I just bought a pre owned speedmaster mark ii that just won't wind fully. I have read online to keep winding till it stops , but believe me , i tried winding over 200 and it still won't stop winding, my finger tips are now sore! The watch will run for about 10 hours and stop, no chrono running .Is this a serious problem to fix, or will a servicing be able to resolve this? Feeling pretty upset now.

 

You should service any mechanical/automatic watch if you do not know it’s service history if older than a 5 years. Take it to a quality watchmaker for service (Not Omega, but a watchmaker) Sounds like a broken main spring, and possibly a couple other parts with need to be replaced.

 

I am considering to return to seller, but prefer not to do so. Does this sound like an expensive repair?

 

Did the seller claim it has been serviced recently? Unless you know the service history, always factor in a service when buying a vintage watch.

 

He did say he owned it for 2 year , not serviced . I am fine with a servicing, just worried it will cost much more to fix the issues .

 

They should all be addressed during a service. Others can speak to the cost; depends on where you are.

 

Also. . . Pics please!

 

Ask the seller to pay for a service and bring it to your watchmaker. Should be easly solved.

 

Why should you ask the seller to pay for a costly service? He clearly said he'd owned it for 2 years and hadn't serviced it. Buyer knows this, good buyer knows the first thing the watch needs is a service pretty much straight away anyway. Buyer should really figure in the price of a service when purchasing such high end watch unless there is very recent supporting paperwork of a service
. A broken mainspring shouldn't add too much on to the bill as the whole thing is being taken apart during a service anyway. In the past I've had 2 working vintage watches conk out on me within the first 48 hours and I'd never dream of sending them back or asking for repairs to be paid for. You buy vintage you take your chances. If however, the seller makes certain promises and guarantees about a watch that prove to be false...Well that's another matter....

 

Broken mainspring - will be replaced during the course of a normal service. If this was not disclosed by the seller, you may have a case for return or some money towards the service. It all depends on the terms of the sale.

Cheers, Al

 

Am I missing something here?
I have acquired and sold many watches, also expensive ones. If I sell a watch I am totally transparent about the condition of the watch. I would have told to the buyer about that issue.
And when I buy, I pretend to know if there are problems!

In this case the seller should have explained this issue.

 

Let me also add that the seller said he serviced 2 years ago, not 8. After 2 years it should be perfect. I believe the buyer knew about the winding problem and did not advise the buyer. This is just a personal opinion.

 

I don’t believe he ever said it was serviced two years ago. I believe he said he owned it for two years, and did not service during that time!

 

Yep. And who knows when it was serviced last before he bought it? I’ve had a main spring break a few days after receiving a vintage watch in the mail, so it’s possible that it appeared fine to the seller and broke when the OP began winding it. This is the danger we live with buying vintage watches with no service history. I’m in the “suck it up and service it” camp.

 

Lets see it!

 

Right, seller owned it for 2 years and did not service it. Like I said, I am prepared to service it , just worried there may be big underlying problem. From what i hear this should not be a big problem so I think I will service and keep it . But is it normal for a watch to continue to work for 10 hours with broken mainspring ? For those who asked for photo. ..

 

I think it depends on where on the mainspring the break is. It is entirely possible that the watch can run for 10 hours even with a broken mainspring, but the chrono not working is probably a different issue. Are you seeing any hour creep on the hour recorder?

 

What i meant in my original post was that the chrono was not run during the 10 hours, not that it is not functioning. No hour creep, however the chrono hour hand returns to 11 on reset which i guess should be fixed in the servicing.

 

Pardon me then. In any case, during his 2 years ownership I am sure he noted this winding issue.....

 

Typically the mainspring will break in one of two places - at the barrel arbor, or out at the tang end. If it breaks at the barrel arbor then the watch will stop running completely because there's no spring to wind around the arbor and drive the barrel. Here is a Speedmaster mainspring broken like I've just described:







If it breaks out at the tang end (that would be just above where the 7 digit of 2017 is in the watermark in the last photo with the spring laying on my bench), then almost all of the mainspring can wind around the barrel arbor, and the friction of all that spring is enough to make the barrel turn, so the watch will run and may even run well for a short period of time.

I tried to find a photo with a spring broken out at the tang end, but all the photos of broken springs I could find quickly were broken at the inner coil...that tends to be the most common place in my experience.

Cheers, Al