Contemplating Patek Repair Times for Grand Complications...

[QueueCumber]

I was just amusing myself by calculating how much your grand complication watch would be out of your hands and in someone else's hands during your lifetime if the repair times were 6 months long.

If you buy your grand complication at 40 years old and you live to be 80, how long will Patek have your watch instead of you during your lifetime, assuming a 6 month repair time?

Depending on whether you include the last service at age 80, Patek will have your watch anywhere from 8.75 to 10 percent of your lifetime with the watch. OUCH!

Now, if it takes even longer for them to service a grand complication than 6 months, say perhaps 1 year, then you are talking around 20 percent of your lifetime with the watch.

My new philosophy is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I would rather pay more later if there is additional wear and repairs and have more time with my watch.

I do have other pieces I can wear when a watch is being serviced, but it does seem like a huge chunk of time. Perhaps Patek could benefit from a better system, such as people registering for having their watch serviced, and then bringing/sending it in when their number is called from the queue. This would allow people to use their watch up until the week of month when it will actually be worked on, and it would get me to service my watch every five years without fail.

[TimeOnHand]

I see what you are saying.... Here in HK it definitely takes min of 9 months to service a Annual Calendar! I am of the same view (at least as of now), if it aint broke dont fix it! Enjoy max time with your watch now...

[conkers]

I was pretty lucky with my broken 5130P, only took 5 months.

[FeelingTheBlues]

I think the "if it ain't broken" philosophy could be applied to newer timepieces more than older ones. I would probably do the same if I had a 5270 and had to wait 8 months (more or less) everytime I send it for a service but I'm afraid I cannot think like that anymore, since I've serviced and restored a few of my personal watches (some very old ones and, mind you, pretty cheap price-wise) I realized that frequent services could have made me find the work on them much easier.

At that price and given that it's a very high end model from Patek (and a recent one at that), the parts are much more finished and well made and the oils are of a much higher quality than the watches I had to work on, therefore you can probably wait until it starts to work strangely before sending it in...I wish I could have that option (though it's a completely different world so I cannot really compare the two of them)...

P.S.: What if I buy my 5270 at 23 instead of 40? Can I afford to send it more often?

[tavv160]

Am I the only one who finds this waiting time completely ridiculous? Everybody seems to accept this as being normal? My Rolex and AP services took 2 months at most, and they cost a fraction of what a somewhat complicated PP costs. Shouldn't the level of service increase along with the price of a timepiece? If not, what are you paying for? Just my 2 cents...

[Time Exposure]

If you have your Patek serviced every three years they reward you with a 2-month turn-around. If it has been closer to 5+ years, they punish you with a 6-month turn-around.

COMPLETELY KIDDING! I hope...

[justbrowsing]

Originally Posted by tavv160

Am I the only one who finds this waiting time completely ridiculous? Everybody seems to accept this as being normal? My Rolex and AP services took 2 months at most, and they cost a fraction of what a somewhat complicated PP costs. Shouldn't the level of service increase along with the price of a timepiece? If not, what are you paying for? Just my 2 cents...

Totally agree with this. They must be making a huge amount of money. They should hire more people.

[cruvon]

Is it possible to request Patek not to polish the watch at service?

[justbrowsing]

Originally Posted by cruvon

Is it possible to request Patek not to polish the watch at service?

I think I saw this option under the service section of their website so you might look there.

[TimeOnHand]

Originally Posted by justbrowsing

I think I saw this option under the service section of their website so you might look there.

Polishing cost extra... so you can opt out of that service!

[Time Exposure]

Originally Posted by TimeOnHand

Polishing cost extra... so you can opt out of that service!

Correct. Per the quote from H. Stern, polish (as best as possible, which frankly I find a bit discouraging) on my Nautilus is about the cost of a real nice vintage Longines. So I sold my vintage Longines and told them to go ahead with a case and bracelet polish. The scratches weren't mine. When I send it back for service in 3-5yrs, I'll probably keep my scratches on it.

Not sure how many times you can have a Nautilus polished. I think AP says not to polish a Royal Oak more than three times. And I would never have anyone but Patek polish my Nautilus or AP polish my Royal Oak.

Does that sound a bit indecent or is it just me getting really sleepy ?

[Israguard]

Granted PP are the best.. Well u know what I mean.. The repair times imho are a real consideration for maybe staying away. But are repair times any quicker with ALS or JLC?

[kilyung]

Originally Posted by Israguard

are repair times any quicker with ALS or JLC?

Marginally yes. Any complicated watch from most brands will take time.

[QueueCumber]

I know people who flipped their complicated watches on hearing the service times...

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by QueueCumber

I know people who flipped their complicated watches on hearing the service times...

My experience has been the same. Question is where do u draw the line with complications? Only grand complications, or include AC's?

For that matter what about these problems we've been hearing lately with the 324 and the sticky date? My answer: go simple. Time-only means less to go wrong and maybe less need for service. No date to set, no need to worry about leap years, and without a seconds hand how would I ever know I'm off by +/- 3 sec? It's like watch nirvana. With the money you save, go by a Porsche. Or you could send your complication off for scheduled service but as per Queuecumber's calculations you don't really own your watch, it's more of a timeshare (pun intended).

[inspires]

As I had posted in another thread. The wait time here in HK PPSC for my 3940 is 9 months and another 3 months to repair, so yes it's already up to one year. My 3940 is running +11.8 sec/day and has passed a pressure test, thus I will likely wait until I acquire my second GC before sending this one in for maintenance.

On another note, has anyone here sent their AC or PC out to an independent for maintenance? I've had great experiences from Bob Ridley with my vintage Rolex, and know that he can also service PP and his turnaround time is 6-8 weeks for my 3940.

[conkers]

Look on the bright side Eric, think how happy you will be when you get it back! You'll have forgotten what it looks like!

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by FeelingTheBlues

What if I buy my 5270 at 23 instead of 40? Can I afford to send it more often?

What if you have a job at Patek Philippe within the next five years, you might even have the oppertunity to repair your own watch instead of waiting for a very very long time.

[DreambreaX]

agree

[RolexWatcher]

One of the mysteries of life - the need to take 6 to 9 months to service high end watches.

With that amount of time, you can rebuild a performance car engine, track the race, win the cup, blow the engine again, and rebuild it again so you can go track it again.

[Preacher]

For modern watches these service times are not acceptable.

[jon_jon]

Repair and servicing of PP watches require highly skilled and experienced watchmakers. There aren't that many watchmakers, even in Geneva, who have opened and disassembled PP's GC watches, let alone have repaired them.

Thierry Stein has openly commented that he recommends customers send their more complicated PP watches to Geneva as that is where their most highly skilled and experienced watchmakers are. Their watchmaker training program is extensive, but it takes years and perhaps decades before a PP watchmaker begins working on their GC watches.

[myopiccoog]

This is correct! Lack of qualified watch maker to work on grand comps.

Originally Posted by jon_jon

Repair and servicing of PP watches require highly skilled and experienced watchmakers. There aren't that many watchmakers, even in Geneva, who have opened and disassembled PP's GC watches, let alone have repaired them.

Thierry Stein has openly commented that he recommends customers send their more complicated PP watches to Geneva as that is where their most highly skilled and experienced watchmakers are. Their watchmaker training program is extensive, but it takes years and perhaps decades before a PP watchmaker begins working on their GC watches.

[perpetualman88]

If service time is an issue perhaps you might think about finding an independent Patek watch maker. There are several around the US that can work on PP as complicated as minute repeaters and tourbilons. There is a watchmaker here in San Diego that is extremely talented and can work on almost any patek minus some of the vintage complicated pieces because at his age he refuses to make many new parts.
He told me his turn around time is 1-2 months on complcated pieces.
Last time I was there he was working on a 3970 and a 5070 :)

[RolexWatcher]

Originally Posted by myopiccoog

This is correct! Lack of qualified watch maker to work on grand comps.

Yes another one of those life mysteries. Always a lack of qualified watch maker to service a watch but never a lack of qualified watch maker when they roll out a new model

[QueueCumber]

Originally Posted by RolexWatcher

Yes another one of those life mysteries. Always a lack of qualified watch maker to service a watch but never a lack of qualified watch maker when they roll out a new model

Not very mysterious to me. It shows where their priorities lie.

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by perpetualman88

If service time is an issue perhaps you might think about finding an independent Patek watch maker. There are several around the US that can work on PP as complicated as minute repeaters and tourbilons. There is a watchmaker here in San Diego that is extremely talented and can work on almost any patek minus some of the vintage complicated pieces because at his age he refuses to make many new parts.
He told me his turn around time is 1-2 months on complcated pieces.
Last time I was there he was working on a 3970 and a 5070 :)

Excellent point!
I've never understood the dogma that only Patek can service Patek. Especially once out of warrantee. True that it requires a knowledgable and skilled watchmaker, but are we to believe that somehow Patek has enslaved all the competent watchmakers? Or that their watches are so inherently complex that only a scientist capable of reverse engineering some alien technology could service such a piece?

Perpetualman, I think your solution is the best, and this forum can be an excellent resource for locating skilled independents.

[DK3]

It is very simple, patek has decided to designate qualified watchmakers to producing complex pieces for larger profit then designating them for repair for marginal profit.

[jon_jon]

For most watch companies, they make money selling watches, not repairing them. However after-service is very important because it says that the company stands behind its products. How many watch manufacturer can say they will restore/repair/service a watch that is 50 years old? Of course Patek Philippe will. I think there are a few others, but not many.

For most companies, the watch repair service is a money losing part of their business. If you ever get a chance to read the horror stories of what is happening in service department of Swiss watch companies in China, it is quite an interesting read. There is a forum user here that was unhappy with the long wait time in servicing his watch in Hong Kong. Mainland China is a totally different story. Patek sent a high level watchmaker to their Shanghai Mansion to be the head of repair and servicing. Supposedly he is training some local watchmakers there, but the process is a slow one. During the past 5-10 years, China has had an incredible increase in the import of Swiss watches and they didn't build up the infrastructure to provide after service. I don't know what the current estimate of sales of Patek watches to the Chinese is, but I would not be surprised if that number is over 25% or closer to 33%. It is difficult to track this unless the purchaser registers his/her watch.

Thierry Stern mentioned in an interview the percentage of watch allocation that goes to Europe, North America and Asia. IIRC, it was something like 40% Europe, 15% NA and 35% Asia. The North American allocation seems low to me. And since this is an English language forum, there is a larger percentage of members from the US and UK. But in retrospect, I think it is fairly accurate as there are certain PP watches that are hard to find in the US, that are more readily available in Europe and Asia.

I know it is frustrating to wait for your watch to be serviced. But on the other hand, it will come back almost brand new like the day you purchased it :-) As they say good things come to those who wait!

[QueueCumber]

In almost any situation in life things can be worse, but that doesn't mean those situations shouldn't be complained about and then evaluated and improved...