Automatic watch servicing and what it costs

How often, and who says so

Seiko is the only manufacturer here that publishes an interval, and recommends servicing about every three years. Its stated reasoning is worth quoting in substance: worn movement parts and aged oil cause a watch to lose time or stop, and separately, water resistance is not permanently guaranteed because gaskets age and parts deform from knocks.

Hamilton takes the opposite line on its own service page, stating that maintenance frequency depends on the model, the environment and the owner's care and that it is therefore not possible to establish a precise frequency. Tissot publishes prices but no interval.

So "every three to five years" — the figure repeated everywhere online — is Seiko's three-year recommendation with a margin added by other people. We use Seiko's figure and label it as the assumption it is.

What a full service actually includes

From Seiko's and Tissot's own descriptions, a complete service is:

• Full disassembly of the movement down to individual components.
• Ultrasonic cleaning of the movement, and of the case and bracelet.
• Replacement of worn parts — or, where warranted, replacement of the movement entirely.
• Fresh lubrication at every friction point. This is the actual reason for the interval: oils degrade whether or not the watch is worn.
• New gaskets and a water-resistance pressure test.
• Timing adjustment and accuracy testing back to the caliber's specification.

Seiko guarantees its work for twelve months. Tissot warrants each intervention for twenty-four. That difference is worth something and nobody advertises it.

The partial service, which almost nobody buys

Tissot charges $60 and Hamilton €60 for a partial service: gaskets, seals, a pressure test and a clean, without stripping the movement. It is the single highest-value thing you can do to a watch you intend to keep, and it is largely unknown.

The reason is that the most common way a healthy watch dies is water, not wear. A five-year-old 200m watch that has never had its gaskets replaced is not a 200m watch any more, and its owner has no way of knowing. $60 every few years fixes that for the entire life of the watch.

Manufacturer service or an independent?

For the entry-level Japanese calibers that make up most of this site, a good independent is usually the better answer — those movements are their daily bread and the parts are commodity items. For a proprietary or in-warranty movement, go to the manufacturer.

When skipping a service is defensible

Most owners skip, and it is worth being honest about when that is a reasonable decision rather than simply neglect.

• On a cheap mechanical watch, arithmetically. A $176 overhaul on a $200 watch is hard to justify on price alone. It is justified if you want to keep *that* watch — which is a different and perfectly good reason.
• If the watch is keeping time and you never get it wet. The risk you are running is wear rather than water, and wear accumulates slowly.
• Never, if you swim in it. This is the case where skipping is not a saving. Gaskets age on a schedule of their own, and a failed seal turns a repairable watch into a corroded one.

The compromise almost nobody takes is the sensible one: skip the full overhaul, buy the $60 partial. You keep the water resistance, which is the thing that actually ends watches, and defer the expensive part until the watch tells you it needs it.

Signs it needs servicing now

1. 01It has started losing or gaining much more than it used to. A sudden change in rate is the classic signal.
2. 02The power reserve has dropped noticeably. A watch that used to run 40 hours off the wrist and now runs 20 has a mainspring or lubrication problem.
3. 03Condensation under the crystal. Stop wearing it and get it seen immediately — this is water already inside.
4. 04The rotor is noisy or gritty. Bearing wear.
5. 05The crown feels rough or the winding is stiff. Often a cheap fix if caught, an expensive one if not.