THE SERVICING

A servicing is a maintenance service that a watch needs at regular intervals.

In a mechanical watch, the oils and greases deteriorate over the course of a few years. Whether the watch is running or not, the Lubrication will need to be renewed at some point. On an Automatic watch, it is sometimes the ratchet wheels that no longer work effectively and the watch no longer winds properly. Sometimes, the accuracy is no longer good either. Over the years, the Gasket / Seal can also dry out and a water-resistant watch may no longer be so. Thus, the watch will need to be serviced.

As a general rule, a mechanical watch needs a service approximately every five years. This also prevents parts whose lubrication is no longer sufficiently effective from wearing out. A service can be more tedious than assembling the same watch for the first time. Indeed, a large part of the movement will need to be disassembled and its parts cleaned. Upon reassembly, each part will be checked. On a modern watch, worn parts will sometimes be replaced. On an older watch, they will instead be repolished as needed, since standard replacement parts sometimes do not exist.

Once the service is complete, a mechanical watch will be observed for a good week, or even longer. If it is automatic, the efficiency of the system will often be checked. Also, the rate will sometimes be checked on a simulator. The entire servicing process will therefore consist of disassembly, cleaning, assembly and lubrication, and finally checks.

On a Quartz watch, the process will be a bit simpler. Often, it will mainly consist of a battery and Gasket / Seal change and a Water resistance Testing. Indeed, in a Quartz mechanism, a Train (wheel train) is not under the constant tension of a spring as in a mechanical watch. Thus, its Train (wheel train) is very often not lubricated. This makes the task easier during the servicing of Quartz watches.