I have a nice Tudor Hydronaut automatic watch I bought some 12 years ago. Anyway, after about 5 years it packed up, so went back to the jewellers for a repair/service. They sent it back to Rolex, and 6 weeks later, and £129, it was back looking like new and working properly. Another 5 years later and it packs up again. I left it on the kitchen window sill and went back to using my 10 year old Seiko Monster (also automatic) that's never had a service or broken down.
I finally decided to get it fixed and took it to the not very local Rolex place. Was quoted 3500 SEK, plus parts. After they picked me up off the floor, the guy explained that they take it completely apart and clean it, replace the oil etc. When asked why it would be dirty inside a sealed watch, he gave me some spiel about high precision, running 24 hours a day etc. If it's that high precision, how come it needs repairing every 5 years, when my 20 year old Toyota has a drop of oil once in a while, and definitely doesn't break down every 5 years and need to be completely taken apart, I thought.
It's a right old game, as to keep any value it needs to work and have proof of services by an authorised place, no-one else it seems can get the genuine parts, and if they open it up and see non-genuine parts, then apparently they refuse to work on it. It's like some sort of conspiracy, where once in, you can't easily get out. So in future I won't be buying a precision swiss 'timepiece', but a higher precision, longer lasting, and cheaper Japanese one.
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>> So in future I won't be buying a precision swiss 'timepiece',
>> but a higher precision, longer lasting, and cheaper Japanese one.
Here you go; the one I've just bought:
www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-F-91W-1YER-Resin-Digital-Watch/dp/B000J34HN4
:)
Last edited by: Focus on Fri 20 Jul 12 at 15:24
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I have a very good friend who is no stranger to top class watches - his verdict on Rolex is that he or his sons have never had one that kept time accurately.
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>> Tudor Hydronaut automatic watch
What is so special about the watch?
I bought a Swatch watch (granted it is a budget brand) few years back and just after 2 years it packed up.
Swiss watches are over rated.
CASIO all the way :-) In fact, I am currently wearing a CASIO watch with digital/analog + barometer + altimeter + temperature. Bought 4 years back for £75 and never missed a beat.
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>> >> So in future I won't be buying a precision swiss 'timepiece',
>> >> but a higher precision, longer lasting, and cheaper Japanese one.
>>
>> Here you go; the one I've just bought:
>> www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-F-91W-1YER-Resin-Digital-Watch/dp/B000J34HN4
>>
>> :)
>>
or this one (precise enough for 99.99999999% of the population of the world, I think)
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000JNKABW/
p.s. I don't wear one - a la David Cameron.
Last edited by: John H on Fri 20 Jul 12 at 15:52
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In fact, I am currently wearing a CASIO watch with digital/analog + barometer + altimeter + temperature.
You must have to beat the girls off with a stick, Movi.
};---)
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ive always wanted a watch with an altimeter on it, god knows why?
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Perhaps, like Dog, you want to know just how high you are?
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Altimeter is not very accurate though as it uses barometric pressure to derive altitude.
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Does it go up or down when you fart?
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i want a watch with a radio altimeter, they are pretty accurate i would imagine?
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>> i want a watch with a radio altimeter, they are pretty accurate i would imagine?
A radio altimeter only gives the distance between your aircraft and the ground immediately below. Very useful in an aircraft but not when you're standing on the ground.
No reason why your barometric altimeter shouldn't give a reasonable result if it's set to the right pressure.
Trying hovering on your nearest station on the map here to get the pressure if your watch lets you set it.
www.xcweather.co.uk/
The other way to calibrate is to set the height at a known point.
My Garmin sensor GPS altimeter works OK when it's calibrated, that uses pressure. It will even read 2 feet lower when I take it out of my pocket and put it on the floor. It's way more accurate than GPS height.
Last edited by: Manatee on Fri 20 Jul 12 at 18:46
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Funnily enough my little 1958 Rolex Oyster has gone in for a service. It keeps good time - It's a very low profile but "smart" watch (smart in the old fashioned sense) - I love it and wear it on special occasions. It's going to cost an arm and a leg but I guess it's worth it. Takes up to 16 weeks though !
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Can I just make a point here!
Women fancy men for their sweet nature, and ability to be modest...not the value of the watch they wear:)
Pat
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I don't care - I have a very nice woman who loves me don't need to impress anyone, I just like my watch :-)
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>> Can I just make a point here!
>>
>> Women fancy men for their sweet nature, and ability to be modest...not the value of
>> the watch they wear:)
Sod the sweet nature and modesty, the Ford Capri reeled them in like trout on a fishing line.
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My left so I can still wear it
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These things take time, RP. My two-year-old Loakes have been back in Northampton for five weeks to be 'refurbished'. Will be nice when they're back - I've got another pair to send 'em.
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I did hear there had been a chemical alert in Northants, they blamed it on the local Al Queda sect, but who knows some old WDb hooves sounds like the reason.
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I guess that Rolex do the same as Breitling:
www.breitling.com/service/
Click on Mechanical Chronograph Maintenance to see what they do.
Takes about 5 weeks and costs ~£300.
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It's all very "Emperor's new clothes" when a 15 quid Casio can be just as accurate, waterproof and probably more reliable.
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Well if the point is to have the "best" timepiece then it obviously fails on these counts.
If the point is to have a beautiful watch/piece of jewelry then who cares about the gubbins inside it and why spluff £100s to have the already clean innards cleaned, and the long-lasting silicone O-rings replaced unnecessarily?
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It's 54 years old - was silicone invented then ?
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I was referring more to the 3-5 year servicing of modern timepieces, rather than the 40-50 year refurbs of classic pieces.
Probably comparable to changing the oil every month on a modern car in pointlessness.
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First time I've done it on this watch in my tenure...
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>> It's 54 years old - was silicone invented then ?
>>
tinyurl.com/c6atvub
Click on "Highlights from the history of Dow Corning – the silicone pioneer(2.1 MB PDF)", on the right hand side of the page.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 21 Jul 12 at 07:31
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You drive a Yugo Lygonos?!
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I drive a Suzuki - it will get serviced annually as per the warranty protocol - after that an annual service and MOT seems appropriate/prudent.
I am wearing a 10 quid "Sportline" digital watch.
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>If the point is to have a beautiful watch/piece of jewelry then who cares about the gubbins inside it
Because part of the beauty is the fact that it is mechanical?
Like Zero's steam trains perhaps?
Last edited by: Kevin on Fri 20 Jul 12 at 21:41
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Yes, Kevin - or one of those six-cylinder BMW engines people here like so much. It won't get you to work any earlier but there's satisfaction to be had from using something beautifully engineered.
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Last time I checked, a 325i wasn't 500 times the cost of a Hyundai i10 ;-)
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>Last time I checked, a 325i wasn't 500 times the cost of a Hyundai i10 ;-)
Who gives a stuff if the owner can afford it and it gives them pleasure?
Cost of everything, value of nothing?
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Mine wasn't and it's as good as a new one !! Absolutely stunning engine, but doesn't tolerate mimsing !
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Absolutely. I was merely making an observation, not telling people how to spend their loot.
Some people feel it is worth spending 100s (or more) to put a certain bunch of characters on the plates of their cars.
Good luck to them too.
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Well Lygonos, a friend used to have a saying (she don't say it any more) "You can't line your box with it" - it's up to the individual what they do with their cash - you can put it by for a rainy day that never comes or you never get to see - as long as you don't cost anybody else it up to the individual. Mrs RP about to treat herself to a very nice looking Guild 12 string guitar - her money, her business - she works hard for a living - doesn't claim anything off the state so she gets on with it.
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"There's nae pockets in a shroud" is the equivalent saying here.
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Much more accurate.
A 'chronometer' mechanical movement certified COSC must be accurate in 5 positions to +6/-4 seconds per day IIRC. To be fair, most reasonable quality non COSC mech watches can be adjusted to better this but a cheap quartz will be +-<1s. My £9.99 Casio was set over a month ago and might have lost a second, assuming I set it accurately. No mech watch will repeatably match that.
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I have several watches. With two exceptions they are battery powered.
How easy is it to change my own batteries? What do I need? What size are the normal batteries in a watch, or are there umpteen variations?
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Depends entirely on the watch.
The simplest just require a jeweller's screwdriver or fine blade to lift the backplate.
Some seem to need to be returned to the maker in exchange for 100 of your shiny pound coins.
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Usually easy and I do it on cheap watches. I have a selection of batteries bought online for not much each, a couple of different style case openers and a case key for the screw ones. The only one I have been unsuccessful with was a Casio G shock my daughter found in a drawer having 'lost' it years before. I have no idea why it wouldn't go, probably bust anyway. Tweezers are helpful too, plastic ones preferably.
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Casios require you to touch the battery and a contact point to initialize the timekeeping circuit (or something). Very pointy tweezers might work but I use a brass safety pin.
Well worth learning to do if you have several watches and baulk at the £10 a jeweller in Wokingham asked me for the three-minute job of installing a £1.50 battery.
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Thanks. Have green thumb.
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I have my father's pre-war Girard-Perregaux It ran perfectly until a few years ago, but after a £65 service and cleaning it's had a new lease of life.
My fake Rolex look-alike that cost £1.50 in a junk shop also works well.
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This is the exact watch I am wearing as I type and is my favourite of several that I own.
It is a Seiko perpetual calendar watch .I bought it in Gibraltar and I have owned it around 18 years . I have had the battery changed once.
I have linked to a thread about changing the battery but it is not just a battery change but resetting the circuit board for the calendar which is the problem.
www.mcbroom.biz/PMWF/Seiko-Perpetual-Calendar-8F32.htm
I got a very good local watchmaker and watchbuilder to do it , everybody else said it would have to go back to Seiko.It cost me £5 at the time ( his standard charge for a battery change) . He told me later it took him three attempts and even he described it as a PITA to manage.
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Watch 'service' - Zero
