I bought a Seiko watch a little less than three years ago, and have been satisfied with it so far.
Now, its manual suggests I get it looked at for maintenance about every three years. I’ve been considering this strongly because the last time I adjusted the watch for a time zone change, it did something it never did before: it began running at double or triple speed. Only adjusting it again brought it back to normal running speed.
Now, it looks like my only option is to send the watch to the New Jersey service center, thus depriving myself of its use for three weeks. In your experience out there, is this worth it, especially given what happened that I mentioned above? Any other options, especially since the warranty will probably expire soon anyway?
What did the watch cost? I’ve only ever had watches that cost, at most, $200 or so. At that price point, I’m not going to be spending much, if anything, on maintenance, beyond having the battery changed and maybe resizing the band.
I’ve worn a Seiko for 20 years and never done any maintenance, but it does tear up every few years. The springs or the winder or something gets bent and it has to be repaired. I have a local guy do it, but I did have to send it to the service center a couple years ago as parts were finally unavailable after all these years.
If it’s under warranty, I would absolutely send it in. If you don’t, it’ll probably need a little fixing in the next couple years and you’ll have to pay for it. With all the tiny rods, springs and gears, things will occasionally go bad. Get it all fixed up for free while you can so you’ll basically have a new watch that’ll go a few years before needing anything.
I suspect that the maintenance won’t be covered under the warranty, so that the OP will have to pay out of pocket for it. The question is whether it’s worth it.
Leaper, I feel badly for you. I have an old Citizen watch that I loved and wanted to have serviced… but it was either ship it to [del]Circular File[/del] Torrence, CA or [del]go jump[/del] fly to Atlanta or Chicago.
It reminds me of the old school way of checking out a car dealership:
“They have the lowest price I’ve found for it…!”
“Really. Did you look in the back and count the service bays?”
“No…”
"I did. They have four.’
“So…?”
“This place is packed with people buying cars today… and the one you want is ‘covered’ bumper to bumper for two years.”
“So what…?”
“So… they are selling this many cars a day & have four repair bays. You want to guess how many months you’ll be waiting for an oil change appointment… or if something breaks, how many weeks you’ll be without a car until one of their mechanics can get to it…? And if you get it fixed on your own, they are NOT going to pay you back what you paid for the repair.”
“Oh.”
To update/clarify: I spent less than $200 for it, and it’s a solar watch.
I’d have to look at the warranty to see if the maintenance would be covered. My main concerns right now are the three weeks it’ll take and the increase in running speed I mentioned in my OP.
Whether it’s worth it to get the watch serviced or not depends on what the maintenance charge is and how much you value this watch, and I’m not talking about its retail value, but its sentimental and other intangible value.
I have a cheap TAG Heuer that I bought in the USA when I was 20. The maintenance charge for that watch is approximately US$500 now. At first, I seriously considered whether I want spend that much money on a watch I originally purchased for $1,200. In the end I did and will continue to do so because, a) I’ve had it maintained every five years for the last 20 years and I’ve already outlaid more in maintenance than what it cost to buy the watch, and b) the watch is over 20-years old but I consider it a timeless beauty and you cannot buy this watch anymore. I plan on giving it to my son when he is 16, and although I’ll continue to pay for maintenance until he gets his first real job, after that it’s up to him what he wants to do with it.
With all that said, any watch under $500 is pretty much disposable and personally, I wouldn’t spend anything other than to change the battery perhaps. But if the watch has special meaning to you and you want to keep it, by all means have it serviced so you can continue cherishing it. That alone will be worth more than the cost of maintenance.
I like a watch with a leather band, analog hands, yellow ivory face with white hands with a rec second hand, date of the month, and english numerals. Try finding that in a woman’s size. I have a 10 year old waterproof Swiss Army watch that is perfect. $75 to have it serviced when the battery runs out every few years. This is my field watch. I’ve put it through hell a few times. It’s hard to replace and worth the expense.
We are going for $/month instead of one-time buy it and forget it.
I seem to be hearing that Microsoft is now going to market its software as a subscription, not a purchase.
Young people are now joining car-share services instead of buying a car, and seem almost blase about home ownership when they can rent a place they couldn’t afford to buy.
The old furnace that needed nothing but maybe a drop of oil (1940’s blower motors) now need an annual “inspection” - I strongly suspect this is about HVAC people’s cash flow more than hardware.
No, this is not about becoming a “rental society,” this is about doing maintenance on something you’ve purchased, much like changing the oil in a vehicle you own or fixing your house when things go bad. You can get a Timex and not worry about maintenance, but this is about more complicated mechanical watches that are worth fixing. And it’s not a new thing, mechanical watches have always been, well, mechanical. Anything mechanical breaks down occasionally.
I’ve had the same Seiko for about 35 years, and it’s never seemed to need maintenance. My wife bought it along with an unlimited battery replacement certificate, which has really paid for itself.
I wait until my watches have problems before sending them in. It is my experience that maintenance on a broken watch is about as expensive as maintenance on a running watch, so why give them $$$ before it is absolutely necessary?
I once had a Seiko repaired at that facility, and I don’t remember how long it took, but three weeks seems…very fast for a watch repair.
Any watch I send out is pretty much gone for a season, if not half a year.