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maybe a normal watchmaker is good for a budget service, but you get what you pay for and the authorised service centres do charge a lot more for their fancy little pouches and warranty cards etc, but with that you get a perfectly operational vintage back, there must be exceptions obviously and they have their limits but i'm yet to find any[...]
One of the best independant watchmakers around Toronto apprenticed in his father's shop where he learned his craft and then went on to work at Omega's repair centre for several years. There is nothing wrong about learning from your father.
The frequency a watch has been worn/ used presumably would impact the frequency of service? Without the mechanism being used the only issue I can see is that oil will dry up over time. I presume there’s no uniformity behind how frequently watch would need to be oiled when not in use?
The frequency a watch has been worn/ used presumably would impact the frequency of service? Without the mechanism being used the only issue I can see is that oil will dry up over time. I presume there’s no uniformity behind how frequently watch would need to be oiled when not in use?
The amount of use is certainly a factor - Omega clearly states this in their service recommendations:
As they say, it depends on the conditions in which it was worn, and that would include how much it is worn. Wearing the watch less can extend the service intervals, but it's not a 1 to 1 relationship. So if for example a service is needed after 5 years of constant wear, wearing it 1/3 of the time won't mean it can go 15 years.
The reason is that modern oils will dry up over time. How long they last depends on the specifics of each oil, the amount that is applied, etc. When they do dry up, it looks like this:
The older natural oils that used to be used in watches failed in a particular way - they became more viscous as time went by, and the result of that is that the oil gummed up the watch and would cause more severe performance issues. So within say 3 years or so, you would see the power reserve drop, timekeeping would suffer, etc. and eventually it would just stop. This prevented a ton of wear from happening.
Modern oils don't fail this way - they dry up like you see above, and they don't gum the watch up. The watch continues to run, but is running dry basically. I've had watches come in that based on just how they run on the wrist, you would think they were just serviced, but were completely dry inside.
If you have a watch you care about preserving the parts inside, then I personally wouldn't stretch the service interval past maybe 8 years or so.
Cheers, Al
Sound advice, thanks
I bought an Omega with a serial number dated from about 2002, which runs fine and doesn't lose more than about 5 seconds a day, so i assumed it wouldn't need a service yet, do you think i should get it serviced given it's age?
i almost don't want to wear it now imagining all those dry surfaces scraping against each other producing nano-swarf
I have a Sub and an OP39 that live in the bank safe. The sub has never been worn, the OP39 rhodium was worn for a few months. I finally admitted to myself i need to wear what I like.
Never could understand not wearing a modern watch and keeping them locked up. But it's your property.
Indeed, I often tell people that with a modern watch, waiting until there's a problem may be the best way to go financially.
However there is one caveat - water resistance. Omega will replace worn parts as part of the service, but if the watch gets wet inside, and parts rust, dial degrade, etc., that no longer a regular service, and the owner will pay MUCH more for all that. So there is some risk, but how much depends on how the watch is worn.
So to avoid this danger, the watch could by periodically tested for water resistance. Is this something that should be done by Omega? And what would be the recommended frequency for a watch that never is intentionally under water? In my case, an Aquaterra. I know Omega says annually. But that's an overkill, no?
