5 years anniversary, time to service?

I would say get it serviced so it stays not-broken

You shouldn’t wait till a watch is broken to get it serviced, rather try to follow the service intervals recommended by the watch company. Especially when it comes to rubber gaskets you wanna be sure they seal properly if you are to swim with your watch or shower with it.

I’d say it’s time to service it before something actually breaks

I copy and paste this every time a discussion about servicing comes up! 😜

#1 - Warranties and what they tell us about manufacturing quality

• Most respectable manufacturers used to provide 2 years of warranty

• Even today, almost any ETA-powered watch will typically come with a 2-year warranty

• Why is that?

• Well, because manufacturing used to suck - we were just AWFUL at manufacturing

• Look at any car manufactured by the Big 3 from the 70's and compare that car to one produced today - it isn't a difference in degree, but a difference in kind entirely

• Or, better yet, go check out a vintage example of the supposedly vaunted, robust tool watches of yore - like a Rolex Sub - and you will find it to be the jangliest, jankiest, junkiest piece of junk out there!

• Today, almost all of the big brands offer 5 year warranties, because manufacturing techniques and technologies are so advanced that the manufacturers can comfortably offer longer and longer warranty periods

#2 - Lubricants

• In the bad old days, watch movements used to use mineral oils, and they sucked

• If they weren't in constant motion, they would gum up

• If they were in operation too long, they would break down

• You couldn't let a watch sit around all the time, nor could you have it running all the time!

• Service intervals were short, because the mineral oils had short useful lifespans, and watches needed to be re-lubricated often

• Nowadays we have the wonders of synthetic lubricants - they don't gum up, they don't separate, and their heat tolerances are far, far, far superior

#3 - Combination of factors

• Given this combination of factors, should we take our watches in for service at the recommended 4 year mark? 8 year mark? 10 year mark? Whatever it is that the manufacturers recommend?

• Why?

• If modern materials are robust and resistant to corrosion, and all the parts are precision machined, and they continue to operate flawlessly, and the lubricants can last 50-100 years at normal operating temperatures... why would one take that machine apart?

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

the new oils will make it live a lot longer than 5 years. They have that because the waterproof seals start to die around that age. Neoprene does not age well.

My watchmaker says always to me, bring the watch to service when it is not working good. Else enjoy it;)

Recommended service intervals or wait until it loses accuracy.

Had my 2014 Seamaster 300 serviced at the start of the year. Pricey & time consuming, but came back a brand new watch and worth every penny.

Do you intend to keep it another five years? If so, service it.

I wouldn't service it. It will likely be costly if you send it back to CW and it could be risky if you send it over to an independent watchmaker. I'd say get the gaskets replaced if you are really worried, although you can still wait a little longer for that. Gaskets are cheap though, so the protection it gives you from water damage relative to the money spent is good. I'd change the gaskets and leave everything else.

Servicing your watch now would be like changing the oil in your car every three months. Sure, you won't be doing much harm, but the benefit you'll be seeing is negligible and you'll mostly be burning money. I have serviced some old watches myself and have chatted away with my watchmaker about this many times. He can attest to the longevity of modern lubricants, having servicd watches for quite some time. Old watches used all sorts of things to lubricate their pivots, like whale fat and spit. Okay, they didn't actually spit on movements, but old lubricants were about as effective as spit compared to modern synthetic oils. Those needed to be serviced a lot more frequently. My watchmaker has watches that have been running for decades after a service with synthetic oils.

I'd suggest waiting for your watch to start running poorly before getting it serviced. A bit of low amplitude won't hurt it and a service will bring it straight back to life when it does happen, although I expect your CW to run for very, very long before reaching that point.

I will say that it’s in the best interest of the watch company to suggest intervals that are advantageous to them esp if they want to service the watch themselves. I think there is a happy medium btw their recommendation and waiting until a watch is broken though.

And while there are some watches where you will need to send it back to the company, there are also many boutiques who will conduct service and are more than capable with common ETA and Sellita movements. Nothing wrong with an independent watch maker or repair service if you use common sense and get a referral/look at reviews. Like nobody is going to balk at RGM fixing a watch, for instance . . . But their prices will be in line with their rep. There’s a Rolex and JLC boutique near me that accepts other watches for service and in my mind if someone is taking their Reverso to get maintained then one of my less complicated watches will be fine with them.

I would go and check for basic stuff like daily accuracy deviation and amplitude at least:) Don't worry too much

Planned to have my 8 year old Monaco serviced but my TAG AD suggested to wait until power reserve decreased

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

I would at least find someone local that can test the water resistance. Just make sure that whoever does it has the capability to test to the full spec. Some places will do this for free and some charge a small fee. But at least you will know that the gaskets are still good.