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When is my watch due for service?
Brands quote intervals that suit their service centres. The honest answer depends on the movement, how you wear it and whether anything has actually changed. Work it out below.
Why brand intervals are shorter than they need to be
Most manufacturers recommend service every five years. Independent watchmakers, who have no service centre revenue to protect, commonly say seven to ten for a modern movement that is running well. Both parties are being honest about different things: the brand is protecting the watch against every eventuality, the watchmaker is looking at what actually comes across the bench.
Modern synthetic lubricants are the reason the gap has opened. Oils used until the 1980s degraded and migrated within a few years, so a five year interval was genuinely necessary. Contemporary oils stay in place far longer, which is why a well made watch from 2015 can run accurately for a decade without intervention.
The exception is anything running dry. Once lubricant has broken down, metal runs on metal, and the pivots and jewels wear in a way that no service can reverse. That is the failure mode worth avoiding, and it is why symptoms matter more than dates.
Symptoms beat the calendar
A watch tells you when something is wrong long before it stops. The most reliable signal is a change in daily rate: not whether it gains or loses, but whether it has started doing something different from what it has always done. A watch that has run at plus four seconds a day for years and is suddenly at plus fifteen is asking for attention.
A shortened power reserve is the second signal. If a movement that reliably ran for two days now dies overnight, the mainspring or the barrel is not delivering properly.
A gritty crown is the one people ignore and should not. Roughness when winding means debris or dried lubricant in the winding pinion, and continuing to wind through it grinds those particles into the teeth.
What a service actually involves
A full service means complete disassembly, cleaning every part in an ultrasonic bath, replacing worn parts and all gaskets, reassembly, fresh lubrication at each friction point, then regulation in multiple positions and a pressure test for water resistance.
It takes a competent watchmaker several hours of bench time spread over days, because the timing has to settle before final regulation. That labour, not the parts, is what you are paying for, and it is why quotes vary so much between an independent and a brand service centre.
Brand centres often replace parts that an independent would clean and reuse, and some will refinish the case as standard. That refinishing is worth declining on a vintage or collectable watch, since polishing removes metal and softens the original case edges permanently, which collectors treat as damage.
Common questions
How often should a watch be serviced?
Manufacturers usually say every five years. Independent watchmakers commonly recommend seven to ten for a modern mechanical movement that is running well, because contemporary synthetic lubricants last far longer than the oils that set the traditional interval. Symptoms are a better guide than the calendar.
What happens if you never service a mechanical watch?
The lubricants eventually break down and metal runs directly on metal. The watch will keep going for a while, losing accuracy, and the damage accumulating in the pivots and jewels is not reversible by a later service. What would have been a routine clean becomes a parts replacement.
Do quartz watches need servicing?
Less often, but yes. They still have gear trains that need lubrication and gaskets that harden with age. Roughly every ten years is reasonable, and the battery should be changed promptly when it dies because a leaking cell can destroy the movement.
Is condensation under the crystal urgent?
Yes. Visible moisture means water has already passed the seals, and steel parts inside begin to corrode within days. Get it to a watchmaker immediately rather than waiting for it to clear, because the water evaporating does not undo the rust.
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