What cheap watch servicing can get you

Here’s an example of what cheap watch servicing can get you. In this case a mangled hairspring, the specialty of the botch watchmaker. All day long I encounter this. This is difficult and time consuming to fix and requires a great deal of skill. Cheap or high volume watchmakers won’t correct your hairspring, it’s not part of the “clean and oil” service and it is a potential money loser for them so they pass the  buck. A botched hairspring, left as-is, destroys the heart of the watch and its efficient timekeeping and stability. The hairspring on the left is botched and for the pro’s watching, it’s not stud height. This particular watchmaker was great at covering their tracks except for the three consecutive service markings on the inside caseback in a timespan of several months, customer returning for an issue. Remember that even though it did not tick before but ticks or seems to work to you doesn’t mean your watch wasn’t botched. Other gifts from this watchmaker included stripping and breaking a dial screw into the plate, stripping the balance stud screw threads, damaging the dial where he tried to claw it out with the embedded screw, and a jewel clearly broken by sloppy bridge installation. What I was impressed here with (not) was how he seemed to cover his tracks around the watch.