Anyone know anything about watches?

Ask on here

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/watches-n1/

Nothing to do with the watch, but if he genuinely can't use it anyway, then I'd just keep letting him put it on. People with dementia - my mother died from it - cling on to things that give them some small element of grounding, they often deteriorate when moved away from a familiar environment, so it may be that his asking for the watch is part of trying to find some small element of familiarity n a very confusing world. Taking it away for repair could actually be quite unsettling for him.

I'm not an expert, but that's my personal experience. Huge sympathy btw. It's a horrible, sad illness. I felt like I lost my mother twice, once when she stopped being herself then again when she died.

Edit: I guess scoping out the details of repair, value etc, may put your mother's mind at rest, but I'd still be wary of sending the watch away,

If he can't read it but it gives him comfort in putting it on there is no point of depriving him of it for a few weeks, or months.

Yes, it will be expensive at Breitling, but better they do it than your friendly neighbourhood horologist.

My cousin is a watch repairer. He works here. They're in Tring in Herts and also have a new place in Thame near Oxford.

https://watchdoctors.co.uk/watch-repair/breitling-watch-repair/

He works on every type of watch there is.

They'll give you a quote and appear to have a secure postal option.

I know nothing about watches, but I do know that Breitling is a high-end brand and will therefore definitely be worth repairing, even more so for family/nostalgic reasons. Do it for your dad, and also for your mum.

A Breitling will be a nice watch and unless it’s really fubar’ed worth repairing, more so if it is of sentimental value.

You could contact Calibre, used them a couple of times very good service, for a quote. They have a number of happy customers on the watch thread mentioned above

https://calibrewatchrepair.com/watch-servicing/

If you can reconcile the disruption from it being away for a bit, I'll second Calibre. I used them to service one of mine a couple of months ago and they were exemplary.

You can speak to the bloke doing the work and he'll give you a reliable turn around time. The service centres for the big brands take weeks/months. Calibre had mine serviced and back within a fortnight.

I would reiterate contacting Calibre I you want it fixed. I used them to service and fix my Tag engagement watch that suddenly stopped working. Not cheap but nothing to do with premium watches is. The repaired watch stopped working again about 1 week later. Calibre were really good at getting it sorted, said it was probably a faulty part and sorted it ASAP, it's now been running fine for over a year. It's where I'll send my other Tag (inherited from my Dad) when it needs looking at

Not cheap but nothing to do with premium watches is.

True enough, but they’ll be cheaper than the manufacturer though.

I used Watch Doctors via post to repair my Tag and was impressed with both the price and service.

There's an awful lot of premium quality watches going wonky...

@suburbanreugen - they need to be serviced fairly regularly.

@suburbanreugen – they need to be serviced fairly regularly.

Yeah, that's what put me off when I got an inheritance and was considering buying a nice watch – it seems crazy that a watch costing thousands can cost hundreds and hundreds to keep it working properly.

it seems crazy that a watch costing thousands can cost hundreds and hundreds to keep it working properly.

See also 'cars'...

My last 'complete service' by Breitling was c£500.

If you're going to inherit the watch and intend to keep it you will need a repair/service; if you intend to dispose of it, a repair/service will maximise value.

The decision appears to be either do it now or if/when you inherit.

Breitling have a number of stores (they refer to them as boutiques) in the UK; my preference would be to use one of them to manage the process.

You could also consider asking a branch of Goldsmiths if they can repair or deal with Breitling on your behalf.

– it seems crazy that a watch costing thousands can cost hundreds and hundreds to keep it working properly.

My good watch has been serviced twice in thirty years. I’ve worn it cycling, at work and in a few minor scraps. My Breitling once in about twenty four years.

Not particularly onerous for what is fairly precision engineering

My Panerai was never serviced once in 25 years. Wore it to work, out in the woods etc, and it still kept perfect time. Nothing "dropped off". The only reason I sold was it was too a massive a lump of cold on my wrist to pedal with...

– it seems crazy that a watch costing thousands can cost hundreds and hundreds to keep it working properly

why?  It’s a tiny machine with springs, cogs and levers working to high precision.  Seem fairly logical to me that it would need lubrication and servicing over time.  People spend thousands on cars and they usually need servicing every year or two.

My Oris watch has a 10 year warranty and service interval.  Pretty staggering really for what it does.

A 'proper' watch - not a 'fashion' watch - is a marvel of small format precision engineering which deserves some TLC.

Many years ago I had a beautiful Omega De Ville in 18ct gold; it got badly damaged on a raucous night out abroad - scraped up all the bits; claimed on an all-risks policy; claim accepted; watch re-built; looked fantastic after the re-build; worked perfectly - for me - until it was stolen.

https://www.breitling.com/us-en/archives/navitimer/old-navitimer-2/

On Chrono24 they go for $2500 to $5500

https://www.chrono24.com/breitling/ref-a13322.htm#gref

As an automatic chronograph it's at the top end for a service I'd imagine.

An old navitimer is a nice watch and should be well worth repairing.  The crown and stem having come out is not a big problem,  it's quite common.  I'm fairly confident older navitimer,  in fact all until recently,  used an ETA valjoux 7750 movement,  its a good but common movement.  That's good,  it means pretty much any decent watch repairer will have no difficulty with it.

You could also try Genesis,  they Are always highly praised.

There’s an awful lot of premium quality watches going wonky…

There are tens, hundreds of thousands of premium quality watches out there, people have been buying them for decades. A moment’s thought would tell you that a mechanical watch, which is a marvel of miniaturised mechanical engineering, will at some time in its life, need a service, see: motor cars, or need a repair, see: motor cars.
I have a Yema Rallygraf Super that was the first watch I bought with my own money, over fifty years ago. I’d had minor issues fixed but then the mainspring broke. I found someone in Marlborough, Deacon & Sons, who have in-house watchmakers who fixed and serviced it. They can work on a Breitling, they have branches in Swindon and Royal Wootton Basset as well.

Cost £460 for the repair, I paid £50 for the watch: it’s now worth north of £4000.

An old Breitling could easily be worth over £3000, well worth spending money on getting it fixed up. In the meantime, have you an old wris****ch handy you could swap with the Breitling, so your dad still has the comfort of feeling a watch on his wrist.

So this strayed into a thread about people justifying their fancy things and away from your question. For me, it's your dad's watch and if it brings him comfort. So what if its in need of refurb. Given no one needs a watch these days and they are only about having a nice thing, surely this watch is still filfilling its purpose for him.

Yeah, as @ashh and others have said: it seems the watch brings your dad some happiness so let him keep wearing it. If and when the time comes that he no longer wants or needs it, it will always be able to be repaired and serviced.

Thanks all - appreciate all the comments. Will talk to my mum as I think it is her that is more stressed by it than my dad. We can probably find another watch for him if necessary.

Re the inheritance  - I suspect that my parents estate is so small it will all be sold to cover funeral/care costs - they have pretty much no assets apart from a small share of a house (approx £20k and a few things like this that may have a few hundreds value.