For those who own watches £2k plus

PunkRoquefort

I am considering treating myself to an entry-ish level, luxury watch. 2k to 3.5k maximum.

If you own any, do you get them serviced as per manufacturers' recommended periods or are you one of those people who have had them for yonks, no services and no issues?

DullGreyGuy

For a range of things I pay for repairs rather than services... cars being one of the few exceptions (but not watches)

PunkRoquefort

Thank you. 

RumRat

This thread might be worth you reading....
Servicing a £200 watch? — MoneySavingExpert Forum

PunkRoquefort

That was my thread, but I am now looking for a much pricier watch now.

A different ball game!

RumRat

PunkRoquefort said:

That was my thread, but I am now looking for a much pricier watch now.

A different ball game!

Is it really? I posted a good site on there that gave good info on watch servicing.
Anyway, My Seamaster costs around £600 to service and I think the recommendation is every 6 - 8 years. I've had it done once and save a little each month for another. If I do that the cost is minimal. 
Only you can decide if it's worth it for whatever you buy. 

DullGreyGuy

Interestingly an associate just had their JLC serviced but it was explicitly done because it was losing time which turned out to mainly be a bent balance spring.

The one thing with servicing is they replace parts, they replaced the hands on his watch as they said they were oxidised. His watch is a common one from the late 90s and the modern hands are the same so its not noticable but there are plenty of stories of values of watches being slashed because during a service a modern part is put on and so collectors stop being interested. In the old days you'd get the old parts back so you could reinstate them to the watch when you go to sell it but these days Rolex etc dont want genuine parts being out in the wild for fakers to use to make their products look genuine. 

Always take these things with a bit of a pinch of salt but a while back on the US equiv of Antiques Roadshow there was someone with a Rolex watch that also had Tiffany & Co on the dial and they got a six figure estimate. The owner mentioned they'd taken it to a service place 20 years ago and they'd proposed to change the faded dial which the owner refused. The valuer for the TV show said had they gone to Rolex themselves they wouldnt have been given a choice and it'd have come back with a non-Tiffany & Co face and as such would have been worth in a low 5 digit value. 

Gillor

I also have an Omega Seamaster which bought in 1982.

I am not saying you shouldn’t, but I’ve never had it serviced and it still keeps pretty good time.

Last year I did look at servicing costs and was was quoted around £450, but if if parts were needed it would have to be sent back to Switzerland at a cost of anything up to £1000.

After forty years it’s cost me “sweet FA”  so I shall probably bin it if it packs up.

daveyjp

My advice for any high end watch is to buy used.  There are thousands out there from reputable dealers and high end jewellers.

It will be fully serviced and repaired before sale, you save and it won't lose value over the years.

Once you own it its down to you how you look after it.

RumRat

Gillor said:

I also have an Omega Seamaster which bought in 1982.

I am not saying you shouldn’t, but I’ve never had it serviced and it still keeps pretty good time.

Last year I did look at servicing costs and was was quoted around £450, but if if parts were needed it would have to be sent back to Switzerland at a cost of anything up to £1000.

After forty years it’s cost me “sweet FA”  so I shall probably bin it if it packs up.

Don't bin it....Send it to me..   Seriously though, even not working it would be worth selling, or, better still, paying for repair then selling it.

HP_Source

I have a couple of reasonably valuable watches - an Omega and a Patek. Those I do have serviced in accordance with the manufacturers' recommendations. I also have quite a number of other watches valued from £50 to £1,000 and those I don't bother to have serviced.

My take on the subject is that there's no point in servicing watches with quartz movements and for mechanical movement watches it's only worth it where the watch is valuable and a service record will have a significant effect on the value.