What personally I find disturbing is the 'my way or the highway' approach that manufacturers have (including Omega) when you send your watch for service.
Me as well, but "it is what it is" so until people speak up, there's not going to be any changing this. And by speaking up I don't mean ranting on a forum, but making your concerns known to these companies directly. But understand that no watch company is going to agree to let you do a mediocre service of the movement, so you may eventually get concessions on cosmetics, but that's all I would ever hope for.
The approach of making the watch 'look like new', will impose changes that I personally cannot agree (e.g. replacing dials, hands, polishing the case, etc).
Again I agree completely. And in the case of the Omegas we all love, this is a major issue clearly.
However in this example, not so much. Tony is convinced that there is some I assume significant cosmetic work to be done here, this is one area where we can clearly see from photos at least a good portion of what might be needed from a cosmetic perspective...my observations are as follows:
We have a watch that is in overall good condition, that has what appears to be an undamaged enamel dial - nothing to be done there.
The hands are solid gold, and have no apparent damage - as long as they fit the posts with the appropriate friction, there's nothing to be done here.
The case is in overall good condition, but it would not be unusual for them to replace hinge pins if they are loose (can't tell from photos), and I suspect they will repair the slight damage to the case where it appears someone has used a knife to open it. Not much to be done here.
I remain unconvinced that there is much in the way of cosmetic work here, because it's not the type of watch that lends itself to a lot of that sort of work, unlike a painted dial, painted hands, lume, and the other things that are common on watches like Speedmasters.
On the other hand, it is precisely the bad attitude of manufacturers that ensure that watch lovers will keep relying on the good services of a local watchmaker.
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This is great, but keep in mind that watchmaker numbers are dwindling over time. They are retiring and dying of quicker than they are being replaced, and this is why they are all booked solid, and why I turn away watches every single day because there's no way I could do them all.
This is why brands are using "selective assembly" in servicing, where they train unskilled labour to do a small portion of the movement's assembly, and the movement moves down what is like an assembly line. The watchmaker only does the very final tweaks and testing. This is becoming very common now, and some large brands are using this for servicing of modern watches. They still try to train new watchmakers, but clearly they can't replace them fast enough, so this is the alternative.
This situation is not going to get better, and with brands restricting parts, or making them so expensive that guys like me have a hard time competing with the brand's rates and still make a living, things will get interesting down the road. If there is anything that is going to kill the interest in vintage watches, this will be it. So if you have a local guy that does good work, take good care of him, because if he tells you to take a hike, you may not find a replacement.
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Cheers, Al
