quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
As these are mechanical watches, I assume they wear and accuracy worsens over time. What's the typical life of a 'reasonable' watch (not luxury, exotic, etc - every day wear level) and cost of maintenance?

I sent my Breitling Superocean Steelfish out for service with Breitling after owning it for 5 years.
It came back looking like new with a 1 year warranty. It cost just under $500 dollars.
Some people will tell you not to service your watch till It stops working. I look at how much I wear my watches in rotation and could probably go 5 to 7 years. It also depends on how you use your watch and the quality of how it built.
I have a couple of old Seikos that the service would cost more than I could buy new ones for. Those I would probably use to practice taking movements apart for fun.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
As these are mechanical watches, I assume they wear and accuracy worsens over time. What's the typical life of a 'reasonable' watch (not luxury, exotic, etc - every day wear level) and cost of maintenance?

For a reasonably well built watch, indefinite. As long as parts, money, and service people are available. The examples cited above, Rolex and Breitling, expensive, but the watch movements are taken to pieces, cleaned, examined, any worn/damaged parts are replaced, re-assembled, lubricated, regulated to company standards, polished and returned. Costs depend upon the Marque and service center.

RMD

Last time I sent a watch off for factory service was an Omega Seamaster (18K and steel) about a year and a half ago. Had a broken spring which was my fault because I broke it while trying to time the watch with the back off and slipped. I also had Omega replace the face and hands because the luminosity was quite dim on the mid 80's Seamaster. Many aficionados would likely say that, and the face patina just gave it character and leave it alone, but it's a user, not an investment or queen. They did return all the parts they replaced though, even the broken spring.

Completely taken apart, cleaned and lubricated, repaired, upgraded and timed to Chronometer standards for just under a grand. Took 6 weeks to and from. Looked like a new watch when I got it back. I figured it would cost more than that. Much more than that, all things considered. Think it would have been around five hundred if all they did was maintenance. I'm very happy with the results and it will likely last a few more decades.

EDIT: I had the timing down to within a second a day (1sec a day) and should have left it alone. Bored I guess and just wanted to see if I could tweak it in even closer ... broke the spring. [shake my head]

EDIT EDIT: OH ... and Omega emailed a link where I could follow tracking of my watch throughout the process in their maintenace/repair facility. That was cool.