D@Loup Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Dear members, I have read and learned a lot in the last few weeks. This forum really rocks! I have a question for all of you experts........ Hope you can help me out here. I was wondering: - When does a REP needs to be serviced? - For servicing the watch, do I sent it to the REP dealer (the one I bought it from) or can I just go to my local watch dealer in town? - What is a reasonable amount of money that a dealer (online or local) may charge for service on the watch? I'm convinced of the fact that these questions might be strange to ask, but it is not my intention to offend anyone. I can only learn by asking, so I hope you'll don't mind! I used the search function before but was not able to finf the information I was looking for. Please accept my apology if the questions have been answered before and point me to the answer on the forum. Thanks for all your assistance Bye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vric Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 (edited) - When you say to yourself: "Well, this one is a keeper. I want it to last for a while" - Rep dealer don't service watches. You have to find a watchsmith that is Rep friendly - Depend of the type of movement. It could go from $75 to 500$ Edited December 18, 2006 by vric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrgod Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Good advices from Vric My experiences is that most independend watchsmiths are ok with working with ETA-replicas, but rather not work on the Chineese Sea-Gull movements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvt Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 First of all, obviously I hope, do not take a fake to a genuine authorized dealer! While they will not take your watch or anything silly like that it will likely be an embarassment for you and at the very least waste your time and gas. You can either send the watch to someone like The Zigmeister (who is a member here and does lots of different services for people) or you can find a local independant watch repair shop. If you have a goodquality ETA based watch and are honest with them it is likely that they will service it. They have no alegience to any company and simply want to make the money. An ETA movement is easy to get parts for, a cheap Aisan movement is not, and so they often will not work on those. You should get it serviced when it shows signs of not working well which might be day one or might be 5 years. If it never shows signs of not working every 5 years or so is a good rule of thumb to keep things running smoothly. A gen Rolex costs $500 to have serviced, an ETA fake should be $75-$200 or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cortopar Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 A quick addition to this... If you have any desire for water resistance, you should have a minimal "check up" and pressure test done. This would involve lubricating the o-rings/gaskets with the proper silicone grease, properly tightening the caseback, and testing. You can do this yourself or pay $40 or so to have it done locally. If you're ordering a watch that you know you'll want serviced, some of the dealers have relationships with watchsmiths that will perform a full service in the $120-$150 range before shipping it on to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 tvt's right on the money there. My watchmaker will service an eta starting at around $70. I take my Rolexes to him also cause I can't fade the $500 charge at the AD and it runs $150-200. In both cases, parts would be extra. Sometimes, your watch may just need to be adjusted. Put it on the Vibragraf and move one of the levers on the balance wheel. Five minutes of his time, $10-20 maybe. One time I had a vintage Valjoux 72 chronograph which was running fast. My watchmaker took one look at it, said the balance wheel was dirty, loosened a screw or two, dipped it in the cleaning solution, dried it off and put it back in the watch and put it on the Vibragraf, made a small adjustment and voila, it was right on. I got to watch and he didn't even charge me for it- a five minute repair. Finding a good watchmaker can be the key to happiness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 Ahhhh... And, if you have a genuine vintage Rolex, an RSC may charge upwards of $1k US, and/or may simply flat out refuse service altogether Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D@Loup Posted December 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 Dear All, Thanks a lot for your answers and information. Again I've learned a lot! Have a nice evening/day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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