Did I miss something

[chris mabbott]

Did I miss something here 😯 can you spot it?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371135161120?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[tmac1956]

Chris:

Was it the fact that this watch was serviced at “considerable cost”? I mean that would cause the price to go up right? Or perhaps it is the fact that most of these watches had only nine jewels but this one has… ELEVEN! Or perhaps it is that sterling is at a whopping $19.19 per ounce – lets not mention that this case is .900.

Man..
Tom

[chris mabbott]

Hey Tom,

Yes, he states he had it cleaned, serviced, timed etc, by a professional watchmaker.. In capital letters.

Did you see how dirty it is, all the supposed to be shiny parts are kinda rusty and nasty looking, and the dirt around the key wind stem.
Maybe he serviced it afterwards and these are the before photos
Or he meant he had the case cleaned?

If it had cost me a considerable amount of money I’d show those photos, not the dirty old ones. I’d also like to be able to shave in my reflection 😆
Yet another hook baited with a flowery write up.. Can’t wait to see what it goes for..

[david pierce]

Chris,
A “professional” watchmaker has to service and repair a watch on a profitable basis. If you add up the actual hours it takes you to restore a watch to anything close to your standards of quality, and divide the hours into the value of the watch when your are finished, the money/hour will not be enough to sustain life. A downside to being a professional is the time crunch someone is under to make a living at it. This watch could have been serviced by a professional who did the minimum amount of work necessary to make it work to acceptable standards.
david

[arutha]

David, I think you are quite correct, if the customer wanted to just have the watch “running” then some “watchmakers” would just get the watch running. I doubt it has been serviced purely because the plates don’t look like they have been anywhere near a pot of watchcleaning solution. Maybe the guy just ran them under the tap?
Paul.

[chris mabbott]

That’s true David, but this guy leads us to believe that it was NOT a cheapo service and this is the point. there are a couple of things that bug me about the sellers description…

I HAVE JUST HAD THIS WATCH COMPLETELY AND PROFESSIONALLY RESTORED / SERVICED AT CONSIDERABLE COST: CLEANED, LUBRICATED AND REGULATED.

1. Professionally Cleaned, restored & serviced..

Would a professional work around that dirt, lube it with the dirt in place thus contaminating the movement?
A professional, even one working on the cheap, would know that one bit of dirt in the works and it will stop, therefore the watch would be returned and he’d loose money by having to do it twice. Even if he’d taken a QTip and wiped that chunk of dirt away, which takes 30 seconds 😆

Doing a service, as you know, involves taking apart the movement.. A service charge should include a bath, it usually does.

2. Serviced at “considerable cost” implies that it cost him a lot of money to have a proper job done, at least that what it makes me think. So a service, including a bath.

3. Regulated…. Can you regulate a filthy dirty watch?

But here he says….

“SUPER CLEAN & SCARCE18-SIZE VERY EARLY ROCKFORD..”

So with his statement of he spent, or leading us to think he spent a lot of money, we also believe ( because he states it a few times) that it was properly and professionally CLEANED & serviced (his words). Which means cleaning away dirt, which the photographs prove to be untrue..

As I mention, if he spent so much money, would he use old photos of a dirty watch??

[david pierce]

Chris,
I think Paul nailed it. The watch may not have been running properly so the seller took it to a watchmaker to get it running well enough to sell. Without that he would have sold it as “not running, parts or repair only”. In that condition he would have been lucky to get $30.00 for it. That seller is the type of person who will buy a watchmaker lathe and sell it off in pieces.
david

[bernie weishapl]

I have to agree with Chris. His ad is misleading and IMHO a lie. That movement is a disgrace and filthy. To me he is just deceiving most people who don’t know watches and that is just wrong.

On the other hand what is considerable cost in his eyes? $20, $30, $50? Back before my eyes went out a few years ago I had a couple of antique shops bring me watches to just get them running. I told them it was full service or nothing. Reason is I got burned doing it once. I got the watch running for one of the shops and charged him $40. He sold the watch for $250 which was his business but when the watch quit a month later he told the gentleman I had serviced it and I would warranty my work. It got a little ugly as I told the gentleman there was no way I would warranty that job. It would be up to the seller. He went around town telling people how bad I was because I wouldn’t take care of his watch I worked on. Thankfully I know most of the people and have worked on their clocks so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I was so PO’d I refuse to do any just get it running job from anybody clock or watch.

[chris mabbott]

Exactly Bernie
The whole ad, the wording is cleverly and subtlety designed to make a potential buyer believe that.

You’re also 120% correct about the blame being squarely placed on the last guy to work on it.

I am a firm believer in quality first, because one dissatisfied or disgruntled customer can totally ruin your reputation, then it’s up to the repairer to prove otherwise, but that is difficult because a stain once made, is difficult to remove.

I like it when a repair shop offers a menu, various options that are set up to complete the basics, they are disassembly, cleaning and inspection…
To me that is a base service..

It’s ultimately up to the client to decide if they want to spend extra for a weak MS a cracked jewel, a restored polished case etc

Many repairers create their own issues because they have to make money, thereby the undercutting underpricing war begins, a lesson to be learned from the downfall of the American watch industry.

So Bernie you raise very good points.. Which bring forth more issues 😆

The repairer is damned if they charge too much,
They are damned, reputation wise, if they charge too little and don’t do a proper job..

Personally, I would rather go out with a reputation that I did very good work but charged too
Much, rather than going out with the tag that I did crap work, the fact that it was cheap doesn’t matter, the latter sticks 🙄

[bernie weishapl]

Totally agree Chris. All clocks and watches that come into my shop get a complete tear down or I don’t do the work. Don’t ask me to just put some oil on it and make it run. If the clock/watch needs bushings, mainsprings, etc I do let the customer decide. If they do not want those services it is noted on the invoice and pointed out that there is no warranty if this work is not done. I warranty my work for one year only if the repairs needed are completed. At least when I go to bed at night my conscience is clear and I can sleep well. 😆

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