I also got interested in mechanical watches about 10 years ago and bought a Vostok Amphibia to play with.
One additional burden of mechanical watch ownership is regular maintenance. This isn’t mentioned in the article, possibly because the author has not had their mechanical watch long enough to need it. But every mechanical watch eventually needs to be serviced. At least disassembled, cleaned, and re-assembled, and maybe some parts replaced.
I didn’t appreciate this until my Vostok needed it; it just stopped being reliable over time. Then I thought I should have just bought a nicer watch, but nope: even Rolexes and super expensive watches are supposed to go in every few years for servicing.
It was actually very difficult to find someone to do the Amphibia. Seiko and nicer watches have official servicing programs and networks of authorized repair shops. None of them wanted to touch an obscure cheap Russian watch.
And the watch itself only cost like $50 used… I was reluctant to spend $hundreds on a servicing. So it sits in a drawer, stopped. And I’m back to my Timex Ironman, which is on at least its 3rd battery.
> even Rolexes and super expensive watches are supposed to go in every few years for servicing.
Not so true these days. For example Oris (Calibre 400) and Tudor recommend service once every 10 years on their latest movements, if that. I know of Rolex owners that have gone 20 years without servicing they've still kept good time. I recently purchased a Pelagos and the watch maker at the shop told me I probably don't even need to get it serviced at the 10 year mark. Like anything YMMV.
With things like using more jewels than ever, the latest movements are becoming extremely reliable and not needing service as often.
Those Vostoks are almost comically unreliable, most quality watches like a Seiko can go years (even a decade) without any maintenance even if routine maintenance is usually advised.
I just bought solar powered + radio sync one to never have to worry about it again (well, once per 10 years the lithium battery needs replacement but that's about it). Almost worked, got Pro Trek and it takes a bit of fiddling to get it to sync, pretty much have to be outside and facing right direction
Speaking from experience, a decent entry-level set up for servicing costs minimum $500, you'll need to do it several times to get it right, you'll probably break the first watch you try it on, and you'll forget the skills involved if you don't keep servicing watches. It's kind of fun, kind of frustrating, and only worth it as a one-off to understand how a mechanical watch works unless you plan on rehabbing watches as a hobby.
As an alternative, I recommend buying an old pocket watch and dis/reassembling that. Easier to work with, same basic principles of operation.
One additional burden of mechanical watch ownership is regular maintenance. This isn’t mentioned in the article, possibly because the author has not had their mechanical watch long enough to need it. But every mechanical watch eventually needs to be serviced. At least disassembled, cleaned, and re-assembled, and maybe some parts replaced.
I didn’t appreciate this until my Vostok needed it; it just stopped being reliable over time. Then I thought I should have just bought a nicer watch, but nope: even Rolexes and super expensive watches are supposed to go in every few years for servicing.
It was actually very difficult to find someone to do the Amphibia. Seiko and nicer watches have official servicing programs and networks of authorized repair shops. None of them wanted to touch an obscure cheap Russian watch.
And the watch itself only cost like $50 used… I was reluctant to spend $hundreds on a servicing. So it sits in a drawer, stopped. And I’m back to my Timex Ironman, which is on at least its 3rd battery.