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WATCHES WATCH : Where long term maintenance is concerned, solar digital watches are byfar the best. There are no moving parts to oil and the power source ispretty reliable since they usually need recharging only once every sixweeks or so. As far as quartz gear oil is concerned, it is roughly 10xlighter and finer than mechanical watch oil which must be viscousenough to stick to key watch parts. Eventually this mech watch oileither sticks to parts it shouldn't be on, or it turns to lacquer andgets very gummy. Water resistant solar analog quartz watches withextra lightweight lubricant do far better than water resistant mechwatches in any comparison over the long haul.As far as service is concerned. I recently had my watch batterychanged in a Swiss department store by the tech who did all the watchhandling ( but who did no mech service). It cost 15 SWFr to change thebatteries and 20 SWFr for the proof test for 5 atmospheres waterresistance. This came to SWFr 35 or about $25. The long life batteryin this watch gets changed about every 5 years. The lubrication wasgood and the battery changing conditions were clean so I will onlyneed a cleaning and lubrication in another 5 years. Nothing can bedone to a mech watch now-a-days for $25. A routine cleaning andlubrication costs at least $50-60. There is a very good reason why. Anew electronic technician out of trade school who is very competant todo battery changes, proof testing, movement swapping and simple jobslike replacing hands makes about 65% less per hour than awatchmaker/repairman. It takes at least 1/2 an hour for a watchmakerto do anything with a watch and a cleaning, lube and regulation takesat least an hour and watchmakers don't want to work for less than$40/hr so mech watch service is far more expensive now than quartzwatch repair.
WATCHES WATCH : There are also dozens of ways a mech watch can fail and movementreplacement is not usually an option because of the cost. Taking amech watch apart is very time consuming and thus it MUST be veryexpensive, not counting the cost of sourcing small parts and thenreassembly and time-testing. In a quartz watch there are a few thingsthat will be done to a watch like replacing a date wheel or putting ona new crown and stem, but beyond that, it is usually less expensiveand better for the owner if the entire movement is swapped out. TheSwatchgroup service center fixing James Bond Seamasters shows thisdifference clearly. The service area for mech Seamasters is manned bywatchmakers, the service is never fast and the timing function is doneby the same group as the quartz Seamasters. The quartz Seamasterservice is done by technicians and it is very fast and 99% of theserviced quartz Seamasters pass their timing test the first timethrough. This makes quartz watch service much less expensive than mechwatch service.
WATCHES WATCH : As fewer and fewer mech watches are made as a percentage of all watchsales, there will be fewer and fewer watchmakers who work onmechanical watches. This will drive up the cost of mech watch servicemuch more than normal inflation. The cost of a cleaning, lubricationor repair of a mech watch is 95% the cost of the watchmaker's time.Quartz watch technology is still relatively new. It will still bepossible for quartz watch repairs to become less expensive.One upsmanship and low self esteem will always be a factor with peoplewho want to say "What I have is bigger/different/cooler/shinier", oreven, "what I have makes more of a ticking noise than what you have",but in the end, people don't want to be prey for the few remainingwatchmakers who develop their haughty attitudes servicing watches forthe rich or for collectors who don't care what a watch costs torepair, or how long they have to wait for the repair to be finished.I'm a collector so I know how this works. Send an Audemars Piguetultra-thin manual wind watch in for service on the paper thin windinggears and the factory estimate is $1000. A quality watchmaker mightcannibalize a watch for parts but this will still cost you $600-750.This isn't a terrible price considering the fact that the watch cost$4000 new retail or $1700 distributor wholesale, but it is a cost thatseems absurd for a watch a person would use.
WATCHES WATCH : Audemars isn't unique in making badly designed and expensive mechwatches, Patek Philippe outer rotor backwind watches were a huge flop,and Rolex Daytona/Zeniths were made for 5-6 years with a design flawthat made them grind themselves to pieces. These watches were all veryexpensive when new and they generally failed through no fault of theowner. Collectors need to know about these lemons so they can avoidbuying them, or at least they can avoid wearing them.The cost of the service can often exceed the value of many mechwatches in a very short time. Don't be taken in by comments that thereis any more artistry in making a mechanical watch than there is in aquartz watch. Omega makes mech and quartz Seamasters. The "art" is inthe dial design, the case design, and the fit of the timepiece. Theguts aren't designed to be on display, they are meant to be functional(which is why Omega or Rolex are successful with "no nonsense"unadorned mech movements). Both types of Seamasters look and fit thesame and they are equally water resistant. The mech Seamasters aremore fragile, more expensive, and they wll require more service andare more expensive to service during their lifetimes.
WATCHES WATCH : During periods of weak economic activity, people cut back on"conspicuous consumption" purchases like mech watches and mech watchservice. This is also the time when people whose income is based onmech watches will try to make people feel bad about using a superiorwatch technology. They don't have any choice. There is nothing wrongwith collecting art to admire it or preserve it. There is nothingwrong with being more aware of the history of watchmaking. But wearingmech watches is about the same as using a beautifully made mechanicalOlivetti calculator or typewriter in everyday life instead of acomputer with a printer attached. Mech watches are becoming museumpieces and toys for those who don't care about money, because quartzwatches do what people want watches to do and they do it better. Ifyou want to use rotary dial telephones, propeller driven aircraft, andcars without electronic ignition and regulation, that's okay. But itis sheer stupidity to say that the benefits of old tech mech watchesoutweigh the benefits of new tech quartz watches. Good luck, have fun,and use a watch that is the least demanding helper you can find.Watchking
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