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| Joined: | Tue Apr 4th, 2006 |
| Location: | Kentucky USA |
| Posts: | 2722 |
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An automatic watch worn every day or kept on a winder will most likely need service every 3 years. If the watch is wound every couple of weeks, and worn infrequently the interval can be pushed up to around 5 years.
Environmental conditions will affect a movement more than one would think, due to the case being water resistant and not air resistant. Watch cases breath as they go through the natural heat cool cycle. They breath in as they cool and out as they heat up. This flow will tend to dry out the lubricants used in a movement. If you keep a mechanical watch in a window sill or in a car in the summer the effects can be seen relatively quickly. Desert conditions will also have an effect on the service intervals.
The most important factor is the type of oil used. To keep this short, there are 2 types of lubricants that are used in 99.9% of watches synthetic and non-synthetic. Synthetic will last longer and work better due to its purity and the consistent shape of the molecules. When you get a movement cleaned and oiled just as what type of lubricant they are using.
How the case is sealed plays a role in that it's sole purpose is to case and protect the movement.
Mechanical watches need to be serviced at around 1 to 3 years, dependent on use. This is due to the higher stresses that are applied due to the reduced mechanical advantage. The added force that one feels when winding a mechanical, when compared to an automatic, places added stress on the plate from the crown etc..
History has shown that the most resilient watches tend to be sport watches with an automatic movements due to there increased service intervals.
These factors are only relevant if the watch was serviced properly. Human error does and always will have the greatest effect on the service intervals of a watch, so it is better to error on the side of caution.
Your Omega needs to be serviced and adjusted, because it is out of spec. COSC movements are less susceptible to many of the problems of lubrication migration that a standard movement would suffer from. This is mainly due to the tolerances and the extra time and attention paid to its assembly.
I wish I could have given a simble yes or no answer but there are a lot of compounding issues to consider.
As far as movement design the sky is the limit. It is just what one is willing to pay for, and the technology. With the younger people working there way up the ranks the future is brite.