Dilemma - repair or return newly purchased faulty speedmaster?

Horlogerie

I think that is a good decision.

I would suggest you look around with regards to the servicing. Determining from a visual inspection alone, without disassembly, that you need a complete barrel is questionable at best. Having to replace the complete barrel is a very rare occurance, rather than £150 for a new barrel, the mainspring alone is £10 or so...which is most likely the only fault.

Rob

Horlogerie

I think that is a good decision.

I would suggest you look around with regards to the servicing. Determining from a visual inspection alone, without disassembly, that you need a complete barrel is questionable at best. Having to replace the complete barrel is a very rare occurance, rather than £150 for a new barrel, the mainspring alone is £10 or so...which is most likely the only fault.

Rob

Spacefruit

All Speedmasters, in my opinion, arrive to me needing a full, STS standard service.

If I buy a Speedmaster, unless it has a documented history from STS or equivalent (There are at least two members of this forum I put in that group, maybe more but two i know), then any use I get out of it is on borrowed time.

Dealers, bless them, exist for one reason:
For you to buy the food that feeds them.

Now there are many people who sell a lot of watches, who are not dealers, and many are here. There are also a few people who aspire to be dealers but are incompetent and immoral. And just because a dealer is making his living from you does not necessarily mean you wont get a good watch. But the vast majority of self described dealers do not sell enough watches to make a good living, so they have to get it where they can, or keep the plumbing job going on the side. In fact my favorite person to buy from is a man who would love to be a dealer, thinks a lot like one, but realizes it cannot be his main source of income. He is reasonable and fair, while still making money, but I am sure he is not putting his children through private school on his profits. A person it this position is perfect because they have a lot of knowledge, they need to sell, and they do not need to make the weeks rent off me on one deal. Added to that is that if a watch is wrong, they usually bend over backwards to fix it. Once a genuine dealer has a good volume, they seem to be better to buy from - margins are lower, they work harder for their reputations.

If I sell a watch, I tell you if it has a service, or not. That is all that counts. And I will only tell you if it has documents.

If it has not I will say - it needs a service. If it is serviced, it is worth $650+ more than unserviced. Its that simple, and that is the reason dealers don't do it, because many people shop on price alone.

Here are some dealers favorites that I don't say because they are without any substance at all:

Running Strong
Inspected by my watchmaker
Running within COSC specs

Those three statements are guff. Meaningless garbage to puff up the sales patter. I just received a 2915 back from service. When it arrived to me it was, and I quote:

"Running Strong"
"Inspected by a watchmaker"
AND
Keeping time. It was actually keeping time to within 20s a day.
At least he did not say it was within COSC specs.

Here is what we replaced inside:

Actually I missed six further tiny parts and screws in the bag. Remember, sold to me as serviced, inspected and running.

Now despite what I say above, I like and respect most dealers I meet. But they have to be dealt with like the frog and the scorpion. (Google it)

Caveat Emptor.

At all times

Spacefruit

Here is what we replaced inside:

Horlogerie

Would you mind sharing what was wrong with the mainplate and spacer ring that rendered them unserviceable?

Horlogerie

Would you mind sharing what was wrong with the mainplate and spacer ring that rendered them unserviceable?

GlenM

I do indeed have a solution, after all the helpful input and opinions I have decided that I am best to keep the watch, and split the repair costs with the seller.
Proper pics will appear once it is returned from repair. But, for now, just a teaser of one I took before I sent it to the watchmaker

watchtinker

Hello Robert,
the retaining ring is clearly worn at the pusher holes.
Please notice that also the friction spring for chronograph runner seems to have been substituted. This might suggest that an MK2 mainplate has been employed...
Cheers,
Maurice

Etp095

Good looking speedy, I like the strap.