Alot of people who own fine watches do not understand why it is fairly expensive to fix them.

Imagine in your car the water pump goes out and the dealer tells you he has to strip the entire engine, clean, oil and put it all back together! Imagine the cost of auto repair!

Well in a watch that is exactly what has to be done. Just about every screw, jewel, spring, and gear needs to be taken out, examined, cleaned and put back to insure proper accuracy after the repairs are made. The movement is then tested for accuracy and pressure tested to the guaranteed depth and the movement is put back in the case.

I have attached a few pictures to illustrate this point as alot of people have never seen a mechanical watch taken down to it's components, much less how many parts there actually are!

This watch is the Mens Rolex Datejust.

Bear in mind that this watch is an automatic movement and keeps track of time and date. You should see the amount of parts in a chronograph or other complication!

Holy Cow! Erik
 

That's one heck of a lot of moving parts!

win

A service on a Rolex DJ by an auth Rolex service center is ~$400 and they do indeed take the entire movement apart as shown. A Rolex trained competent watchmaker can, and will do this as well, and has access to the official parts, I believe.

Please do not try this at home. Do NOT attempt to lubricate your watch by unscrewing the crown and squirting WD-40 or anything else down the crown tube.

Some complicated watches (perpetuals, etc) have up to 600 separate parts in the movement.

Whoa!!!!
 

Thanks for sharing these photos, Erik. I always suspected watches were very complex and labor-intensive, but WHOA..to see it all laid out like that!!

Thanks again!

Rodentman:

The service by an authorized Rolex dealer is $500 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both myself and a friend have recently had it done at two different dealers, and we both paid $500.

Gosh, I'm just impressed that you can actually put them all together again :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Some watches are indeed far more complex. In fact, the Rolex DJ shown above is rather simple, as these things go. Watches with chronometers and other complications are often sandwiches of modules that perform different functions. These each need to be disassembled in turn, and the parts count and complexity increase.

This is a photo of the Zenith El Primero chrono movement which is a real PIA to work on: