Originally Posted by
walkerwek1958
You don’t need to convince yourself, I’ll do it for you! I remain firmly convinced that a watch kept in storage ( not running) won’t need servicing as frequently as one that’s worn daily, my own experience bears this out. If a watch us an occasional wearer it’ll probably be fine after 10 years or more. Provided it was oiled correctly with synthetic lubricants and epilame in the right places it should be OK. The more a watch is worn the sooner it’ll need service, that’s my belief based on experience and it’s one reason why I’m dead against watch winders.
Here’s an example: In 2004 I got a Speedmaster Reduced as a 30 year long service gift from work. Over the years it was worn sparingly, typically 3-4 weeks per year. In 2021 I finally got around to servicing it, amplitude was still 280 degrees and I’d had to regulate it once, the watch was still running fairly well but given the age it made sense to strip it down. I inspected the jewels to assess the state of lubrication, despite some deterioration it was mostly still present and liquid. After service the amplitude improved to around 300 degrees, mainly due to the fresh lubrication to the pallet jewels which had dried up somewhat.
Contrast this with a few 7-8 yr old SMP models running the same basic movement, watches I serviced after having led ‘busy’ lives. Typical amplitude was 230-240 degrees, with evidence of dried up lubricant, these watches benefitted greatly from being serviced. Clearly, 7 years was possibly too long for these whilst 17 years was OK for my sparingly worn watch.
I rest my case!