Why is it Important to Service a Watch?
Watch servicing is rock and roll man! Alright, that might be a sentence never before uttered in the history of planet earth but watch servicing is important.
Getting your watch serviced to many is akin to taking your car in, it seems a boring, arduous, time wasting and often a money draining task and yes I’m falling asleep just thinking about it. Every year dragging yourself down to the garage, either after a long day in the office or a Saturday off only for it to consume and ruin your good vibes weekend you planned on having. Then you get the call!! The car needs a hell of a lot more than previously thought, bank account checked with baited breath to see if you can cover the cost and the day as aforementioned, ruined. At a lot of watch boutiques it can seem this way too, not a lot of love or care for your time piece and no real interest to get to know about you or your prized watch. Here at Baker Brothers Diamonds we are driven by our five core values being,
Passionate
Principled
Dedicated
Progressive
Considerate
We care about your watch as much as you do, making watch servicing not just our bread and butter but a step beyond, think freshly baked sourdough still warm and steaming, covered in a Costa Rican-esc wave of hand whipped butter straight from the farm.
You are probably thinking, ‘why should I invest in such a small item?
Yes, a watch is only small in the grand scheme of things but when you consider some watches contain in excess of 220 parts per watch and each watch movement can go through approximately 250 million impulses per year given by the escapement, suddenly you understand that your ‘small’ watch puts in a lot of work for you, so why shouldn’t you put some work in for your watch.
But why can a watch service be so important?
The most important commodity many would argue is time, personally there is nothing I value more. A wristwatch is not just a tool to aid the telling of time, but a reminder of how quickly time can go, and if you don’t look after your time it can soon get away from you, as can the health of your watch.
The main reason (well it used to be) for wearing a watch is timekeeping, as with every watch it may start to lose or gain time, rendering it a guessing game until you get a service to get that movement working as it should. If you are anything like us here at Baker Brothers having appointments scheduled throughout each day, you need the correct time on your wrist or the inevitable missed meeting or late Zoom call may occur, and that just won’t do.
Remember that yearly trip I mentioned, going to the garage and dropping the car off. When it comes to the substantial size of the watches we stock, no brand expects to see your watch for at least three to five years. TAG Heuer are five to six and the Tudor and Rolex brands do not expect to see your timepiece for ten years (depending upon how it is worn and treated) meaning all being well coming into the boutique and dropping off your watch for service is not a yearly ritual of pain, we are not a garage, we provide prosecco not fuel pumps, which you can enjoy whilst you talk to our specialists about your watch.
This links on nicely to the most important thing to us as a business, your experience.
From the first moment you enter our doors it is our priority to find out how best we can help you, whether that means booking in a service, or advising the best course of action for the health of your watch so upon leaving you don’t only take with you the bubbles from the glass of bubbly or the delicious taste of coffee (prepared by yours truly) but also piece of mind, knowing that your favourite watch, is in the best of hands and will be returned to you in the exact condition you want it to be, whether that is with a fresh polish, full service, or just a battery change, it is all about getting back what you want. Here at Baker Brothers we built strong relationships with all our brands, especially their service departments and if the brand advise the watch needs more work to be done to it, we will let you know before giving the go ahead as at the end of the day we are here to get your watch how you want it to be.
Let me give you an insight into the servicing of watch..
When your precious timepiece gets sent for a service, it goes through an extensive procedure intended to keep it running as if you’ve just left the boutique.
During the service procedure, a watchmaker will detach the bracelet from the case so they can open the case, remove the movement, and completely disassemble the watch case and the movement, carefully removing each and every par.
Once they’re happy that nothing needs replacing, they’ll then ultrasonically clean each component in a solution created specifically for the task and then they’re dried.
After that the immensely tricky reassemble can commence, starting with the movement, using special lubricants created to keep it lubricated and prevent wear, the watchmaker will painstakingly replace each part of the watch in a specific order. Once they’re happy, they readjust the precision of the watch, making sure it’s within the brands accuracy standards.
Next, they will keep the watch for a few days to make sure it’s performing as intended, checking the time keeping and making sure everything is running as it should.
Finally, they start on the bracelet and case, refinishing and polishing them to restore your watches original shine before moving on to reattaching the case and placing the movement inside.
Now for the all-important testing to see if the watch is waterproof using a vacuum test, a compression test, and a condensation test. At this point, the watch will be completely sealed (up to the rated maximum water resistance) then a final quality control check is carried out, making sure your watch performs and looks like it should, and……………...breathe.
Now that process took a long time to write, there are many steps, but I wanted you to appreciate the extent to which Rolex and to be honest all the brands we stock in the boutique go to ensure that each timepiece is as close to perfection as you can get. When this process is complete and the watch is back with us we will be in touch straight away to let you know you can come in to the boutique so we can reunite you with your pride and joy.
If you have a small scuff or the time keeping isn’t quite correct wearing your watch can start with a sour pick up off the side table first thing in the morning, step outside, the sun hits that scratch and gets your blood boiling, so please don’t settle for anything other than perfection on your wrist, remember the perfect time to do something never arrives, so don’t wait, book in with one of our watch specialists and they will ensure that you and your watch’s experience with us is as close to perfect as it can be.
