Hi:

I'm new to this forum and am hoping for some advice.

I have a vintage 1020 Seamaster that I inherited from my grandfather.

When I first received it I had it serviced by a local watch maker (June 2018) and it was running well within COSC spec.

Fast forward to today I noticed that it is now running about 1 minute fast per day. Anyhow, what is the typical service interval of this particular vintage? Is 3 years a reasonable time?

I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the watch being in a winder the last two years due to me having to work from home, or that is just the nature of vintage watches.

Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Eric

 

I have heard 3-5 years. So 3 is not unreasonable, especially if it gets regular wrist time.

 

Thanks. I just did a bit more digging and discovered my watch is magnetized (it messed up my needle compass!). I'm going to order a demagnetizer and see if that help solves the issue.

 

I’d say 3 years is quick. I assume 5-10 years, accepting ten is pushing it

 

That makes me feel better - spending several hundred every 3 years is a bit too steep

 

Three years could be normal for this watch being in a winder.

Isn't it enough to just wind your unworn watch once a month?

 

Update: the demagnetizer from Amazon arrived today and I gave the watch a quick "de-zap".

The watch went from nearly 30s to 1s per day based on rough measurement.

 

I'm glad you sorted that out. However, it's worth mentioning that keeping the watch in a winder is just creating unnecessary wear and tear, and makes it more likely that you will need replacement parts or repairs in the future, in addition to a routine service.

 

Thanks. I've been getting a lot conflicting information through various forums about this.

Some say that for vintage watches, the risk of damaging the watch is greater if I have to constantly unscrew the crown to adjust the time (due to the smaller and older part). I suppose if I don't wear the watch often enough, the risk of that is less than the wear and tear of having it in the winder?

 

I guess it depends on your dexterity. I have unscrewed and re-screwed crowns thousands of times and I haven't damaged one yet.

You would also consider how often you would need to unscrew the crown to set the watch. Most likely that would be once a week or so for a vintage watch, even with the watch on a winder. So if you don't wear the watch very often, you will be unscrewing/screwing the crown every time you wear it anyway.

 

It’s not a screw down crown is it?

Got to say, I’ve never understood watch winders. If you wear your watch daily you don’t need them and if you rotate a collection of watches it means the watch will spend significantly more time on the winder than on your wrist - what’s the point?!
It would only make sense I guess if someone has a 2 or 3 watch collection that they rotate evenly.

 

Or for a really complicated watch that is a PITA to set. Or maybe a non-quickset date watch, if you care about having the date right. Personally, once my winder died, I didn't see the need to replace it.

 

Actually, it is not a screw down crown, but when I got the watch back from servicing, the watch maker told me to handle this watch with care, especially regarding the crown.

Also, I am trying to wear the watch more often instead of having it in the winder. Then as I just discovered, because my wrist/watch sits directly above the laptop's speaker when I type, that's apparently how it got magnetized.