For those who own watches £2k plus

bengalknights

I have had mine serviced every 5 years but i also only tend to wear them on special occasions.

vacheron

PunkRoquefort said:

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?

Bit late to the party, but as I mentioned on your previous thread I have never had any of my watches externally serviced,and most are 10-20 years old. I also have a number of older vintage watches from 40-100 years old which I have purchased as non-running or in need of TLC and I disassemble, clean, repair, lubricate, polish and re-assemble these myself as a bit of a hobby. 

As I have a few watches they do get rotated quite a bit, so they only have perhaps a day or two per month on the wrist on average, but many much less than this. I also dont wear watches while swimming, or when in the bath or the shower as some apparently do, and I would not advise doing so to anyone unless your watch has had a pressure test in the last 2 years as the rubber seals and gaskets will often dry out and perish with time.

If you wear your watch occasionally and it is not subject to excessive abuse or severe environments, I would suggest that 15 years would be a reasonable service period. The synthetic oils used in watches made within the last few decades do not change over time gum up, cause corrosion or become acidic, even if left in a watch for many years, they are also far purer and more consistent.  

I would however recommend that if you rarely wear your watch that you give it a full wind at least once every 6 months to ensure that the internal lubricants don't creep and remain well distributed this also helps keeps the internal springs and seals supple.

Another good indication that the watch needs attention is if you find that the power reserve (how long the watch runs after a full wind) has reduced, as this can often be due to excessive friction in the geartrain due to old lubrication, corrosion or pivot wear.

My usual "grab and go" watch is my Omega Seamaster Pro, and I will admit that given the age and the years of regular use, this will is definately overdue for a service, however it is still running to an accuracy of about +8 seconds per day.

The only mechanical issues I have ever encountered with my more modern (<30 years old) watches is that I have had two mainsprings snap in the Seamaster which I replaced myself for a materials cost of around £12.
I also have a Zenith El Primero Flyback which also seems to have suffered its first mainspring failure, but I will address this when I get a chance to service it.

If I had followed the manufacturers 5 year servicing instructions, and assuming an optimistic full service price of around £500, I would have spent over £22,500 in servicing over the last 20 years, compared to £24 in parts (which would probably have failed regardless)! 

Food for thought.