Reply With QuoteThanks, great work, very informative.
About a year ago I picked up a watch I'd been after for a long time, a Cartier Santos 100 in large size. As these only crop up about once or twice a year on SC I'd had to track one down via Chrono24. It was one of the original anniversary models with engraved case back (1904-2004), full set, and while it looked in decent nick outside it was running 10s a day slow. Normally I wouldn't tolerate that but I soon got in to the habit of setting it a minute fast, then by the end of the working week it would still be on the right minute, at which point I'd usually switch to something else. Fast forward 8 or 9 months and it stopped from time to time unless given a few manual winds in the morning. Looking back I guess this was really when I should have got it serviced. Still, hindsight is a wonderful thing
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Cartier Santos 100 by Ian Crocker, on Flickr[/IMG]
I didn't really want to send it to Cartier and have it gone for months so I looked at who was available via the forum. A couple of the resident watchmakers don't touch watches they can't get parts for and another had stopped taking on new work as he was too busy. However Brendan Hoey (webwatchmaker) replied to my PM very quickly confirming he could do the work and would probably turn it around in under 2 weeks.
Sat: I posted it to Brendan.
Mon: Brendan whatsapp'ed me to confirm he had the watch and would be starting in a few days.
Wed: Brendan contacted me with some bad news. The watch was pretty much dry (probably never been serviced in 12 years), the stem had a burr on it and there was excessive wear to the main plate. The pictures show swarf around the stem and in the main plate where it rides. While it could back together as was, his recommendation was a new main plate.
New main plate was ordered Wed and arrived Thu.
Thu: Movement reassembled in to new main plate and then checked out without the auto winding bridge in place:
Fri: Watch all reassembled and timed up properly. I was offered the old parts back but declined (not sure why people want these, do they also collect old engine oil and filters after their car is serviced?). Note the old caseback gasket is split too.
Brendan monitored the timekeeping over the weekend and then posted it back to me on the Monday. After a little detour courtesy of the Royal Mail it arrived back safe and sound Wed. How did it look? Exactly the same as when it left me which is a result in my book - I have seen some watches that have been serviced where there is lint under the crystal, or the hands have little marks on them, or the hands are not perfectly aligned. This looked immaculate, even under a loupe. What about accuracy? Well, I've worn it for 7 days straight and it has gained 12 seconds, so average of +1.7s per day. I'll take that
I suppose the moral of this story is don't leave servicing too late. Although that depends on what movement you have - parts are easy to get for this movement but with an in-house movement you'd be a bit stuffed.
Ian
Thanks, great work, very informative.
A stunner for sure. Brendan's an absolute star and as for not leaving lint under the crystal, Brendan's as fastidious about it anyone I've known.
Great write up Ian, nice to see what's going on inside that handsome case. Glad it's all sorted now and good for many decades to come!
Brendan recently serviced a Speedmaster 321 for me and did a marvellous job - he even ensured the tiny Omega logo on the crystal was upright!Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli
-- Tim
Last edited by in_denial; 29th April 2016 at 19:16. Reason: since when did we start having to proofread what a computer has corrected for us?
The little details make a huge difference.
Dave
Absolutely. There's such a dismal lack of trust of garages, because of the industry's institutionally poor behaviour, that you need to do this to be sure that the garage has actually done any work on the car at all, and just driven around the block and parked up front. I've had that done to me at least once.
To make sure they didn't just throw old gaskets and oil filters in the boot that belonged to some other car they actually did service, I also used to check for a new filter and fresh engine oil before driving off. Sorry, you did ask ;).
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Nice to hear from a fellow happy owner. The Santos 100 is a classic, I'm personally onto my third now, my first in 1994, the second in 1997 and the most recent since 2011. i think this one is the closest I've had to a keeper
I currently have the midsize version. Coincidently mine hasn't been without issues. I bought it pre owned from WoS in Brighton. I wore it a day here and a day there but within 18 months it stopped being able to last a whole day from a full winding. I dropped it back to WoS who sent it away and I picked it up about a month later supposedly fixed but the problem hadn't gone away. WoS sent it away again and advised the only fix was to replace the movement.
I've not had the back off to see exactly what they did do and whether the whole movement was changed. It was all covered by their pre owned warrenty at no cost and I've not had a problem with it since.
First time I've seen one of these 'on the bench', very interesting read and a lovely watch.
hi,i do enjoy this type of thread,thanks OP for posting..
Interesting post, I thought Cartier wouldn't sell parts to anyone hence keeping a monopoly on servicing.
I had a Tank Francaise Chrono and no independent could get the parts so it had to go back to Cartier for a service.
I`ve seen ETA 2824s with worn main plates but never a 2892 as bad as this. It can happen, particularly if they're not serviced for years. Excessive hand-winding exacerbates the problem; I don`t think these movements were ever designed to be hand-wound daily but that's what some folks do when the auto-winding stops functioning properly. These movements are prone to reverser problems caused by over-oiling or the oil getting sticky; that prevents the auto-winding from functioning even though the rotor moves as it should. Once that's happened the watch needs attention, not hand-winding to keep it in use!
This post should serve as a lesson to those who don`t believe in having watches serviced till they're well and truly poorly. In this case, an ETA mainplate isn`t too expensive (although that'll change in the future) so it isn`t a massive expense, but for some watches it would be a major problem and the replacement may not be readily available.
Paul
Thank you all for your positive posts.
I've been fixing watches for nearly 50 years now so I should at least hope I've learnt a little.
I try to repair less than seven a week now so spend more time on each one.
When I had my shop I would repair six a day !
Fine regulation of mechanical watches is a combination of fine art and good luck !
Brendan.
The reason for the wear in this case was a burr on the winding stem.
That should have been noticed by the original assembler because it took some force to push the winder into the watch.
The resulting damage in my opinion therefore, was not caused by lack of service.
But by the carelessness of the original assembler.
Brendan.
I stand corrected. I've always blamed wear in this area on a bent stem or excessive hand winding. I tend to assume (wrongly!) that everything leaves the factory in perfect condition.
Paul
Dont worry about it Paul. I wish I could say much more about the way the Swiss watch industry is going but I'm worried about legal action from them. At the moment many are losing their jobs because of the high Chf. Quality Control do fk all most of the day and unpack spares for the assemblers when they're not examining watches. Things dont usually leave the factories undamaged but QC are expendable in crisis times since they are mostly unskilled. I was recently told that one major house is considering refusing to repair any of their watches which has been fixed by any indie. They will disown it and this would be written into the purchase contract. I could go on..... Glad I'm reaching the close of my career.
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Don't go Brendan! Who will service my watches?
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Oh my Gawd !
When I say 'The close' I mean The last 20 years or so.
Fear not !
I would never abandon these kind members who keep me in Fish and Chips and much more....!
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This thread's the epitome of a nightmare for "10-year service interval" guys like me
Six full overhauls incl polishing? How'd you manage that?
I just did ! Everyone wore mechanical watches then. I had a mortgage to pay. So I worked from 7am to 8pm most days and even worked Sundays.
I was also working for the National Physical Laboratory and they were exacting !
I was 21 when I opened my shop.
My first repair was an Omega Dynamic. I'll never forget it because the same customer then brought in a repeating carriage clock.
I didn't have much money to stock the window so I put some of my own collection in it at ridiculous prices. My wife sold them all so I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. At least I could afford a decent car then and bought my first of five Triumph Vitesses. Man they were fast for their time !
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Lovely thread with great details of the service. That video is amazing and attention to details of little things is just top notch. Glad to know Your not retiring any time soon Brendan, I will continue to read your interesting post like the trip to Basel 2016. That write up makes me feel like I was there too while reading.
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