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Old 29 January 2023, 03:19 AM   #1
triode
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Advice on Tudor Price Oysterdate Submariner repair

I purchased a Tudor Prince Oysterdate Submariner from a jeweler on Dec 22nd,
2022. They claimed that it was on consignment from a long time customer
and that he was the original owner.

About 30 days later, one morning I noted that the date had not changed fully,
it was half way between dates. This was about 6am when I picked up the watch.
I unscrewed the crown and moved it to the date position and set the date. It
went CLICK pretty loudly, and it sure seemed like it took more force to turn
than say my Seikos. I thought for a moment that it might not have advanced
as it might be running low on power (I for now have an office job, and do
not do any heavy activity with the watch other than walking quite a bit). I
moved the position of the crown to the one closest to the watch, and it would
NOT turn. At all. I stopped (see backstory below) and screwed the crown down.
I have some questions, but first a short backstory:

Backstory: My father had a watch exactly like this, that his sister purchased
for him in Switzerland in the mid 80s. He wore it nearly every
day, but then it broke down. It had the same problem that I just described
above, but he turned it thinking it was just stuck, and broke it... circa
2013, I decided to have it fixed as a present for him, and I looked online
and found what I thought was a reputable rolex/tudor repair person (not an
RSC) and sent it off. It came back and worked, (IIRC, it was a LOT, like
$700). He used it for a while, and I moved out of state. When I came back,
I noticed that he was wearing some cheap off brand watch and asked about it.
He told me the following:
The watch broke again a few months later.
He sent it back to the same guy.
It came back, and broke again a few months later.
He sent it back to the same guy.
They repair person (ok, my father is getting up there in age) told him it would
cost too much, and he should just leave the watch as it would also
cost a lot to ship back, and it was just not worth it. My father, getting
frustrated and shipping back and forth and spending a lot of money
(we are not well off by any stretch), agreed to let him keep the Tudor.

The present: So here I am, I have been looking for like 10 years for a
Tudor Sub (at a "reasonable" price, I found it, and now it breaks in the same
fashion (at least from what I see) as my fathers watch.

Also of note, we have no local watch repair centers / horologists here.
No matter what (RSC or independent) I would have to send it off.
I am pretty trigger shy about this after my fathers incident.

Questions:
  • Should I just purchase an ETA 2824-2 and replace it and keep the old one to
    avoid the nonsense my father went through? They are around $250 for the entire
    movement, so I figure perhaps $350-$450 in total for this repair.
  • Should I send it to an RSC to get repaired?
  • As nutty as this might sound, should I do nothing? Just keep wearing it, shake
    it if it runs down and do nothing? I have other cheap watches to wear, and this one
    cost me a pretty penny. I am not a person of means who can just buy a luxury
    watch, and it is a hard pill to swallow to to spend more money on it with
    no knowledge of how long the new repair will last (hence my first idea on
    the new ETA)...

Opinions or advice wanted and appreciated.
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Old 29 January 2023, 03:35 AM   #2
Tools
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A generic ETA movement will destroy the Tudor value of your watch.

What you describe is not normal. Have the RSC give it a complete and proper service and you will be starting your Tudor journey with a "new" watch.
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Old 29 January 2023, 03:56 AM   #3
rootbeer7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tools View Post
A generic ETA movement will destroy the Tudor value of your watch.

What you describe is not normal. Have the RSC give it a complete and proper service and you will be starting your Tudor journey with a "new" watch.
This.
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Old 29 January 2023, 04:56 AM   #4
triode
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tools View Post
A generic ETA movement will destroy the Tudor value of your watch.

What you describe is not normal. Have the RSC give it a complete and proper service and you will be starting your Tudor journey with a "new" watch.
I suppose I did in fact list this as an option... but I am very skeptical that I can afford to send it to an RSC, after looking at what others get charged by an RSC (even for just an "overhaul" with no parts replaced).

I might have to lean towards the "do nothing" option. I think if I send it to an RSC, and find out I can not afford it, I would probably still be out $200 in estimates and shipping fees, if not more.
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Old 29 January 2023, 07:37 AM   #5
Ron P
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Well, A good shop should be able to fix it and keep it original Tudor. Some parts are tudor, many part are generic ETA, so good change it will be the generic parts. Al the parts around the winding, hanging date, setting time are generic ETA parts.
The bridges and platine are Tudor same as the rotor and balance cock. Most of the wheels between the barrel and the pallet fork and the autowinder are generic ETA too.
So have it properly fixed by a competent watchmaker. The costs of the generic parts are “peanuts” compared to shipping it to RSC.
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Old 29 January 2023, 08:39 AM   #6
triode
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron P View Post
Well, A good shop should be able to fix it and keep it original Tudor.
Right. I need to find a good shop that I can trust that will do a good job, replace the
Tudor with Tudor and ETA with ETA. I tried one before and it was bad. (even bad memories
now, I realized who it was when I went through the list of shops on this forum and
recalled the name and went through my old emails and verified it, ugh).

So how do I find a good one today? I was looking at Rolliworks for example, but it is kind of high...
A thought pops up that if a repair on the Tudor from a reputable person will be $535+
more on top of what I paid for the Tudor, I might seriously need to give up the idea of
keeping it, as I can not really afford this watch to be the family heirloom.
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Old 9 April 2023, 09:55 PM   #7
triode
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I forgot to circle back on this...

I sent it to R.S.C. New York. I asked them not to polish or change the hands/dial/bezel, which they did not. They said the crown was broken, and that it was in need of an overhaul. Hrm, the Dealers "watchmaker" must have not overhauled it.... not too surprised, they are in the business of making money, not overhauling watches.

At any rate, I have the watch back now, for about three weeks. I am super impressed with the repair work. The watch is running +2spd. That beats all of the other watches in my collection, one of which is a new ETA watch that is doing +26spd, a steinhart). I am not sure if I can post dollars here, and everyones watch is different, but the cost was very low. Scary low, like 1/3 of what most people say R.S.C. charges (of course, it is a Tudor not a Rolex). I am super happy with the choice of going with R.S.C. on this one.
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