Maintaining a watch in perfect condition for years, or even decades, after purchase could be a simple matter if one followed and respected the advice given by the parent company through the valuable instruction and maintenance manuals, and reiterated at the end of the sale by the dealer. But this simple 'precept' is unfortunately often disregarded, for reasons linked to people's superficiality, a lack of trust in all that is official, a passion for the motto 'dealer = slot machine' or the belief that one watchmaker is worth the other. The consequences are obvious: tampering, reused gaskets, mechanical parts polished to the point of wear, screws destroyed, all to the point of movement exhaustion and the ensuing collapse and well-justified outlay at an official service centre. On the other side of the spectrum from the superficial, from those who pay little attention to maintenance, there are also the 'overly attentive', the exaggerated, those who stress their watches by subjecting them to excessive care (remember the aforementioned do-it-yourself polishers), for example by taking them in every three or six months for a precision or water-resistance test. To these, we would advise them to take it easy and bring their watches back a little later. A separate chapter should be written on the owners of watches that have become famous and well-priced in recent years: people who have made significant investments in models 'renamed' by expert dealers, who have skilfully created 'phenomena' that are often ignored by the same parent company, which is attentive to the present and the future, but which considers past history as a beautiful novel and not as an economic treatise. The latter, when a problem arises with their beloved, precious or rare watches (how rare they really are should be verified and certified), go into a state of fibrillation, verging on panic attacks and asking themselves the question: and now who do I take it to? That is, who will be able to respect every single detail in order to keep its integrity intact? In such cases, they doubt everyone, even the official dealer and companies that have been on the market for decades, and the moment they come to convince themselves to entrust it to someone, they recommend doing this or not doing that, not replacing glasses, crowns, ring inserts, buckles or anything else. If these components are in a condition that is borderline functional and guarantees the actual life of the watch itself, it matters little. It is often the case that when faced with the countless 'stakes' put in place by the customer, the service centre will be forced to refuse the work, because due to very precise directives dictated by the parent company, maintenance as desired by the customer cannot be carried out. A few days ago, a customer, once convinced that he was in the right place to leave a watch of the type mentioned above for maintenance, made it a condition that spare parts be used which he himself would supply to the workshop: like asking a world-famous chef to cook with the ingredients we brought from home! I will therefore conclude with a modest piece of advice: once you have come into possession of a 'particular and rare', as well as dated watch, try to live with the fact that you have won it with greater relaxation, use it with due caution (original spare parts for some models are already limited, rare or exhausted) and do not hesitate to entrust it to those who have made watchmaking their history and their life. They will know how to treat it well.
