How to keep a field watch running for thirty years
A mechanical movement wants three things and none of them is expensive. What actually kills watches is the strap.
A mechanical movement wants servicing about every five to seven years, wants to be kept away from magnets, and wants its crown screwed down before it goes anywhere near water. That is the whole list.
What actually ends most watches is the strap. A spring bar is a two-millimetre piece of steel with a spring inside it, and it fails without warning. Replace them in pairs, every couple of years, whether or not they look worn — a strap costs less than a case.
If it stops keeping time and it has not been dropped, it is usually magnetised, and any watchmaker will demagnetise it in about a minute, often for nothing.
A short list, chosen slowly. Ten things we would own ourselves.
Once a month, at most
Product photographs are for illustration and colours can vary between screens. Stock and prices can change while an item is in your basket — the price confirmed at checkout is the one that applies, and any delivery charge is worked out there too.