Servicing

Most jewellers are not really "watch people".

Before even starting a discussion you need to "read the room".

There's only really two ways to not be worth servicing, a replacement movement is cheaper than servicing the old movement or the watch isn't interesting enough to spend the money to service it. The former is just sort of a fact of some affordable movements, but it can be overwritten if you want to pay to have it serviced anyway. The latter is entirely subjective and honestly probably shouldn't be said by a professional in that setting. Neither actually means anything if you like your seikos. You just might have an additional option of affordably replacing the movement if you want to.

Unless it’s Vintage, family heirloom, or expensive (subjective on the price) … not really worth servicing. - my 2c

In most cases, it's more cost effective to order a new movement and swap it over instead of servicing. So, from that perspective, she's not wrong.

Personally, I'd only have a movement serviced if it were vintage and it's not easy to source a new movement. Or I had a strong emotional connection to the watch and wanted the original movement.

As others have stated, she is & isn't wrong.

And tbh, this is something I wish I understood better before buying a few watches. On the more affordable end of the watch market, the service cost will likely be either a large percentage of or MORE than the original price paid for the watch.

Some people balk at a service costing more than half the original cost, but it is what it is when you purchase at the sub $1000 level.

If we want to continue to enjoy mechanical watches, we have to allow the people doing the servicing to make a living doing it OR learn how to do it ourselves.

Jumping into this from a retailers perspective - it all depends on how much the watch means to you. Yes, typical service here in the US on any mechanical starts at $250 at a service center (prob less at a local watchmaker if you are so lucky to have one). Factor in that to the retail price for the watch, and you have a barrier that most people do not want to cross. It is cheaper in most cases to do a movement swap ($65 to $95) but then you have to regulate it.

I wish it were not the case and I wish that we would see a resurgence in watchmakers. It is a little crazy, but have you ever tried to service it yourself?

Atleast it’s not like swatch watches. Atleast seiko have made them easy to fix by either replacing the movement, serviced, or secondary/mod community. I think that’s part of the positives of Seiko. Great for people who are “watch poor”.

Depends on how much you like your 6R35 movement. If you do, I'd send it to a Seiko service center, because the watchmaker is likely right in the sense that they don't see a lot of them.

Any watch is worth servicing. It's not about what it cost, it's about what it means to you. Value <> Cost.

I've serviced dozens of Seikos. You just need to find someone interested in watches rather than money.

“If we want to continue to enjoy mechanical watches, we have to allow the people doing the servicing to make a living doing it OR learn how to do it ourselves.”

@UnholiestJedi. I just wanted highlight what you posted. This simple concept took me a long time to accept but when you look at the skill required to service this such an amazing complicated device, it doesn’t seem so bad…plus the few watchmakers I know personally aren’t living like kings either (far from it actually)

Amen!

I had a similar experience.

Jeweler said that their watchmaker refused to service anything but Rolex.

Yet, he was willing to adjust the bracelet on my Seiko?

Sooner or later everything in a collection will be vintage 😛

THIS . . . esp. if you were at a chain store like Watches of Switzerland or something . . . sure, you might run into the odd collector/enthusiast there, but many of them are just working a job and couldn't care less.

They are wrong. I have a 30 year old basic Seiko automatic I received as a gift from my parents. It quit. Sat in a drawer forever. Took it to a local old school watchmaker who said not worth fixing. Sent it to Seiko. Got it back good as new in two weeks. I love it and wear it frequently. It’s not about the investment. It’s about the love of the watch. It cost me $300 to repair and get a new crystal but it was worth it to me. I’m sure they took an already restored movement off a shelf and dropped it in but I don’t care. I’m happy.

Something else to take into account - when does it need servicing? The reason I have a timegrapher is to monitor beat error and amplitude, it's only when one of these start to go off that I look into servicing.

$200.00 for a service or $50.00 for a new Seiko movement plus installation not more than 50 bucks. Economics for the win. PT5000 under $100.00. Most quarts movements under $20.00.

DM me if you want me to take a look at them.

I'd say depends.

My dad's Seiko? I'll pay for a fix, especially cuz it is from the 70's.

My wife's SRPD55? Buy a new movement and replace.

She's so wrong, eveey watch deserve to be serviced even the cheapest ones as long as it has some kind of value... Value doesn't necessarily translate to a number