How important is servicing? (Seamaster)

[FreeLitres]

I have had my 2254.50 Omega Seamaster for almost 10 years. I love this watch and it has huge sentimental value to me, but I find that I typically grab a Seiko for daily wear. In fact, the Omega has had a very easy life and only gets worn a few times a month.

It keeps good time and it had only the slightest desk diving marks on the clasp. As per most Swiss dive watches, it has never got wet.

Omega suggest that watches should be serviced every 4 or 5 years.

How important is it to service this Seamaster? What are the downsides of not servicing it if the watch seems to perform as expected?

[Dempsey1971]

I have several watches that 'need servicing', but if they run fine, and keep good time, I would leave well alone.
I have had watches serviced and they come back with issues when they didnt have any before.
Just me though.

[Trev450]

As above. I tend to leave well alone unless they start to play up.

[catso]

Dempsey1971 said:

if they run fine, and keep good time, I would leave well alone.
I have had watches serviced and they come back with issues when they didnt have any before.

Indeed, my Wife's had her Rolex for 18 years. We got it serviced at 5 (ish) years because it was 'advised' to do so and then last year it slowed down and would occasionally stop so we got it serviced at a well known high street watch shop.

When it was returned to use the timekeeping was even worse, so it went back - on second return it was no better.

Then they admitted that, despite telling us it would go to Rolex for the service so that it had the 'proper' care and warranty (they even made a point of describing how thorough Rolex were when servicing), it had been sent to an 'independent' repairer - presumably because it cost them less? although they still charged us the full Rolex price.

I insisted that they sent it to Rolex the third time and it's been OK since (although it still runs slower than we would like?) but given each of the three services saw the watch away for several weeks, she was without it for a good part of the year, as such we wouldn't want to go through that any more often than absolutely necessary and, I assume the cost and time to service is the same whether done at 5 years or 10 so we'll be waiting until it needs it next time.

[mikeveal]

When a watch needs a service, the oils heave either evaporated & the watch runs fast, or coagulated and it runs slow.
Running it in this condition will result in excessive wear. The next service may require parts to be replaced rather than just a disassembly, clean, reassembly & oil.

It doesn't matter much whether you run the watch or not, the time between services is about the same.

All of that said, if you're only running the watch for one day a month, it's going to take a very long time before you do any damage.

IANAWM.

[FreeLitres]

Thanks all,

I think I will leave it "as is" untill I start to notice a downturn in performance.

I'm going to try and wear it a bit more.