Maintenance periods--recommendations from one of the "big three"

[mlcor]

So, I was leafing through the booklet from my Audemars Piguet, and they seemed quite forthright about maintenance intervals. Right in their warranty book, they recommend an initial "water-resistance service" (basically cleaning and replacing seals if necessary) within the first two years. This is free for registered owners. But after that, they say the recommended interval is 3-6 years (with an average of four) for extra-thin and ladies' mechanical watches, 3-8 years (with an average of 6) for traditional manual/automatic watches like Royal Oaks, and 3-5 years (with an average of four) for grand complications watches like minute repeaters.

These seem like very reasonable, real-world numbers to me. And I'll bet if you went to the AD, they might well give you shorter ones. AP also recommends winding a watch at least once per month, even if you're not wearing it regularly, to keep lubrication in order. Since my watch has a "Royal Oak" type movement, looks like I could stretch 6-8 years between services, given that mine doesn't get worn on a daily basis. Probably will only need to do it twice before I'll be too old to care.

I thought it was interesting that one of the "big three" had such matter-of-fact, practical recommendations.

[FuzzyB]

It is nice to see that they break it down according to the complexity/fragility of the movement, too, instead of lumping everything under the 3-5 year service schedule.

Now that Rolex is extending their recommended service schedule it will be interesting to see if other brands follow suit.

[CFR]

Seems quite reasonable to me.

[-JP]

I never did it before but after a lot of research I think winding an auto occasionaly is not that bad of an idea.

[CFR]

winding an auto occasionaly is not that bad of an idea.

That was what my watchmaker used to say, And that's exactly what I do.

[mlcor]

I probably only have one mechanical watch that I don't wear at least once a month, and that would be my father's old Hamilton, which is fragile, and therefore doesn't get worn at all. So once a month or so, I will wind it up and let it run (I did have it serviced a few years back). Why do I do that, even though I'll never wear it? Dunno, it just feels right that it should be able to keep running.

[Der Amf]

I probably only have one mechanical watch that I don't wear at least once a month, and that would be my father's old Hamilton, which is fragile, and therefore doesn't get worn at all. So once a month or so, I will wind it up and let it run (I did have it serviced a few years back). Why do I do that, even though I'll never wear it? Dunno, it just feels right that it should be able to keep running.

When I was looking through companies' advice on WR I saw another company recommending that watches be wound once a month. I think I screengrabbed it (intending to find the relevent thread from a while back) let me see.....

......here we are.



Unfortunately can't identify the company. I think I was either IWC or GO

[dbakiva]

Excuse me for a moment. I have a couple watches to wind.

[geoffbot]

When I was looking through companies' advice on WR I saw another company recommending that watches be wound once a month. I think I screengrabbed it (intending to find the relevent thread from a while back) let me see.....

......here we are.



Unfortunately can't identify the company. I think I was either IWC or GO

IWC

[skywatch]

My usual watchmaker tells me very similar advice. He says an occasional winding helps keep the oils distributed, and it's not necessary to service more than every 6-8 years. He seems to think, even less often is OK for rarely worn watches. I have another more expensive watchmaker who is currently servicing a vintage Longines I found, who seems to feel a bit differently about the really old watches. I showed him my grandfather's 1936 Hamilton, and mentioned it has been a long while since service (like, 30 years perhaps) and I I have worn it on rare special occasions. He advised not to wind a watch like that regularly, but either to let it sit without using nor winding it, or to have it serviced. Needless to say, he would probably charge $200 or more for the service, so I expect I will just let it sit quietly until it's time to pass it on to a niece or nephew.