Never meet your heroes (sort of)
Hello all,
i live in the Philippines and in the province away from Manila (where luxury watch service is available). Since I was a kid I liked watches, cheap quartz and a Robot watch (miss those!!! ). As I had a job as a seafarer I have now money to buy my watches. I have been through many brands, Casio, Seiko, Citizen, Rolex (sold it and regretted it), Mondaine, JLC (the subject of this topic).
my JLC master control date was the replacement grail watch for my mistakenly sold Rolex as I can’t seem to justify the price hike of flippers and the unavailability of the watches. I work on a ship and magnetic fields are all around. not to mention vibration and harsh weather. Although I don’t wear it to physical work, my JLC started to stop after 4 hrs even when fully wound. to keep the long story short when I got home I had to go to manila and have my watch serviced and it took 2.5 months to repair. luckily it was still under warranty but if not (egad! Price of service is quite big). i Will not go into details all the findings but it occurred to me that I am not the type to enjoy servicing of months of waiting not to mention flying to manila just to service a watch. So my grail watch turned out to be a disappointment of some sort for me as I am not used to luxury watch servicing, I am a modest income earner after all. So I am still very much into watches, but now I enjoy affordable, easy to service watches. Seiko and Casio and maybe in the future a grail watch with ETA movement :)
to Each his own, I know many of you guys enjoy your luxury watches as of course it is enjoyable, if you have the money to keep and service it. But for me, it’s like meeting my hero and ending up a little sad. Enjoy your watch no matter what price and more power to all watch enthusiasts and collectors out there!!!
I simply love watches. Some I can afford, some not.
That's a tricky one, but I agree that servicing cost/options should be considered upfront. I have the opposite problem, meaning that there are plenty luxury ADs where I work, and I could drop off a watch during my lunch break. On the flip side, nobody would even consider servicing an entry-level mechanical watch at a local watchmaker's rate.
I collect inexpensive watches, and I am certain that I will have to replace their movements myself.
That's a tricky one, but I agree that servicing cost/options should be considered upfront. I have the opposite problem, meaning that there are plenty luxury ADs where I work, and I could drop off a watch during my lunch break. On the flip side, nobody would even consider servicing an entry-level mechanical watch at a local watchmaker's rate.
I collect inexpensive watches, and I am certain that I will have to replace their movements myself.
That’s very interesting Indeed. In any case you will learn some things if you do repair the watch yourself and since it is inexpensive, not too painful if mistakes are made.