Dear respectable members,
When I peruse many listings in eBay, forum sales section or web, many declared that their watches just 'recently serviced'. If it was done by a reputable service center or watchmaker then everything is fine. But we know there are so many variance in how a watch serviced out there.
My question: what would be the MINIMUM standard that still considered as acceptable mechanical watch service?

Do the movement parts need to be disassembled completely?
Does the mainspring need to replaced?
Does any other wearable parts need to be replaced? Gasket?
Does the watch need to be pressure & water resistance testing?
Does the watch need to be tested to factory spec?

In what process usually low quality watchmaker cutting corner? How to check that?

Thank you for your inputs.....

 

Yes, enough to clean the dirt out completely and put the proper lubricants in the right places in the correct amount.

Not necessarily. Only if it's in bad shape.

Gaskets - unless otherwise specified. For instance, Steve serviced my '63 168.005 but I told him to leave the original yellow gasket in if it was in good shape. I'm not concerned with water resistance on that watch so much and it was in good enough shape to leave it. If a gasket, or any other normal wear item is replaced I expect the original back. If it's already got a replacement gasket or part, then returning that part isn't necessary.

This is kind of a waste of time & effort for any dress watch or vintage watch. For a modern dive watch though it's essential.

What exactly is 'factory specs'? I would think that most watchmakers give you a little better than factory specifications on timing, unless you're dealing with a true high end piece.

Not fully cleaning the entire movement, not using the correct oils or forgoing things like Epilame, being careless or sloppy and bending the hairspring or partially damaging a part that isn't in plain view or easy for a novice to see…..

Checking it means opening up and taking apart the watch and of course knowing what the hell you're doing yourself - which probably means you should be servicing your own watches. You can use a loupe to see if the correct amount of oil is surrounding an arbor pivot by looking for a dark ring of oil on the inside part of the donut jewel.

 

Great explanation D........ Thank you very much. I would try to train myself checking the oil that you mentioned.

 

All of the above is done on a basic service, and IMO what you have listed here are all essential things to be done as a minimum.

The only time I don't replace a mainspring in a watch I service is when I can't find a new one, and that is a rare occurrence. The reason is two-fold:

1 - In a service costing a couple of hundred dollars or more, I am not going to skimp and use an old spring that I don't know the history of. Without knowing the sizes and taking detailed measurements, I would not even know if it's the correct spring for that movement, as some watchmakers use something "close" rather than taking the time to get the correct spring. Mainsprings do get set, worn, distorted, and they do break, so the extra few bucks involved is well worth it in my view, as I know the right spring is in the barrel, and I won't have to wonder if the timing issues I might be seeing after service are due to a spring with a small kink or weak spot in it, or if they are from another reason.

2 - Time - by the time I remove the old spring, clean it in the cleaning machine, then manually clean it, check it for defect, and then lubricate it, I could have installed 30 new mainsprings in their barrels. Installing a new spring in most cases takes mere seconds, so replacing the spring is actually something that makes the shop more efficient.

Bottom line is that replacing the spring is better for me in that the watch will perform as it should and I will have less come backs, and it's better for my customers. Using an old spring again is simply not worth it in my view.

And I pressure test almost all watches that come into the shop, and the only watches I don't test are those that are clearly not designed to seal at all. Again it takes little time, there is no risk (at least with the machine I use), and it's worth doing to let the customer know if it passes or not. Now of course they could assume all watches are not sealed, but knowing may allow you to wear specific watches on rainy days, etc.

Of course factory specifications should be consulted when a watch is serviced, and if possible exceeded.

As much as I would like to think the profession has moved on from bad practices, there are still plenty of "dunk and swish" watchmakers out there using solo lube or other crap. Many don't full disassemble the movement, but remove the parts that would be damaged by the cleaning solution, run the assembled movement through the cleaning machine, and then just add lube. I see barrels filled with cleaning solution that tell me this still goes on...

Of course other shortcuts are possible, and also some watchmakers may not even know about current practices. If for example they have old information, they may only use a very small amount of HP1300 (if they are even using that instead of D5) on the post of a Rolex rotor, because that is what Rolex said to do a while back. Of course now they tell you to basically flood the post so it's completely coated with oil, so knowing what current practices are is important as things do change.

The thing you need to do is find a watchmaker you can trust, then you don't have to check.

Cheers, Al