What watch do you wear?

mrk said:
I take it servicing is recommended for higher end automatics and not needed for quartz? What do they do during a service? I understand in the case of an Omega it gets depth certified and re-sealed etc but what about other Swiss watches!

I want to keep this Tissot for as long as I can :)
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From what I can gather they lubricate the neccessary moving parts, replace water sealing o rings in the crown, clean and reseal and then polish the case so it looks like new again.
 
Noto said:
the thing with Quality time pieces is that if you look after them well and service them (which you should if your spending large amounts on them) they will hold their value especially the limited edition runs that a lot of the swiss watch makers do
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Whilst I appreciate they keeping its value. If I were to buy a mechanical watch I wouldn't buy it hoping it will keep its value or increased in value. I would buy it like I buy a piece of art and appreciate it for what it is. Something like an Omega it costs a few hundreds to service every few years depending on model, even if it keeps its value you are still losing hundreds of pounds every few years in servicing. My car only costs £140 inc VAT to service per 20,000 miles which to me is more than 2 years driving, so by comparison it is quite cheap seeing the watch costs less than my car, (dependant on age, the contrast could be more extreme).

So I never understand the "hold its value" argument. To even contemplate that you would have to really care for it, careful not to scratch it, not to wear it while working, play sports, go to festivals etc. No doubt people will argue that it is tough and they have worn it to this and that and it's still mint. Well, I once accidentally wacked my wrist when walking pass a commercial freezer with a stainless steel edges on its corner, HARD, TWICE, in the space of 30 seconds. I very much doubt anyone would lent me their Rolex or Omega to recreate that again and see how it flares. My £200 Seiko's front face is scratched like an ice rink, it is probably worth nothing more than the price of a Nandos meal but all I've lost is £200 after 8 years of ownership with no servicing, and I do not need to adjust the clock at all, only change when day light savings intervals.

That to me is real value.

Spending £3,000 on a watch and spends £300 to service every 3 years after 8 years will set you back £3,600. To technically hold its value you will have to have it in the condition that it came in and the second-hand value for it will need to be worth £3,600 for you to break even. If it is worth the same price as you purchased it you would be in a deficit.

I would buy mechanical watches to appreciate the workmanship, like a piece of jewellery or art. Nothing more. The servicing part is part of keeping it in good working order and I wouldn't even think how much it is worth because it would not be for sale.
 
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Skull said:
A US$10,000 watch, nice present from dad! I think that will be a Classic Fusion chronograph rather than a Big Bang though.

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$10k and they still can't line up the screws :rolleyes:
 
Bear said:
From what I can gather they lubricate the neccessary moving parts, replace water sealing o rings in the crown, clean and reseal and then polish the case so it looks like new again.
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Servicing sounds like precision workmanship in itself then!

I've contacted Seiko UK about my 5's broken day/date adjustment and they said because it wasn't bought in the UK I get 1 year's support from them instead of 2. I will be sending it in to them at Maidenhead to be sorted rather than send it back to Creationwatches at greater cost (and delay).
 
Raymond Lin said:
Whilst I appreciate they keeping its value. If I were to buy a mechanical watch I wouldn't buy it hoping it will keep its value or increased in value. I would buy it like I buy a piece of art and appreciate it for what it is. Something like an Omega it costs a few hundreds to service every few years depending on model, even if it keeps its value you are still losing hundreds of pounds every few years in servicing. My car only costs £140 inc VAT to service per 20,000 miles which to me is more than 2 years driving, so by comparison it is quite cheap seeing the watch costs less than my car, (dependant on age, the contrast could be more extreme).

So I never understand the "hold its value" argument. To even contemplate that you would have to really care for it, careful not to scratch it, not to wear it while working, play sports, go to festivals etc. No doubt people will argue that it is tough and they have worn it to this and that and it's still mint. Well, I once accidentally wacked my wrist when walking pass a commercial freezer with a stainless steel edges on its corner, HARD, TWICE, in the space of 30 seconds. I very much doubt anyone would lent me their Rolex or Omega to recreate that again and see how it flares. My £200 Seiko's front face is scratched like an ice rink, it is probably worth nothing more than the price of a Nandos meal but all I've lost is £200 after 8 years of ownership with no servicing, and I do not need to adjust the clock at all, only change when day light savings intervals.

That to me is real value.

Spending £3,000 on a watch and spends £300 to service every 3 years after 8 years will set you back £3,600. To technically hold its value you will have to have it in the condition that it came in and the second-hand value for it will need to be worth £3,600 for you to break even. If it is worth the same price as you purchased it you would be in a deficit.

I would buy mechanical watches to appreciate the workmanship, like a piece of jewellery or art. Nothing more. The servicing part is part of keeping it in good working order and I wouldn't even think how much it is worth because it would not be for sale.
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Watches don't need to be serviced every 2 years though, for automatics it's more like 5, plus with Rolex for example they increase their prices 8-10 percent every year
 
Raymond Lin said:
My car only costs £140 inc VAT to service per 20,000 miles which to me is more than 2 years driving.
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Most cars run 12 month or x miles servicing, whatever comes first so you will have to service your car yearly. Rolex normally run on 4-5 year servicing, you've skewed the figures a bit to suit your argument.

There's quite a lot of work needed and it's a skilled job:

http://www.omegawatches.com/customer-service/watch-intervention/complete-maintenance-service
 
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Cyrus said:
Watches don't need to be serviced every 2 years though, for automatics it's more like 5, plus with Rolex for example they increase their prices 8-10 percent every year
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Janesy B said:
Most cars run 12 month or x miles servicing, whatever comes first so you will have to service your car yearly. Rolex normally run on 4-5 year servicing, you've skewed the figures a bit to suit your argument.

There's quite a lot of work needed and it's a skilled job:

http://www.omegawatches.com/customer-service/watch-intervention/complete-maintenance-service
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Actually, mine is every 2 year or 20,000 miles, whichever is later, I do 8,000 miles per year so I have even given myself room for the extra miles.

I also never said 2 years, I said 3. And in my example of 8 years old Seiko, I said the Omega would have needed 2 servicing, not 6.

I am not the one skewing the figures, people are skewing mine! :)

p.s. I never never denied it is a skilled job or questioned the value and necessity of a service.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Actually, mine is every 2 year or 20,000 miles, whichever is later, I do 8,000 miles per year so I have even given myself room for the extra miles.

I also never said 2 years, I said 3. And in my example of 8 years old Seiko, I said the Omega would have needed 2 servicing, not 6.

I am not the one skewing the figures, people are skewing mine! :)

p.s. I never never denied it is a skilled job or questioned the value and necessity of a service.
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No one who buys a high end watch shares your point of view so its all moot.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Actually, mine is every 2 year or 20,000 miles, whichever is later, I do 8,000 miles per year so I have even given myself room for the extra miles.
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Actually you'll find that a Full service is every 2 years with an intermediate service inbetween. All on 10k/1yr intervals and it'll almost certainly be on a whatever comes sooner basis. I find it hard to believe that Toyota would say it's okay to drive around for 5 years with the same oil just because you've done under 10,000 miles. Use the Toyota online service quote tool, if the car is 5 years old it will give you the 5 year service option regardless of mileage.
 
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panthro said:
No one who buys a high end watch shares your point of view so its all moot.
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Hence I refer to buying a watch like treating it like buying a piece of art. You pay whatever you think it is justified for something you love. However if you start breaking it down and thinks "keeping its value", looking at it closely, unless the value of the watch increases more than the cost of servicing itself. That would be the only way it is keeping its value.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Hence I refer to buying a watch like treating it like buying a piece of art. You pay whatever you think it is justified for something you love. However if you start breaking it down and thinks "keeping its value", looking at it closely, unless the value of the watch increases more than the cost of servicing itself. That would be the only way it is keeping its value.
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People who buy Omega, TAG, Breitling etc should know that their watch will never hold its value. It depreciates and bottom out just like a car. Only certain models such as certain Rolex SS sports models buck this trend due to Rolex's ridiculous annual price rises.
 
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