watch service - where?
 

There's so many watch collectors on Pelican that I'm confident I can get a better answer here than even Timezone!:)

I have a few automatic watches so far and I'm considering more. I already figure that for Rolex it's best to send it to the Dallas service center. But, how about other brands such as Omega etc.? I'm considering a vintage LeCoultre. I've heard (Timezone thread) it's $750 to have them serviced at the factory. Anyone know of a better solution?

Most of the major Swiss and German brands have U.S. service centers. Breitling's is in CT. Unfortunately, Sinn's U.S. service center can't refill the argon in the U2 model, so I have to send it to Germany to get it regulated.

Here's the man:

http://home.xnet.com/~cmaddox/shane-ede/shane-ede.html

Freakin' awesome Curt! I do business often in Toronto. Thanks!

Rick - I'm told there are no stateside service centers for LeCoultre.

I only wear inexpensive automatic watchs from the 1970s (Tissot and Seiko) There are plenty of Chinese Jewelry shops in NYC that charge between $50-$80 for servicing, so far so good...But if I had an expensive watch I might think twice?

My Jaeger-LeCoultre was about $250 for factory service a couple years ago. The jewler where my wife bought it sent it in. Was gone about a month.

Bob,

I used to use Rolex centers but found a guy locally here in Phoenix who used to work at one.

I sent all my watches to him now and am very happy. He is retired and likes to putter on things from time to time, so we both are happy. I went from about $700-1000 for each watch every 10 years to about $250 each unless there are parts that need replacing. He still has the factory Rolex tools, and gets his parts from a friend still working with the factory.

Might look for someone like this...

Joe

There are good people out there locally. The Seattle area has a watch school at one of the community colleges that helps train factory watchmakers.

I had a vintage JLC damaged by someone working at my house. It needed to go to Switzerland, 9 months later I basically had a new watch for $1,900. It was so nice I couldn't bring myself to wear it and sold it to someone. Some stuff even the authorized dealers with in house watchmakers won't touch.

There is a guy on Ebay (I've never used him) that restores and sells older Omegas, I think he does repairs as well. Lookup up Omega_Addict on Ebay.

The guys at Timezone should be able to direct you to a local watchmaker.

I've seen some of Omega_Addict's stuff. Very nice. I foolishly passed on a pristine, unrestored, square 50s Deville for $385. Wtf was I thinking??

It was a referral from Timezone that I got the $750 JLC info.