I lost my Crown :-(

[pierrelebel]

That is correct: I lost my crown. 😞

My wristwatch crown, that is!

Has anyone here every tried to get a crown?  Not easy, not easy at all.

First thing to do of course is to visit local jewellery stores, specializing in watch repairs.  Sorry, we do not carry crowns for your watch. Our suppliers do not carry crown for your watch.

The watch came from a Toronto jewellery store in 1980.  He has since closed his doors.

OK - let's take a look at the internet - NOTHING matching what I need.

Next step is to contact the manufacturer in Switzerland. After I explained I only needed a replacement crown for model so-and-so made in 1980, their reply, very polite, is to return the watch to their local repair depot, not using USPS but preferably UPS. The Swiss do not understand that Canada is NOT one of the fifty States. 😞

OK - let's call the repair depot located in Mississauga.  Fifteen minutes this morning waiting on the phone while their automated system keeps saying "please be patient, a customer service representative will be with you shortly". Finally, their computerized system asked me to leave a message on their voice mail.

Six hours later.... nothing

Finally, someone returns the call.  "Sorry, we do not sell parts.  You need to return the watch so our experts can look at it first."

"OK, I asked, how much will it cost me to have the crown added to the watch?"

"Sorry, sir, I do not know.  We can only provide an estimate after we receive the watch and determine how much work needs to be done."

Ever have days like that when keep hitting your head against the wall? 

[pigdog47]

I understand your pain.  I have a couple of watches I like, nothing particularly valuable, but more sentimental value.  One, a Bulova, I had repaired back in the late '80s, and it only ran properly for about a year after getting fixed.  So it has sat in a drawer for the last 20+ years.  

Time has changed, pun intended.  we live in a disposable, planned obsolescence cheap consumer goods society.  Ya go to Wallymart and pick up a cheap Timex for $40 or $50.  Maybe replace the battery in a year or two, and then throw it out after it quits, and buy a new one.

[ilurkthereforiam]

I never buy cheap foreign made watches.

That's why I buy Timex.

[pigdog47]

LOL.  Hope they are older ones you buy then, Lurk.

I enjoy looking at vintage watches on eBay.  

[msmaggie060]

Try buying a refill for your favourite ball point pen! Nope, don't make refills any more - well, except for very expensive pens.

[ilurkthereforiam]

No dog I like the new ones. They're like wine and whiskey. The newer the better. 😉

[rosscd57]

My mom gave me a Bulova watch when I graduated University in 1970. She bought it at Birks Jewellers in Hamilton. It is a wind up watch. I think she paid over $100.00 for it. It finally quit a few years ago. Last year my wife took it to Birks Jewejlers in Edmonton. They told her the whole Swiss movement would have to be replaced - but luckily it was still available - for $560.00 plus labour.

She did not proceed. Go figure.

[rose-dee]

My husband and I bought each other beautiful Citizen eco-drive/solar watches 18 years ago for Christmas.  I loved that watch, it looked like a ladies' Rolex, ran without ever winding, no battery to worry about, was waterproof to any depth I'd ever be likely to swim, and I wore it every day to work all those years. 

When I retired from my office job, I was ecstatic to be able to finally be free of my watch most days.  One month later the watch started to lose time, and hasn't run properly since.  I've been afraid to ask if it can be fixed.  I'd probably encounter a bewildering maze of problems, not to mention the cost.  So there it sits, sad and abandoned in a drawer.  I haven't got the heart to toss it out. 

Meanwhile, my husband's watch, which he wears all the time, is doing just fine.  Maybe I should never have taken mine off when I left my job.  I think that watch somehow knew it wasn't needed anymore...:-(