So, just sent my watch off for a service…

try the Watchdoctor in Tring, substantially cheaper than having watch serviced by the official people

I thought a quote at £40 to fix a Citizen eco drive was bad news. In the end I retired it, it had cost £125 about 10 years earlier. Replaced with an £80 storm watch and have subsequently bought a £100 Fossil (they both look great – like something prised out of a 60s fighter jet console).

If any of them die i would just put them in the box a long side the Citizen waiting until they are sufficiently retro to do anything with. I also bought a watch tool kit as above to change batteries myself. That has paid for itself now that 2 batteries have been done.

Similar problems here OP, I’ve had a Tag for almost 25yrs and the only thing I have had done is the bezel changing and the strap oh and the batteries.. But I left it in a draw for the last 6/7 years and got it out to wear, battery flat (expected) so went to local Tag dealer and estimated to “fix” £270, all I wanted was a battery change. Idiots.
So it went off for a battery change and still cost me £70.
I have a very local guy here that will change batteries for £4 but he doesn’t like resealing them/pressure testing so that was out of the question, fine for my (insert German Car Branded) watch though 😆

It costs £15 at my local watchsmiths to do a pressure test.

Erm. What does a watch ‘service’ actually entail?
Presumably for almost £600 they must actually replace some bits? Or do they just open it, give it a wipe with some ipa soaked cotton buds and close it up again?

wrightyson – Member
<snip>but I claimed off the house insurance for accidental damage. Incidentally that included two crowns and new fingers/hands. <snip>

Ooo, that must have hurt, Nasty accident indeed 😉

What does a watch ‘service’ actually entail?

Emptying your bank account, apparently.

It’s the 3 months that gets me.
Why?
Do they have so many failed watches to fix?
or is it one old bloke in the corner of the factory?
Either way it’s incompetent, so I’d service it and sell it.

And it’s going to cost £580

I could buy a car for that*

*(but not a bike, obviously)

Probably takes so long as it spends 10 days or so fixed to a machine that winds it and checks accuracy… well its the reason mu Rolex took a fair while to come back….

If you need a watch to find out the time, a cheap digital one will do the job.

If you like the look of a nice watch as a piece of jewellery, then what does it matter whether or not it actually works?

Naughty boy – stop that now!

DrP

Cost £4400

Cost £4083

You’ll find that one of these things will need serviced way more than the other, need parts replaced more often, and will be replaced a whole lot quicker.

Everyone see’s the value of things differently

If you need a watch to find out the time, a cheap digital one will do the job.

If you like the look of a nice watch as a piece of jewellery, then what does it matter whether or not it actually works?

Wearing both would lower the nice piece of jewelry effect ?

A proper watch service means completely stripping the caliber back to it’s parts, cleaning and replacing any that are worn or broken and reassembling using the right lubricants and so forth. Then it will be regulated over a period of several days and in a number of different positions to ensure it is keeping good time.
Russell Talerman in London is good for a reasonably priced service.

Tag are known for their rip off pricing wanted 100 quid to replace a battery for my wife’s watch the local jeweller did it for a fiver, it’s not pressure tested but she screwed the watch back on very tight so I expect it’ll stand the local pool.

You’ll find that one of these things will need serviced way more than the other, need parts replaced more often, and will be replaced a whole lot quicker.

One of them will provide a fantastic experience, a healthy lifestyle, make you grin and laugh like a kid and generally give you a brilliant life-affirming experience. It costs about 3x a solid entry level equivalent and is a fair bit nicer to use.

The other looks good (to some) but otherwise does exactly the same job as a solid entry level equivalent and costs 100x more.

Not a good analogy 🙂

Julesburger, so you take a perfectly functional watch and for no reason strip it down and rebuild it? Doesn’t sound line a service to me. A service by definition is to replace consumable parts, othetwise its a repair, not a service. What’s consumable in a watch?

That’s what they do, I’m not a horologist so dont ask me why but when I’ve had old watches I’ve bought serviced that is what happened. I think the point is if it’s not working properly you have it serviced if it keeps good time leave it alone! Think about this in a year a decent mechanical watch beats at 18000 BPH that’s a lot of movement and hence the potential for wear is quite high.M Maybe that’s why quality mechanical watches are well regarded by many, getting them working consistently to a high accuracy is the height of mechanical engineering. I refer you to the whole longtitude thing.

wobbliscott – all those little wibbly wobbly spinny bits that sit inside the watch need to be wibbling and wobbling and spinning to keep the thing working. Because they’re all wibbling and wobbling and spinning there will be a chance of some mechanical wear etc. So if you’re going to service one for a customer wouldn’t you take them all apart to check the axles/pivots/whatever are still in good nick etc. Same as you do when you service a hub or forks – take it all apart, clean it up, put it back together again, but on a much smaller and more precise scale.

The watch is an Ebel BTR GMT, it was a 30th present from the wife

Just googled – that appears to be north of £2.5K worth of thing. I can’t even concieve of having been in the position to buy each other £2.5K presents when I was 30. Dosn’t really matter if it’s a bike, a car or a watch – it’s a £2.5K pressie! Doing it now 11 years later would still completely clear me out, and a bit. Buying her engagement ring for £1.5K at about that age crippled me for ages.

You sir are one lucky chap! What did she get when it was her turn for the significant birthday present?

But different people are in differing financial positions and have varying priorities. When I was a youth I lusted after a Roly and bought one age 22 with my first decent salary cheque. I was in a position to do so as are many, many others. Sadly, some are not.

It’s the old how do you dispose of your disposable income conundrum. You know what, some people even stick it up their noses 😯

Am now 40, have two kids and far far less money than I had when I was 30, the age it was bought at doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.

Sounds like a nice watch and to pay a not insignificant sum to service a watch that cost a bit I significant sum is to be expected isn’t it?

Seems a bit like complaining about a Ferrari costing more for a main dealer service than a Mondeo.

All watches tell you time….

All bikes take you from a to b.

All cars take you from a to b.

Small house or large house ?

Horses for courses and all…….

Ps.. Nice watch by the way

If it’s too much money and you can’t afford it don’t bother and sell the watch.
If you can afford it stop showing off on here that you are superior to us.
Either way we don’t care

But care enough to post 😉

Am now 40, have two kids and far far less money than I had when I was 30, the age it was bought at doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.

It’s more what you were capable of spending – I am not poor by any stretch and wasn’t at 30 either but I can’t imagine me (or any of my friends who are mostly graduates in a graduate jobs) having had £2.5K in the bank at 30, let alone £2.5K in the bank that I could afford to spend on a present and not being saved up to replace the car when the current one died or for a deposit for a house.

Not critising you at all – just very envious! Then again, now we having a fair bit more disposable income we still buy each other quite small gifts so maybe we are just tight!

And it’s going to cost £580

You could buy a new mobile phone to tell the time with that – who needs a watch anyway?!

Commiserations, anyway; the hazards of owning a fine piece of engineering, I guess. Not looking forward to my watch’s service, but being coaxial it should be 10 years+, I think

my car service cost £800 and took 2 days.

Again, lucky you don’t care….. 🙂

iolo, don’t know why you bothered posting, we don’t care.

I is confused.
If you need a watch to find out the time, a cheap digital one will do the job.
If you like the look of a nice watch as a piece of jewellery, then what does it matter whether or not it actually works?

The two watches I wear on a day-to-day basis are a £75 Casio G-Shock, which is distinctly average when it comes to time keeping, about five minutes out at the mo’, but it’s such a bugger to alter I leave it; you have to keep the bloody button pressed in while the hands slowly crawl round’n’round’n’round’n’round’n’round’n’round’n’…
My £350 Seiko is currently 16 seconds slow, over the same six month period. One’s a quartz movement, the other mechanical.
I wear the Casio to work, ‘cos it doesn’t matter about shoving my hands into machines full of hard, sharp corners, whereas it would really upset me if my Seiko got damaged. Yes it’s a piece of jewellery, but it has a thoroughly practical use, unlike many other form of adornment, which can cost much more, like diamond encrusted signet rings. I mean, why! Nobody uses sealing wax any more. Or huge, chunky gold chains.

Nicko, unfortunately that’s not the case, I didn’t even make three years….

Coaxial movement? argh…

One of them will provide a fantastic experience, a healthy lifestyle, make you grin and laugh like a kid and generally give you a brilliant life-affirming experience. It costs about 3x a solid entry level equivalent and is a fair bit nicer to use.

Lol, an entry level bike is not £1500. A £4500 bike isn’t any different from a £500 one in the categories you list as important. Where a Rolex will draw admiring glances, a Casio will leave a girl wondering if you still live with your mum 😉

Yup, 3 yr “guarantee” on a planet ocean, there was a tiny mark on the bezel and therefore they deemed this as being a “knock”
It’s come back with another 2yr guarantee and nice and shiny etc but the warranty card seems a little bit worthless…

Where a Rolex will draw admiring glances

that depends upon the company you keep, the majority of people I hang around with would openly take the mickey if I started wearing a rolex or similar bling watch

I don’t remember ever discussing watches with women,they seemed to be more impressed by the size of my dick.

Yes, it must be difficult for you stopping them laughing…. 🙂

that depends upon the company you keep, the majority of people I hang around with would openly take the mickey if I started wearing a rolex or similar bling watch

Yes, and your mum would probably start charging you rent too 🙁

Where a Rolex will draw admiring glances, a Casio will leave a girl wondering if you still live with your mum

Mods – I claim my £5 finders fee for discovering a **** troll on the forum, £5 paypal payment to address in profile please…………….. any girl/woman who expresses that sort of attitude or even hints at a sneer in my company would very quickly get told to ****-off.

Yes, and your mum would probably start charging you rent too

don’t think there is enough room for two in the coffin, oh hang on she’s been dead 15yrs so maybe there is now 😯

obviously there is a sad section of society that thinks a bling watch marks them out as an important grown up member of society, you know what they say about fools & their money 😉