Bought a vintage watch, and then what?

[Yoda]

So you find a grail watch, a long sought after vintage piece.
Then what? Service! Don't even think of winding it and wearing it as if it was new, unless you have a confirmed service history!
"Recently serviced" in an eBay auction is not to be trusted, unless you see a bill with a date.

Winding up an old movement with contaminated oil and grease will cause wear and damage beyond belief.

I had a 1973 Rolex calibre 1530 ref. 5500 on my bench a few weeks ago, the new owner bought it "serviced" for 1250 USD and was told to wind it manually once a day to keep it running....wind an automatic movement manually once a day......my ass.
I replaced parts for 560 USD to restore the movement to its former glory....

"Watch" out and take care of your grail watch!

[blueradish]

Fantastic info, I will definitely have any such purchases serviced no matter what the listing states.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Tanukjaju]

Serviced on eBay is as good as Pompe oiling the rotor on an auto movement.

[VanSong]

Happy to know! Great info from an Experience guy.

Enjoy weekend guys

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[unreformed66]

Yes, I couldn't agree more. You ought to see some of the stuff that has come across my bench over the last few decades. It's absolutely mind boggling sometimes what people do to watches. My personal favorite is when they squirt a movement full of lighter fluid and call it "serviced" or even just "running". You can smell the Ronsonol or Zippo fluid as soon as you take the case back off...lol. I used to run into that all the time when I was dealing with primarily American pocket watches. On the other side of the coin I often find watches that haven't been serviced in so long that you can smell the fish oil in them. Yes, sperm whale oil was a lubricant of choice once upon a time. Of course those are always locked up tight from not being serviced in 80 or 90 years. Lots of people simply wore their watches until they wouldn't run anymore and of course that caused damage in most cases.

[civic4982]

I’m guilty of not getting things serviced right away.

I’ll be better Unreformed, I promise


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[TimemiT]

How accurate is it to say ... when buying any vintage movement (like a cortebert) ... will most likely require a new balance staff, main spring and winding gears?

[civic4982]

TimmieT,

I’ve found the need for a mainspring at times but the others have done okay on the Cortebert and Unitas movements


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[Yoda]

I remember the Ronsonol and Zippo smell from the early days when I was primarily into pocket watches, "recently serviced" on eBay. We live and learn.

[unreformed66]

I’m guilty of not getting things serviced right away.

I’ll be better Unreformed, I promise


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You've been a bad boy V, a very bad boy....