Patek Philippe

Before I go into details; let me describe two levels of "service."  

Level 1: adding oil.  No tear down of the watch, just adding oil to some crucial areas.  Takes a watchmaker just a few minutes to do.  

Level 2: full teardown, cleaning, reassembly, and oiling.  Takes hours to do, sometimes more if it's a complicated watch.  

A lot could be happening right here.  I don't want to encourage wild speculation, but here's a plausible scenario.  

1.  A lot of retailers don't send watches to Henri Stern Watch Agency.  Why?  Because HSWA charges a lot of money for service and only allows the retailer to mark up the service by a relatively small percentage.  

2.  In light of this, retailers sometimes send watches to "other watchmakers" who will do the service for much less money.  

3.  These services are often in New York City.  So are you certain that the retailer said "Patek New York City" or just "New York City?"  You said Patek New York (aka Henri Stern Watch Agency) but how do you know it's actually going there if there's no seal?  

4.  These "cheaper" service centers generally replace fewer parts (parts can be expensive sometimes) and they can optimize the watch's running by simply adding lubrication (more oil) and this will keep the watch running for 3-5 years longer.  A fuller service will generally make the watch last longer.  

5.  The retailer will then charge you a lot of money for this "oil addition" and thus they can have a bigger margin.  

6.  This generally happens to watches that are running well if you tell them that something's broken, then they often do send it to the real Patek Philippe New York service center.  But if you do a Level 1 oil change every 3-5 years, you could make the watch run 15+ years without a true tear down service.

Again, I'm not saying that's what your retailer is doing, but this has been the case in the past from some unscrupulous retailers.  With Patek Philippe being more selective of their retailers, most retailers with a Patek franchise are generally not playing games.  

Feel free to PM me with the retailer, the model number, years since last service, and if there are any problems with the watch.  

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