smd4 posted:Rapid Transit Holmes posted:It is hard to find anyone to work on these master timepieces, anymore. Search the web, I think there's a guy in Texas...
Nonsense. There are hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of people who work on these watches, BEN10BEN among them.
In the early 70's, my grandmother "hid" my grandfather's railroad watch in the toilet bowl tank. I found it when we were closing the family home. She had also over-wound it. I took the back and face off, submerged it in alcohol overnight, dried it with a hair dryer, and sprayed the works with LPS. Probably not the smartest thing, but the best idea I could come up with at age 16. It "looked" OK, but wouldn't run.
My uncle inherited this watch. He lived in Va. Beach and was unsuccessful finding anyone in his area to repair it. The watch ultimately was displayed under a glass dome for 40+ years. After my uncle's death my cousins gave it to be because it didn't run, and they had been told by their father that it couldn't be repaired.
I live in Richmond Va., and called more than a dozen jewelry stores that advertised watch repair. None of them even wanted to look at my Grandfather's railroad watch. The businesses I found in my area equate "Watch Repair" with battery and band replacement. They'll be happy to ship your Seiko "back to the factory" for repair. There is a shop in Stanton that works on wall clocks, and will clean pocket watches. They did take the time to look at the watch but then declined the work.
Big Jim gave us a referral to a gentleman in Roanoke. Were it not for a word-of-mouth referral, I also may have given up on getting this watch repaired. We ended up driving 3+ hours to Roanoke Va. to get it repaired. He had a BIG backlog. It took almost 11 months to get the watch back. VERY expensive, but after 47 years it was again operable.
I would bet there are thousands of inoperable heirloom watches because watch repair is not readily available. Many are probably scrapped for the gold value of the case. From my experience, I concur that watchmakers are indeed a dying breed. If there are a dozen in the entire state of Virginia, I would be shocked.
