That would depend a lot on where you live.

 

Maryland/DC area

 

Regulating a watch is very simple to do. If you wanted to invest the $150 in a timegrapher and a caseback opener you could easily do it yourself.

I can't imagine any honest watchmaker would charge you more than like $20 to do it. You'd just have to find one in your area and give them a call to find out. Might want to do a search on the AWCI website to make sure the person is actually a qualified watchmaker as it seems a lot of the people who work in "watch repair" places specialized in changing quartz batteries and not much else. At least in my experience.

Find a Professional

awci.memberclicks.net

 

That would depend a lot on where you live.

 

Many watchmakers will charge you a "bench charge" for even a simple service. Could be anywhere from 25-75 bucks. They have bills to pay too.

 

All of the watchmakers I've talked to thus far have either said "it's not worth my time, I would have to disassemble the entire thing, or why don't you do that yourself then." Can't believe they were so taken back that someone would ask them to perform such a service.

 

That's odd. I guess they know it's a cheap service and want the bigger money jobs, or just change a battery. I always thought €12 was reasonable for a battery replacement that'll last you 3 years. Now I know you buy them in bulk for €0.50 each and if you have the tools it takes 1min. But I digress.

If you can't find someone to do it, I would also say investing in a timegrapher and learning to do it yourself is a good option. Can always sell the timegrapher afterwards.

 

Just curious have you talked to Michael at Alabaster Watch and Clock Shop. If not give him a call.

 

Just curious have you talked to Michael at Alabaster Watch and Clock Shop. If not give him a call.

I was going to do that tomorrow since they aren't open Mondays.

 

Interested in this also, My SARB033 went from +2s/day new to gaining about +30s/day

 

Not mentioned yet, but worth considering, is that it is unlikely that if your watch was once operating within specs, and then changed to +30 secs/day, and it was not magnetized, then there is certainly a possibility that your watch needs more than just turning a screw (the common assumption of what "having it regulated" means)--it could actually need some actual work.

 

Seeing as we're talking about a 6R15, it may need more than regulation. Have you put it on a timegrapher?

I have a SARB035 that was losing about 22 spd. Planned to try regulating it myself so I threw it on my timegrapher only to find that it needs more than just regulation. Horrendous positional variance and very low amplitude.

 

Before it was shipped to me, it was running at ~+12 sec/day, 0.3 beat error, and 227 amplitude. Not sure about the latter two measurements currently since I don't have a time grapher.

 

227 amplitude in what position? Dial up?

 

I went to a different watchmaker today who was very nice. He explained the problem to me which was the hairspring was shaped in a way such that it was closer to one pin rather than in the middle. This in effect decreased the effective spring length, and increased the rate of the watch. My apologies if I butchered this explanation since this is quite frankly over my head. But he was able to slow down the watch using the regulator at no charge and said if that didn't fix it, we could adjust the hairspring for a small charge.

 

That's nice! Happy ending.

 

Great outcome, well done