Lack of independent watch repairers - a threat to our passion?

The society is a bit limited,there's lots of watchmakers that are put off joining it you by its accreditation criteria. Mine certainly is. Where are you based (obviously your in the Uk) I can put you onto mine if you like, he's Swiss trained, really good and very reasonable cost wise.

Why not just send it to Omega? Yes it will be more expensive & take longer, but if value retention, manufacturer warranty of some sort are of main concern then why not?

Thanks - for my Omega I would of course. It's more thinking about several watches I have round the 1K region - A Rado and an Oris for example. Even a Christopher Ward is coming into that territory.

Any recommendations for a Seiko Bellmatic? Its an unusual one with a mechanical alarm. I'm waiting to hear back from a guy but have been waiting a long time!

Exactly - My Dad's Omega has been through the official routes and they can't /won't fix it on account of the alarm complication.

Servicing depends on storage, wear pattern, on a self winder or not , heat, humidity, UV exposure ( Aussie climate ) . I am of the skinflint variety of collectors, I do a cost benefit analysis. The Tudor will get a service when it’s due , the Smiths will probably get a service if it stops like the Seiko’s ! Depends on the watch . ( not advice just my strategy )

Try that guy on YouTube see if he wants to do it for you as a program subject ? Can’t remember his channel link , I’m sure someone here can supply the link :) good luck 🤞

I think this is a very real fear. Here in Sydney when I was getting my Seamaster overhauled earlier this year, I could have gone to Omega in that particular example, yes, but I wanted to support an independent and, in the process, also get to know one for when I had a more "out of the box" type watch needing a service.

There were several that sounded promising - and I found a great one in the end - but I was struck by how small the field was, relatively speaking. "If two or three of these guys retired or just went out of business, we'd be pretty #%@^ed!" I thought to myself. I think with the big brands making things hard(er) on how the independents operate these days, we're seeing a contraction of an already small marketplace.

There are less and less of them. For the cheaper watches it makes sense to learn how to fix them yourself or move on while they still work. They have become disposable which is very sad.

The common luxury manufacturer services from Omega, Breitling, Rolex etc. are getting more and more expensive as well. Too expensive relative to the second hand price of the watches.

The Nekkid Watchmaker?

I went searching on my watched videos, can’t find it just now sorry , not sure .