I'll address the two watchmaking questions here...

Yes, but it would need to be worn carefully. It will most likely not have any water resistance if you keep it all original, and if the specific watch is from an era when the balance jewels didn't have shock protection, it won't take much of a hit to break a balance staff.

This dent in a lug is from a watch that had a broken staff - the owner didn't remember hitting it on anything, so clearly it wasn't a huge shock - likely from clipping a door frame on the way through:



Later versions of the movement had shock protection on the balance jewels, and would be less susceptible to broken staffs.

Many people equate a simple movement with simple servicing - this is not always the case.

The 30T2 is not more difficult to service than any other simple manual wind movement, if you are lucky enough to get one that has either been properly maintained over the years, or has had little use, then it's quite easy to service.

If you get one that is worn out, it may need substantial repairs to resolve severe wear issues such as main plates and bridges, where worn out holes need to be bored out and bushings installed. Often other parts such as train wheels are worn out, and many of the parts for this whole series of calibers are discontinued, so they require hunting to find the parts on the open market. That takes time and usually the parts are not cheap when you find them - I've paid as much as $150 for a single train wheel for these calibers that was hard to find.

I service a lot of these and any given watch can require bushing of worn holes, balance staff replacement (doing that right now on one), burnishing pivots on a Jacot tool, etc. The complexity depends more on condition than the actual movement. You can use 90% of the watchmaking skills you will ever need fixing a simple movement like this.

Cheers, Al

 

@Canuck : I don’t know why, but I rarely think of it this way. I mean, it’s not like my 65 years has used me up 50 to 60%.

I should probably stop winding myself up every day.

 

I wore a 2179 daily for a couple of years and had no issues at all, I had it serviced when I bought it, before wearing it. Had it a quite a while and wore it moderately frequently without any issues at all. Unfortunately, no longer with me, pic below. I also have an Omega WWW that I wear occasionally, over the last 15 years or so and never had a problem with that either. Get it serviced by a good watch repairer and wear it with pleasure.

 

There are plenty of parts for this movement. New old stock. Fairly easy to service. Avoid water and it'll be running fine long after we 're all gone.

 

@Archer This is incredible information. Thank you for taking the time to explain all this to me. I guess this emphasizes the importance of buying the best condition I can find. Do "project watches" ever pan out in your experience?

@size11s I thought I recognized your username from MWR. Thank you for sharing your experiences with the 2179. I have a WTB post in the PX, but no luck just yet. The search continues