And didn't they used to send out "service pods"? Now it's "send your watch in something disposable 'cos when we check it in we'll throw away your packaging".
Can't speak for any other brands but Seiko UK have the same arrangement.

ralfybaby wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 12:44 pm It's not just a service innit. It's not a running watch sent in for some fresh oil and a demagnesation.
It's a broken watch sent in for repair. UKP 550 doesn't sound unreasonable

Err, actually it was running watch and keeping good time thanks...

It was the chrono that wasn't running. Having had countless 7750 endowed watches over the last 20+ years I've never had a problem with any except this just over 5 year old CW. I have a 12 year old Steinhart and a 20 year old Louis erard both performing perfectly despite not having needed a service. So, not very impressed with CW really

"It was the chrono that wasn't running. "
I got that. It's a broken watch. It needs fixing not just servicing.

If I bring my car to the garage for an oil change and a tyre rotation I pay x. If I also need new ball joints and a hole in the exhaust welded I may have to pay 2 or 3x.

You may not be pleased with your watch and therefore the brand after it conked out on you I completely understand. But it's a mechanical object, there's a bit of luck involved.
But I don't think a quoted price of ukp550 for a repair as opposed to a simple service sounds exorbitant.

I have many watches that are much much older than your 21st century watches. And I doubt they were ever serviced. Many run great. Some don't. That's OK too.

ralfybaby wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 3:57 am "It was the chrono that wasn't running. "
I got that. It's a broken watch. It needs fixing not just servicing.

If I bring my car to the garage for an oil change and a tyre rotation I pay x. If I also need new ball joints and a hole in the exhaust welded I may have to pay 2 or 3x.

You may not be pleased with your watch and therefore the brand after it conked out on you I completely understand. But it's a mechanical object, there's a bit of luck involved.
But I don't think a quoted price of ukp550 for a repair as opposed to a simple service sounds exorbitant.

I have many watches that are much much older than your 21st century watches. And I doubt they were ever serviced. Many run great. Some don't. That's OK too.

You will often find that watches (or chronos) will stop running because they require a service...

You may find that after a Service some of your older watches might "run great"

ralfybaby wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 12:44 pm It's not just a service innit. It's not a running watch sent in for some fresh oil and a demagnesation.
It's a broken watch sent in for repair. UKP 550 doesn't sound unreasonable

A repair, in isolation, should always be cheaper than a service, as a watch service requires a full strip down of each and every part, inspection, cleaning, rebuild and regulation. A repair if effected during the rebuild, is only the cost of the part/s, no extra labour and parts are relatively cheap (in terms of manufacturing cost anyway).

Usually a service is all that is required to bring a watch back up to spec. It isn't usual for a part to fail, save for old and well used watches.

tikkathree wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 7:18 pm And didn't they used to send out "service pods"? Now it's "send your watch in something disposable 'cos when we check it in we'll throw away your packaging".
Can't speak for any other brands but Seiko UK have the same arrangement.

No way, I sent mine in my new Breitling soft travel pouch, gonna contact them now.

MarkingTime wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 6:56 pm

ralfybaby wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 12:44 pm It's not just a service innit. It's not a running watch sent in for some fresh oil and a demagnesation.
It's a broken watch sent in for repair. UKP 550 doesn't sound unreasonable

A repair, in isolation, should always be cheaper than a service, as a watch service requires a full strip down of each and every part, inspection, cleaning, rebuild and regulation. A repair if effected during the rebuild, is only the cost of the part/s, no extra labour and parts are relatively cheap (in terms of manufacturing cost anyway).

Usually a service is all that is required to bring a watch back up to spec. It isn't usual for a part to fail, save for old and well used watches.

Good points.
In the real world however doesn't a watch always get serviced when sent for a problem whatever that may be?
Sure a service may often fix the problem. But if not, something needs to be repaired as well which will drive up the price.
That is what I assumed happened here. Service was going to be UKP180. Oops now the bill is UKP550. Especially as it also needed a new crystal I stick to my opinion that UKP 550 for a service and repair is not an unreasonable amount of coin.
Of course the OP is entitled to a clear explanation on why the price jumped up so much.

I very much doubt anything was actually needing repair, as such.
My point was that a service is the most labour intensive work that will be done on a watch, save for actually having to make a part from scratch.
I've also noticed that CW seem to default to telling customers that their watches need servicing regardless of fault, which is a bit disingenuous, as there are some (few) faults that might be rectified with relatively minor work.
It is worth mentioning that it is probably no more expensive for CW to replace a basic automatic movement than it would be to service it.

MarkingTime wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 11:00 pm I very much doubt anything was actually needing repair, as such.
My point was that a service is the most labour intensive work that will be done on a watch, save for actually having to make a part from scratch.
I've also noticed that CW seem to default to telling customers that their watches need servicing regardless of fault, which is a bit disingenuous, as there are some (few) faults that might be rectified with relatively minor work.
It is worth mentioning that it is probably no more expensive for CW to replace a basic automatic movement than it would be to service it.

Every good watchmaker I know will take the movement apart even if there is an obvious fault. The thinking being that you never know what else is lurking down deep. If there is something obvious there more often than not will be something not so obvious. And if you have parts banging around in there you don't know what else has been affected. So, with every repair they will suggest a service especially if they have to take the movement apart to effect the repair. They will do this for anything outside of a simple regulation or lubricating the self winding works as that can be removed without removing any bridges or plates.

On the face of it you would think that would be the case, but you are discounting labor which will make it more expensive. There will be time taken to replace the movement, test and regulate if needed and some parts(gaskets etc) and lubrication all taken into account in the final bill. A SW200 Elaboré comes in at around $200 US. Which is the closest in cost to replacement rather than servicing but with the labor involved would be more. The SW510 that is in the OPs watch is $850 at Cousins which seems a little high to me. There is one on eBay for $550. Even if you split the difference a $450 service is still cheaper than replacing the movement. When you are talking movements from Asia the math is different because those are much cheaper to procure.

Just resurrecting this post as I've a bit of up to date information to add that may be of interest.

I recently had to send one of my Seiko 6R35 watches back to Seiko UK in Maidenhead as it had started losing over 1 minute per day despite not having been misused or damaged. The watch was a few weeks outside of warranty however. To their credit, Seiko returned the watch to me within a month and it's now +/- 0spd !!!

They repaired the watch under warranty FOC, but interestingly the bill included showed the waived charge for a service; £235 exc. VAT.

(I notice that Bremont still have their price list from Aug 2022 live on their website, showing a service price of £312 exc VAT.)

I can't fault Seiko for their customer service and for repairing a watch outside of the warranty period, notwithstanding the fault likely existed from much earlier. But had I been asked to pay almost £300 to repair a watch that cost me £600 just over 2 years ago, Id probably have to have given it some thought first!

As this thread has been revived…

Since it was current last year, the Forum Admin Team has mentioned the question of publishing service charges to CW. They are aware that we would be in favour of it, so the ball is in their court.

Seiko only publish service charges for their "basic" (4R?) movement on their website. The 6R and complex/ better movements are POA, which is why I revived the post, to include this info. But I do agree , that it would be desirable for all manufacturers to display service charges.

Omega do interventions. Like Stella Artois, their charges are reassuringly expensive, although I suspect not as expensive as Rolex.

The London Watch Collector (I've not seen his videos for ages) talked about some of the service costs for his collection from time to time. Rolexes always seemed .to be 4 figures, from memory.

I've just received a watch and bracelet back from the repair shop and, having sent it in a little disposable plastic box, it came back just like a new watch in the long "coffin" bamboo CW branded box.

And there was a pressure test printout!

A couple of up to date costs (ie Jan/Feb 24) for others’ reference:

C11 Makaira Pro 500 - service cost of £180
C7 Apex (SH21) - service cost of £363