Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
Yep, watch repair is expensive now. With the advent of cheap quartz watches, most of the watch repair schools fell upon hard times and most closed their doors. By the late 1980's most watch makers were older with fewer young people getting into the business. By the turn of the century it started getting harder to find good watchmakers, especially in smaller markets. Fewer stores were around with actual watchmakers on the premises. Most stores were having to send watches off to be repaired. The watchmaker I was using in the 1990's had closed his store and was doing watch repair for a few clients to supplement his retirement. That and fishing. He was a watchmaker in the truest sense. I sent him a 150 year old Sterling pocket watch for repair. He told me he would need 6 months to repair it because he was going to have to make the parts. At the time he charged $150.00 to do the repair and the customer loved it. The watch was totally restored. It is extremely hard to find a watchmaker with those capabilities now days. And watch repairs are extremely expensive. For moderately priced watches the retail for repairs can average $400.00 to $500.00. For high end watches you can triple that price.
Apache
|
I know. I know.
To keep maintenance down, my best pieces are in a sealed glass display case (inherited) with a dry cool nitrogen atmosphere!
They are rarely handled unless being actually worn