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. . .Talking of "overhauling" a watch is little
different than talk of "overhauling" an engine. There are a lot of ways
to do this in terms of procedures, care, inspection, and replaced
parts. In the case of watches there are also the issues of care in
cleaning, care in lubrication, and timing and adjustment.

The differences in how a watch is serviced are immense. These include:



1. How much is disassembled for cleaning. The proper way to do this is
almost complete disassembly. There are a few parts that clean perfectly
well in an ultrasonic cleaner without disassembly, but only a few.



2. Whether pivots, bearings, pallets, escape wheel and balance are
really inspected for tolerances and damage or they are simply assumed
to be acceptable.



3. Whether parts such as mainspring, seals, case gaskets, cracked jewels, damaged or worn pivots are replaced or reused.



4. How carefully lubrication is done in terms of points lubricated,
quantities and type of lubrication, including the quality of the
lubricant. To give you an example, the factory service "lube sheets" on
a JLC 889 movement are four pages and include five different lubricants
used in different parts of the watch. One lubricant, Moebius 9415 is
used on nothing but the pallets. One lubricant (9010) is used on the
center and third wheel bearings, a different one (8514 or 9020) on the
fourth and escape wheel bearings. This issue would be an article in
itself. Your $120 repair is being done with a "lube rinse" in the
ultrasonic cleaner. This is comparable to pouring a few quarts over the
top of an engine, hoping that some of it will flow into the right
orifices and into the engine.



5. How carefully parts are
handled to prevent marring, scratching, and other damage. Proper
handling means that a balance cock, as a single example, is wrapped in
a fold of watch tissue before being placed in a clamp for adjustments.
That quadruples the amount of time it takes to perform that one task.



6. How carefully timing and adjustment are done. This job can range
from five minutes to many hours over a few weeks. (I will be discussing
this in detail in the Mark XII Part Two piece next month. After
overhauling and switching the 887 into the Mark XII, I spent two weeks
timing it, keeping complete records on the performance and adjustments
done).



7. Whether the watchmaker has the proper tools to
service a particular watch or whether he makes do with what he has,
which often means not performing certain tasks or performing them very
badly. Some watchmakers use a $15.00 wrench to open a watch. I use a
$600 wrench. Some people (including Jack Freedman, incidentally) use a
$5,000 vacuum opener. The back of your watch will tell you what was
used.



8. Whether the watchmaker has access to parts and is
willing to go to the trouble of ordering them. Otherwise, damaged,
worn, scratched, and bent parts are simply replaced.

Because
I am not making a living at turning out watches, I can lavish attention
on them. Doing that, I spend about six to eight hours on the service of
one simple automatic watch from disassembly to finished reassembly; I
can spend as much time again on the timing. While no one doing
commercial work could afford that, it gives you an idea of the range
that a service can require.

A proper
service on a watch is about the same amount of work as a 30,000 mile
service on a Mercedes. Do you think the watch should be less expensive
to service because it's smaller? I think a very skilled local
watchmaker can do a C+ or B- service for $150.00. In all likelihood,
your $120 watch service is being done in about an hour and rates a
solid C-. Think about it.