken apart and put back together, like using new pins that have started to fail or forgetting to replace cuffs. But as @Archer noted the pins wouldn't have been removed in any case, so I can strike this one down to paranoia

 

Thanks for the feedback Archer, I had a suspicion that I might be acting overly critical of the watch since service (I still can't get used to the new model crowns used as replacements during service!) and it's fascinating to get that perspective from someone who commonly sees similar behaviours from clients. At the end of the day I trust my watchmaker, and am happy to ascribe this to attentional bias.