How to maintain a luxury watch over years?
How to maintain a luxury watch over years?
Patek Philippe tag line says ‘you don’t really own a Patek Philippe; you just take care of it for future generations”. That’s how world’s most prestigious watchmakers market their products – clearly implying that Luxury watches are not just watches, they are heirloom that is passed on to successive generations. A luxury watch once bought is a treasured possession and is designed to last for centuries.
Buying a timepiece worth thousands of dollars is a matter of passion. You ought to have what it takes to admire a masterpiece that displays amazing horologic expertise and craftsmanship and connotes finesse and class of a rare level. If you happen to belong to that league, relish the delicacy that most people around the world can only dream of.
Where buying luxury watch requires money and longing, maintaining one requires care and dedication. If you are lucky to have inherited a vintage luxury watch or wish your descendants to enjoy a family jewel in its full glory, adopt a few practices regarding your timepiece to assure it retains its structural and functional excellence.
Get your watch serviced regularly:
A luxury watch needs to be professionally serviced every four to five years to assure its proper functioning. It will not only guarantee proper working of all watch components but also lengthen the life of your precious gadget. A proper service by a horologist is not only about opening and thoroughly cleaning the inside of a watch – though cleaning in itself is very important for mechanical luxury watches – rather, it includes an in-depth inspection of all the watch components and fixation of any wear and tear besides necessary adjustments. Normally, the watchmakers replace the gasket and change the oil that makes the watch as good as new.
However, it is important to get your watch serviced by certified watch servicing centre. All top notch brands have their certified service centers where expert horologists handle the years or decades old timepieces and keep them in best condition. Also, getting your watch opened by an unauthorized party would annul its warranty and you would no longer be able to make any claims to the original manufacturer. Technicalities aside, you cannot let just anyone toy with your precious asset.
Read the instructions manual:
Though it sounds clichéd, reading the instruction manual for your specific brand and model is actually important because every brand is different and different models by same brand are unique and need to be handled according to their specificities. Manufacturers know their watches best and reading a manual is like a manufacturer telling you how to take care of this particular article. Luxury watches vary in their degree of resistance to water, chemicals, pressure and magnetic fields and reading a manual would tell you how you can best use a given watch. Of course, you need to consider these details at the time of buying and choose the article that best matches your requirements. Once you have made a choice, it is recommended to literally go by the book in order to keep it well.
Keep your watch clean:
High-end luxury watches are rough and tough and do not tarnish easily, however, keeping your gadgets as clean as possible is a universal rule that helps to avoid a lot of complications that can be caused by mere accumulation of dust particles over time. Luxury watches often come with their cleaning kits that carry basic tools for cleaning the watch externally. It is recommended to use those tools frequently and keep your watch as dirt free as possible. Particularly, after traveling or spending long hours in open, it would be nice to give your watch a good buff.
Keep your watch away from magnets:
Magnets negatively affect the timekeeping of a watch. Try to keep your watch away from magnetic field to best possible extent. Some luxury watches come with a special resistance to magnetic field. Read the specifics of your watch to see how safe it is near magnets. Also, beware magnets are there in some electronic devices as well.
