Watch lifetime and maintenance

scwazrh

What is the life expectancy and what maintenance is required for the average watch ?I understand high end brands needing regular servicing and the financial investment in those watches warrants same but what about cheaper watches.

In my own humble collection i have a few seiko, tissot and steinhart pieces.Some are automatic and some are quartz.Given the purchase price of these it would be silly to send them for regular servicing but I would still like to have in them in working order in 30, 40 or 50 yrs .

So how do you maintain watches in lower price points or am I being naive thinking that watches are not in at least a 4 figure price range are of any real quality or will stand the test of time?

Eoin

Look at all the vintage Seikos and Tissots for sale - to me, that shows that they're just as likely to stand the test of time. If you've a Steinhart, you already know how good the build quality is, so I wouldn't have any fears there either. The ratio of servicing vs purchase price just shows what good value they are, rather than not worth being invested in.

I think the secret is probably just to find somewhere that services the automatics for a good price. I've not owned any watches long enough to look into this too much though.

Menas

Eoin has hit the nail on the head.
Quartz watches do not need a servicing unless something goes wrong (battery leak for eg). They have few mechanical parts and so little that needs servicing.

Mechanical watches (your automatics) need oil to keep the parts moving. Oil turns to a thick crud over time and this can impact on the watches performance and eventually stop the watch working. Also, where you have mechanical parts you have increased chances of something breaking. Well made watches push the odds in favour of nothing going wrong for a long long time.
But eventually they will need a service. I suppose I do not see a service as an investment. More of an insurance policy! If I have an old watch that means something to me then I get it serviced so I have some trust that it will last another 20 years or so. Just letting a watch go without service until it stops is not good for the watch.
And those 100 year old pocket watches on ebay? The ones that are working- you can be sure that they have had at least 3 services so far. A well maintained watch has a much better estimated life span than an unmaintained on, regardless of brand!

blue5000

I reckon with seiko automatics it is probably cheaper to buy a new movement than service it when things start to go wrong. It's not a big job to diy, just have to make sure everything matches up, depth, date position, dial feet etc.

What movement have you in the steinhart and tissot? If it's ETA then any competent watchmaker should be able to service them. There may be a problem getting original spare parts in future though.

scwazrh

Menas wrote: »

Eoin has hit the nail on the head.
Quartz watches do not need a servicing unless something goes wrong (battery leak for eg). They have few mechanical parts and so little that needs servicing.

Does anyone (looking at Wibbs) know do quartz watches actually have a lot less parts than mechanical ?I would of guessed the main part difference is a mainspring instead of a battery?

Menas

scwazrh wrote: »

Does anyone (looking at Wibbs) know do quartz watches actually have a lot less parts than mechanical ?I would of guessed the main part difference is a mainspring instead of a battery?

Eh...yeah! Do a google image of mechanical watch movement and one of quartz movement and you will see.
A quartz watch has at least 3 moving parts...perhaps up to 7. Just the gear train.


A mechanical watch has ...well loads, depending on its complexity. A Chrono example..

Wibbs

Yea a modern quartz has fewer parts alright S. As Menas says the gear train is the mechanical extent of it. The electronics replaces the mainspring and the escapement. They're also of much less torque and the movement only moves once per second so wear is significantly less. A mechanical movement is basically holding back all the torque of the mainspring with every tick.

As for longevity? Mechanical will always have the edge as a general rule. Worst case you could get a part remade. Though in reality for most watches that would be expensive and the majority wouldn't bother. Battery leaks and broken coils(nearly always stupidly exposed even on top end marques, so easily hit when replacing batteries) and water damage seem to be what kills quartz. Circuits degrading over time must happen, but IMH and from what I've seen it's those three that kill quartz movements. Sometimes the quartz can dies, but the majority are of the same frequency so they can be swapped out easily enough.

That said, for nearly all my vintage early quartz I have a spare movement.

Case design comes into it too. A properly sealed divers watch will by and large last longer than a dress watch. They keep water out and the oils in. Both Seiko and Rolex divers are well known for going for decades without servicing.