Is it still the original watch after a few services?

[calvincc]

Many on WUS seem to keep their watches for life with the intent of passing them onto their kids. My question is, does the watch really carry the same sentimental value if parts are replaced every few years? If the case, crystal, bracelet, etc are replaced, could you still consider it the original watch?

[dbakiva]

You must never allow your watch to fall asleep while being serviced. Its identity may be taken over.

[mike120]

Its sort of like the old joke from back where my family still is.

"This is my grand-daddy's ax. My pa changed the handle, and I replaced the head"

I think if you get it polished and minor parts replaced, it is the same. Replace something major like the case or the movement though and I would say no more.

[WnS]

Is your body still the same body it was 10 years ago?

All your cells and body tissues have been gradually replaced with new ones (except for your neurons).

[Toothbras]

Of course it's the same, the soul lives on after the parts have been replaced.

[Perseus]

I thought this thread was going to blow up.

[Doca]

I wore the same Omega Speedmaster every day for over thirty-six years.
It went in for servicing at least five times during that period. Parts were changed; a lot of them.
It was the same watch as far as I was concerned.

[rokr32]

Hence the still debated question of the Ship of Theseus

[Janne]

Of course it's the same, the soul lives on after the parts have been replaced.

But what if one of the body parts contain a part of the soul? As we all know, a large % of the Intelligence is in the Wisdom teeth!

Imo a service is just cleaning and oiling. And if something breaks, it is OK to replace. If done with a factory original part!

[Ben_hutcherson]

This is an issue which often comes up within my area of collecting, as over the course of 100-150 years, there are a lot of opportunities for parts to be replaced.

At least with the watches I collect, changing serialized parts(i.e. anything marked with the serial number of the watch) is off limits. This means the plates and the balance wheel, as well as occasionally some other parts like the mainspring barrel. Among most serious PW collectors, this issue is analagous to fakes in the wristwatch world-most collectors will not knowingly sell a watch with mismatched plate numbers, not even with full disclosure of the mismatch. I understand that modern movements are not generally serialized, so this rule doesn't necessarily work.

In most cases, "consumable" parts like mainsprings, balance staffs and jewels and crystals are okay to change, provided that the work is done properly, and the replacement parts are fit to the watch(rather than fitting the watch to the replacement parts). It's always desirable to use factory parts, although this isn't always possible. I recently had a balance staff made for a scarce 1860s Waltham-I don't consider the watch any less original after this repair.

There are certainly cases of going too far with repair work. As a prime example, a Dennison, Howard and Davis-a desirable and important(but not particularly scarce) early American watch sold on Ebay as the plates only but no train several weeks ago. A week or so later, the watch reappeared fully rebuilt and running, but without disclosure of any of the work done. This, to me, is a serious ethical breech.