Satisfaction with a tool that is so close to you, physically and perhaps mentally, is a great thing, and worth substantial outlay. And the marvel of precision engineering, that too. The issue of paying 5 times or more than it really costs to build is where I question. It is nice to support craftsmen deserving respect, however. And it looks like a hobby with some resale value. Good on all of you so inclined.
The Atomic Solar that I'm using now will have a battery failure at some time, but when? It has already lasted longer than previous watch batteries by a good margin. And where could I get the battery replaced? I have replaced some watch batteries myself in years past.
I was given a basic, Tudor Oyster back in the 70's by my grandparents; Classic, subtle looks. Scratched the acrylic lens but worked well. Wound it every day. Stopped using it when a Seiko Automatic caught my eye. Now that I have a son that may want to inherit it, I pulled it out to check to see if it still worked, but then decided to take it to a Rolex service facility. They wanted to charge a lot of money for a cleaning, etc. but it does work fine. I had them polish the lens, looks nice.
A friend of a friend works on fine watches so I called him. He looked at it and said basically I did not have to have it serviced IF it kept decent time, but what I'm hearing here is that keeping it lubricated is the proper thing to do. It's just that the Rolex people want to take it apart and check and replace worn parts. The resale value for this watch can't really justify it in my mind. What to do?
If it's a family heirloom, chances are it's going to be worth it. (Though obviously not from a purely financial point of view.)
Also, the reason why mechanical watches can last decades upon decades without routine servicing (about once every 5-7 years) is because they're tossed into a drawer and barely if ever worn. Mechanical/automatic watches suffer from a weird characteristic... They can keep accurate time (by mechanical timepiece standards) for decades, while corroding or rusting away on the inside. Until one day, the watch completely gives up the ghost; and either can't be fixed or fixing it would require months of work and thousands of dollars in repair fees.
So, a vintage watch that works and keeps time accurately is a really **** poor indicator of whether or not it needs to be serviced. Any mechanical/automatic watch that hasn't been given a routine servicing for over 7 years, it's going to cost more to properly service it. A decade or two without servicing?... It's going to cost more because chances are that internal parts will need to be replaced. Rolex's price-quote actually might not have been all that outrageous. But before agreeing to pay it, take the vintage Tudor to a skilled and experienced independent watchmaker. (One with experience working on Rolex watches.) Have him open it up in front of you and get a price-quote from him. But yeah, after all these years it's going to cost you to get it properly serviced.
It's actually a typical misconception that mechanical/automatic watches are far more durable than they really are. And yes, they need to be properly oiled. Otherwise you have gears grinding on each other without proper lubrication. Once again, while that's going on, the watch will appear to work perfectly fine; sometimes for many years. But the internals of the movement are slowly destroying themselves.
Another example, a personal one, Dad's old Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme was over a decade old when he let me borrow and drive it as a younger man. It had an oil leak and needed oil put in about as often as gasoline. So, that's what it did. Car worked fine. Few weeks later, Dad took it back because he needed it. He chewed me out for flooding the engine with oil. So he cleaned out the engine. What I didn't know is, he put in only one quart of oil for the next several weeks. When I borrowed it again, Dad neglected to mention the fact that he stopped putting oil in the engine. Keep in mind he never fixed the leak.
Sure enough, by the time I borrowed it again, the engine had been running on fumes for awhile and was basically bone dry. It was also basically grinding itself apart due to the lack of oil. It stopped at the bottom of the expressway Exit ramp. Yeah, I'll spare you the choice words I had for him after finding out that he hadn't bothered putting anymore oil into it for a few weeks. He knew the engine was bone dry, knew the leak was never fixed, but gave me the keys anyway. Yeah...
Well, for the first hour after I drove it; it seemed fine. Just a bit sluggish, but fine. Then really sluggish. Then dead on the road.
Chances are that's pretty much what's happening inside your vintage Tudor. But at a much slower pace. A car is a mechanical thing, so is a vintage watch with gears and springs inside. Mechanical things need proper and routine lubrication.
