That’s an interesting reply; thought out and reasoned as opposed to dogmatic belief. So in summary: If I have a 40 year old automatic Patek with a movement that is far from current, requiring a Swiss watchmaker to hand manufacture any new parts, and that I wear every day, then a service every 5 years might save (a lot!) of money? But if I have a newly purchased manual wind Omega (a Speedmaster for example), and it is one of a rotation, then I can safely wear it without worries when the calendar is showing 2033 and beyond?
Makes me wonder though: At what point is the watch running on empty so to speak? By which I mean, is there time when the lubricant is no longer working simply due to age even if the watch is still running and repairable?
Yes, this is exactly the point - and using a Patek as an example...
This one came in needing a few parts, some from wear, and one from rust:
So finding the parts wasn't easy, but I found all that I needed except the fourth wheel that is shown above. That, the best I could find was a used one, with some slight wear, that was going to cost me $550. For just one wheel...
So the wheel was repivoted - that means cutting off the bad pivot, drilling a small hole in the end of the wheel, turning a part to go into that hole, then re-machining the pivot:
Here's a view where you can see that the hole was drilled and a plug inserted, that the new pivot was formed from:
This is not inexpensive work, but was cheaper than the used wheel, and I was sure that I wouldn't end up buying a used wheel that already had too much wear on it. In a watch like this, preserving the parts is paramount. In a mass produced Speedmaster that parts can be bought for it easily (a new fourth wheel for the 861 is all of $37), it makes no sense at all to use that same rigid approach.
As for how long lubricants last, well as much as some people believe it's a short as 5 years, they last much longer. As I said earlier in this thread, I just serviced an 1861 based Speedmaster that was 10 years old, and there was liquid oil in all the pivots, and no wear on the parts so I didn't have to replace any movement parts for wear. I would feel generally pretty safe with 8-10 years before any real damage is being done, but again this depends in part on how the watch is used.
Cheers, Al
