I don't think I have ever bought a watch with evidence of a recent service. Never been a problem for me....
Serviced is important also how does the service and more important a proof , this permits to sale your watch at a good price generally and with no problems or discussion later,
I do not service unless a watch tells me it needs some attention. Therefore, it is most likely a buyer from me will get a watch that has not been serviced.
Unless I state it is serviced when I sell, it is not. Unfortunately this tag on eBay pops up so often that people may not care that the service was a cost and you can lose big time if you send a watch up for auction. Fixed price is the way to go unless you know the watch is desirable serviced or not. As for buying, if it looks all correct I will factor in the service cost even if it says it has been. Too many times personally and experienced forum members here have said that a serviced watch still needs a look at especially if the source is not well known/totally random as eBay is. I have found that servicing gives me security personally knowing the watch isn't being destroyed whilst on the wrist.
I once bought a watch from someone who clearly was “flipping”. He was selling the watch with a certificate of service and warranty going back only one month, from what appeared to be a local jewelery store in Italy. That was one of only 3 occasions I bought a watch with documented service. It kept perfect time but I brought it to my watchmaker to open up for pictures. He took a look at the movement and found the work was amateurish and useless. Oil was lacking in critical places, and disturbingly excessive in others. A new service was needed again for regular wear. You can imagine I wasn’t going to ship the watch back for a new service where it originated.
Agree with this. Unless I buy a watch with a documented service from a watchmaker I recognise, it’s unserviced as far as I’m concerned. Regarding selling without a service. My general position is that any ‘keepers’ I buy are going for a service. However, to avoid ending up with too many watches out for service at once and the associated fees, I’ll generally spread this out so a new acquisition will go for service probably within 6 months. However, I started purely as a chronograph guy and for perhaps the last 2 years I’ve been starting to try out dress watches, 3 handed sports, diver etc. This has led to me buying quite a lot, followed by either an immediate flip as it clearly wasn’t for me, or some that I liked but found myself wearing once in six months, so they went too. Most of these were unserviced as I’m still seeing what I like and what I don’t and servicing is generally money you don’t get back when selling. As I’m in an experimental stage right now, it’d cost me a fortune to service everything that arrives, only to pass it on on a months time when I find it’s not for me If I sell a watch as serviced, it’s because I intended to keep it for the permanent collection and ended up selling for another reason.
I’m in the camp of too many to service them all, but I’ll add another factor to the mix. When i buy a vintage watch, I am usually in the: Or it’s something to fit into the collection. In with the new. Few experienced sellers are really going to give you a price break because the watch hasn’t been serviced. It’s just not that a big a factor in a negotiation around a watch that runs. Pictures of the movement please and I’ll happily take it from there. Rather have my watchmaker get in there if it’s a piece I’ll wear regularly.
Lol, I must be weird for winding all of mine every morning. They're pretty much almost always running at the same time and I always get them serviced if they're too off. Then again I have a pretty manageable number of pieces (10) .
Some thoughts on vintage watches: my personal thoughts, you may or may not agree - Vintage watches are not for daily wear, hence being freshly serviced or even in great working condition are not really necessary. That said, I think an acceptable standard is as follows: runs, crown winds well, keep time +/- 5 minutes. Highly subjective here. Why? As earlier posts explained, they are kept in boxes and taken out to be admired from time to time. You don't want to wear your 60s watch outside gathering salty sweat on its caseback or let humid air enter its crown. Here is an analogy that I hope would not be too far-fetched. It is like collecting a painting. You are collecting a piece of history from its date of production to current: as a collector you would want to preserve as much of its state as (it was) at its inception as possible. - In the rare circumstance where you wish to make it your daily beater, I would be willing to pay a premium above the listed price to ensure it has been properly serviced - nothing short of a receipt and time stamp of the service with a reputable watchmaker must be produced. To look at it another way, if a buyer asks a vintage watch seller "how many +/- seconds is it losing", then, lol mate, that is at least +£200 on top of the list price.
There are watchmakers and then, there are watchmakers. Some I wouldn't trust to clean my cats litter box, never mind servicing a watch. For that reason, if see a vintage watch I want to buy I rather its not serviced if not done by a reputable watchmaker.
Irrespective of their age, watches are tools, designed to be used... keeping them in anything less than correct working order, and then not wearing them seems, frankly, rather pointless. Like owning a Porsche 356 and then not servicing or driving it... because it's an "old car"
Completely agree with @tyrantlizardrex. For me at least, vintage watches are not meant to just be stored and looked at from time to time. They're functional and I do think they're meant for daily wear, or else it's like they dont exist.
Many of the watches I own I purchased between 15-25 years ago.. Most were serviced shortly after I acquired them and most were relegated to the dresser drawer (probably close to 50 watches from very humble to quite nice).. Also, most of my career choices were blue collar, so I rarely ever wore any of the nicer watches. I'm guessing an unworn watch serviced 25 years ago is still in need of a service as the oils will dry up after that amount of time....So in the dresser they shall remain until they are sold with complete disclosure.
Very interesting perspectives in this thread, and more variety than I would have predicted in fact. I think the OP made some astute observations in the original post. I'd like to add my personal thoughts as well. Of the roughly dozen vintage watches in my collection, only the ones I intend to wear regularly have been serviced. They were all running accurately at the time I purchased them, but as I learned from the venerable Archer's posts over the years, regular servicing prevents even an accurately running watch from experiencing premature wear or failure. So, I have serviced the watches I intended to wear frequently (my favorites), and also the pieces whose value warranted the added investment. The watches I enjoy less frequently, usually just by admiring them out of my watch box, remain unserviced. In the event I sell any of them, the state of their maintenance will be disclosed in the listing. I suspect those who are looking to turn a profit on the hobby, or who plan to keep individual watches for the short term only, would be more reticent to have their pieces serviced.
That sums me up - new to the hobby, buying a variety of things to see what I like. If it keeps time I'm happy, for now. If I fall in love with something and wear it a lot, it'll go in for service every now and again, like my Rolex does...