Mechanical Watches | How Often Do They Need to Be Serviced?
Just like your car needs regular maintenance, so, too, does your fine mechanical watch. Let’s face it, it is comprised of hundreds of tiny mechanical parts, as well as lubricants that — if they get old, dry or sticky — can affect the way your watch performs.
How often a watch should be serviced is the real question… and the answer varies depending on the age of the watch, the brand and the movement inside. Today’s mechanical watches do not necessarily need servicing as often as older watches because today’s haute horology watches often have silicon parts inside, or ceramic ball bearings or other components that reduce friction and wear and tear. Generally, we suggest that new watches be serviced at least every five to seven years.
Similarly, if you have a watch you bought more than a decade ago, it should also be serviced every five years at minimum to keep it running smoothly. Other vintage watches (generally watches made before 1985) need more frequent servicing. Our suggestion is once every three or four years.
Essentially, full servicing of a watch entails removing the case back, disassembling the movement, cleaning of the components and then a reassembling of the movement with all new lubricants. All new gaskets are also added to the watch and a final testing is done to ensure it is fully water resistant and in prefect running order. Because full servicing can be time consuming, we do ask our customers to be patient, but we will keep you apprised every step of the way. If you are unsure if your watch needs to be serviced or not, stop in any time to discuss it with us.
