Featured What do you do with watches needing repair?

I've collected a bunch of old watches, and a few very nice ones, but most of the nice ones I get need some amount of repair. Here's one I just picked up, not old, but authentic. It doesn't work; other than taking off the back I haven't done anything to it.

Although it cost only $20, the problem is that paying for repair is quite expensive, and probably close to the value of the watch in good working condition. I repair everything I buy myself, and have a back remover tool to change a watch battery, but haven't had the guts to try to fully disassemble a watch. So what do you do when you get a nice watch that needs repair? Have you found someplace that will do repairs at a reasonable cost? Or do you just avoid the problem by avoiding non-working watches?

 

I usually sell them as-is for repair/steampunk projects. Eventually, I'll probably learn how to replace watch batteries on my own, but I'm not familiar enough with watches to risk that. Or to spend too much on them.

 

That's hard when it's a $500 plus watch in running condition. Batteries are easy - you just need a tool to remove the back without damage; it's what I used to open the back of this one, hoping I'd see something obvious (but I didn't). A lot of Swiss watches like this one have no battery but a wind movement or automatic movement - no winding needed since it is wound by moving your arm. That makes them more complicated and expensive to build but harder to repair.

 

Yeah, I can imagine. I don't own any expensive watches. I just like the look of art deco and antique watches, and buy them for their appearance alone (blissfully oblivious to their value or lack thereof).

I have some antique pocket watches, but I buy them assuming that they're broken and that the servicing costs will be far more than their worth.

 

Let's just say taking it apart is easy - putting it back together? - Forget about it!
Of course this is a pocket watch he is taking apart but you can get the gist of it............. scary stuff! One could say I have alot of parts laying around - LOL!

 

Watching the disassembly of that watch, HOW the BEJEEKERS did anyone EVER invent and put one together in the FIRST PLACE!!!!! GADZOOKS!! FASCINATING.....Even if he IS very organized!!!!!

 

JMHO and WDIK. a Tag Heuer diver watch for a depth of appr. 1000 feet (just saying for flatlanders...) that you don't know how it was stored and treated shouldn't be tinkered with because the sealing rings should be changed as well.

 

I'd say it depends on the watch....
I have a great 2nd gen watchmaker...whom I trust , on workmanship & price , but but f the watch is not in high demand.....or there's many out there for sale already working.....it's a risk vs reward kinda thing..

 

I generally just sell them as is for parts or repair; I've never been crazy enough to mess with one. The odds are good an unskilled person would just mess it up further.

 

I have no idea where you are in the world, things may be different, but in the UK and possibly elsewhere, never go to a jewellery shop. They just send them to a local repairer and charge you three times what they get charged.
Use local searches to find an actual repairer, probably in some obscure but cheap location, someone who will do the actual job. Never say 'I think it is overwound', they will have you tagged for an idiot at once.
They should be willing to discuss what needs to be done and quote prices. Anc check their timescales, sometimes next week means 2 or 3 months.

Your Tag may simply be gummed up from disuse, lying in a drawer somewhere.
Wear it for a few days, the warmth and movement may be enough to get it going again at no cost. This or a variant of it will work quite often on watches that do not have physical damage such as broken springs or broken balance staffs.

 

I have a very good jeweler who specializes in watches.... he is the only one allowed to replace my Movado batteries. I do go to a flea market where two older gentlemen from Boston run a watch repair service. I have trusted them to service my 14k watches.

 

I have a jeweller who seems to make watch repair a bit of a specialty. They take the watch for examination, get back to you with a price, & you either authorize the work or go fetch the watch back. They give a 3 month guarantee & will have another go at it if it stops running during that period. Think cost for most of them has been approx. $100, but I wanted them for wear, not resale.

 

when I look at the prices that this model is sold for "pre-owned" ...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...lete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...mCondition=3000&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1

 

sorry. useless to put links here.

 

I would be happy to pay $100 to someone competent, unfortunately just don't know who that is. You aren't in the Boston area are you? The only clock watch repair guy I have gone to was in Worcester, MA and I'm afraid he is long ago gone.

I have to say I am amazed that prices on ebay are so high for watches that are sold without showing the interior. The now retired watch repair guy I went to thirty years ago told me that my Rolex (inherited from my Dad and before that his brother) was the first real Rolex he had repaired in a couple years. There are so many fakes out there that buying on ebay without seeing the interior seems crazy to me. But I guess it is so easy (too easy in my opinion) to return on ebay these days that it is probably pretty low risk.

This could work for me. Which flea market and do you have their name?

 

Hi,
The fastest way to see if you have a real Rolex is to check the second sweep hand. If it sweeps around it is real if it checks on every second it is a fake. That way I do not have to even see the back. Knocks it out of the park as far as I am concerned.
greg

 

By sweep around I assume you mean ticks are less than one second; as I recall mine clicks four times a second, not really "sweep". That doesn't work on ebay though where all you get are pictures of the outside and no motion. Buying a watch without seeing the inside is like buying a piece of silver, glass or pottery without looking at the base; or buying a piece of furniture without looking in a drawer or underneath. It may be worth doing if the reward/risk ratio is high enough, but you shouldn't count on it working out.

 

@Jeff Drum Since it's an automatic, are you sure it has stored enough kinetic energy to run?

http://www.orientalwatchsite.com/how-to-start-a-stopped-automatic-watch-movement/

 

Hi Jeff,
Was just trying to describe the sweep of a real Rolex not the clicking of a fake one. I would NEVER buy a Rolex without seeing it. Anytime I bought anything from eBay I knew what I was buying. 95% of the stuff I buy is at fleas and yard sales. I would never pay over a few hundred dollars for something that I could not check out myself.
greg