Whether you have a Rolex, Cartier, Omega or another luxury watch, there is always going to be an element of care and maintenance to be carried out in order to keep your timepiece running in tip top condition. The complexity of these watches in astounding, the fine tuned movements inside your watch are made up of hundreds of tiny components that move around 700,000 times a day.
So, let us start with the basics. Keeping it clean. Seems an obvious one, but important nonetheless. Ensuring the outside of your watch is maintained and clean ensures that there is no build up that could work its way into the watch and damage the internals. How much you can clean the watch depends heavily on how water resistant the watch is.
Anything rated under 30m would just require the use of a soft damp cloth. Between that and 100m, you can get a little bit more involved with a moist soft bristled toothbrush, allowing you to get into those hard to reach areas a little more. After 100m, we are typically looking at professional diving, so you can go right ahead and submerge the watch to give it a good clean. Of course, when doing this, ensure that you avoid hot water, as this can damage seals and gaskets and make sure you keep that crown screwed down. Remember, plain tepid water is your friend here, avoid soaps etc. Once finished, dry off with a soft lint free cloth thoroughly.
Next, we look at the topic of winding your watch. Now, if you wear your watch daily, and it is an automatic timepiece, then you can rest in the knowledge that it will take care of itself. There are many opinions on this topic, so in this post, we are going to stay pretty neutral on the topic. If you are lucky enough to own several luxury watches, then it would be a good idea to invest in a watch winder, which ensures that everything is kept moving when it is not in use. The reason why this is important is to ensure that the oils and mechanism in the watch are kept moving and lubricated correctly. This is especially true with watches which are more in the vintage range, or if it has not been serviced for a while.
There are other advantages to ensuring you keep your watch wound, more so if your watch carries some complicated features such as moon phases or a perpetual calendar. These watches should really be kept going as resetting and reconfiguring those elements of the watch is a much more complex procedure.
Finally, we always recommend that your luxury watch is serviced by a qualified and reputable watchmaker. Just as you would your car, watches need servicing too. The complex movement assembly inside your watch is so finely tuned to such tight tolerances that servicing is an absolute must to not only maintain the functionality of your watch, but also to avoid more major problems down the line, which can cost substantially more than getting your watch serviced regularly.
So, how often should you get your luxury watch serviced? Again, this is a topic which brings lots of opinions, but for the most part every 3-5 years will suffice for more watches in general use. If you find your watch gets a little more use that average, or it is older, you may find that you will need to increase the rate of which you have them serviced. It also goes without saying that if you notice a drop in performance with your watch, or any small issue, do not waste any time in getting your watch into a professional.
Did you know that BQ Watches offer a wide range of luxury watch repairs and services? As well as being a certified Omega service Centre, our team of in house watchmakers carry out work on Rolex, Cartier, Hublot, Audemars Piguet and more. Find our more about our luxury watch repair service and professional watch valuations.
