Good idea
@perenowell
For my first three services I used
Jenni Uhren in Zurich, run by Jenni Sr. and Jenni Jr. Father Jenni covers the vintage world. The shop is Omega certified. I had mixed feelings so far.
On the positive note, he does not try to sell you a service if it's not necessary. For instance, when I showed him my first vintage Omega that had a service mark in the case back but I had no paper to prove it, he confirmed that the watch had been serviced and didn't need one. Plus, whenever I requested a service he reminded me several times that a service is only worthwhile if I intended to wear the watch on a regular basis otherwise it would not be worth the costs. He has also done minor work for free such as shortening bracelets, correcting a bent lug etc.
The mixed feelings come with the watches that actually ended up being serviced. The first one was an Eterna-Matic 3000. He changed the original crown for a generic replacement with the good intention to restore the watertightness. Fair enough, but I wished he had asked me first.
The second one was a Constellation 14900 with an admittedly tired movement. After the service it was gaining too much time (several minutes per day). Of course I took it back to the WM and after a brief inspection he said that he was suspecting that the worn incabloc base would affect the accuracy and would need a replacement. So why did he not replace it in the first place? He then said he had to go through his inventory of parts to source one or check with Omega whether it's still available (yes, it is). I ended up researching the part number myself for him and he ordered it from Omega. Now all works fine.
Despite the mixed feelings I would have continued going back to Jenni's if I hadn't met a young Swiss watchmaker by chance. I bought a watch from him on IG and learnt that he's a) also Swiss based and b) a trained watchmaker. He has since serviced four of my vintage watches a Seamaster 120, which had a blocked bezel that now turns again, and I will soon pick up my Longines Conquest 9000, and the Seamasters 2846 and 2577. He documents the service photographically and shares them to keep me updated. He also asks me every time before replacing any parts explaining the pros and cons. He has no parts account but sources any necessary parts from his network of watchmakers. You can find him here on OF under the name
@HappyHumble J or on IG @vintagewatchoverdose. I can highly recommend him.
I recently attended a basic watchmaking course at the
WA - Watch Academy. The owner Boris Kuijper is a certified watchmaker having worked for Bucherer for 20 years, then several years for IWC. He is Omega certified and has a huge inventory of Rolex spare parts collected during the 80s and 90s and all the necessary openers. If I had a vintage Rolex I would go to him for a service.
