Originally Posted by
bafanguy
You must be a pretty serious watch guy to have your own set of watch tools. Are you self taught ? Watch repair is likely a vanishing trade these days. I know trying to find someone skilled and local is a roll of the dice.
I am indeed self-taught. I can take watches apart but sometimes can't figure out what to do with parts left over when I reassemble them.
Actually, it's kinda like working on cars. Years ago, with the right tools and knowhow you could save a lot of money by doing your own automobile maintenance. However, manufacturers have increasingly made things more difficult for the hobbyist without the authorized dealer service manuals.
With watches your neighborhood jeweler could fix things and get parts for most brands until a few years ago. Now, they often want you to send the timepiece in to some service center for a 'refurbishment' that you may not want or really require.
The battery change is the Achilles heel of the quartz watch in my opinion. I've learned to do my own batteries after bad experiences with mall jewelers and spending hundreds on an unrequested maintenance done by an Omega service center on an X-33 (Gen 1, if you are familiar). I may have to send Breitling the Aerospace with the broken LCD but I just hate to get hit with a bill for more than the 15 year old watch is really worth.