# Old Hand's Anecdotes..



## Roamer Man (May 25, 2011)

I handed my newly-acquired quartz De Ville to my vintage repair man for a service the other day, as I'd no idea when it was last serviced, and he mentioned something very interesting. I'd simply asked how often a quartz movement should be serviced? I was thinking maybe every 5 years or so. It seems the answer is not quite that simple.

This man has been servicing quartz movements since they first appeared and he said with ETA's (and I suppose others too?), there are two springs involved with the quartz equivalent of the 'canon pinion' which, depending on manufacturing tolerances, can vary in the tightness of fit. The excessively tight fitting ones can lead to heavy wear in the gear train - regardless of regular lubrication!

He said he'd seen movements running OK without lubrication for 20 years or more, while others showed excessive wear even after regular servicing.

Given that quartz wheels can be only 5 microns in thickness, and components being generally minute in size, I can well believe it.

So, I guess it's a matter of pot luck...?


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## jmurray01 (Jun 22, 2012)

I've never heard of servicing a Quartz movement before, I thought they were pretty much service free ?


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## Roamer Man (May 25, 2011)

jmurray01 said:


> I've never heard of servicing a Quartz movement before, I thought they were pretty much service free ?


Yes, the electronics should 'last forever' (haha), but there are still mechanicals in them which need lubricating, particularly since the motors have bearings, and the wheels driven by them tend to be made of much thinner brass - typically 5 microns.

I think the point of what he was saying is that it's pot luck whether they'll run for decades without any servicing, so why take a chance?


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## Nickc (Oct 31, 2009)

With such thin components are they not in danger of being damaged if oiled and adjusted frequently? Maybe the original manufacturers had a service schedule that needs to be followed. Or possibly not and intended to use the market place as a test lab like some software developers do.


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