The biggest fear shared by watches lover is “what if my watch breaks?!” When your watch needs service or repair you can expect a few things. First is a potential fight with the watch brand over whether they will fix it or not – or rather, the personal struggle of figuring out where to get your watch fixed (authorized dealer or potentially cheaper unauthorized dealer). Next is the wait. It can take weeks if not months for a repair to be completed. One of the biggest complaints about watch repair is just how long it takes. Then comes the moment of truth, when the watch is returned to you. You must then endure the final moment of anxiety when you take hold of your property and pray that it at least looks as good cosmetically as when you dropped it off.

A lot of watch servicing includes some polishing and cosmetic touches. This may sound like a good thing, but its execution can be something either unwanted or unflattering to the design of the watch. Let’s not forget the very important question of whether or not the brand actually fixed the problem that was the issue in the first place. A common thing that we hear about are so-called “lemon watches” because despite effort on both sides… after repeated repair, the problem is not even solved.

Thus, watch repair is often approached as something just slightly less painful than human surgery. You might need it, but damn is it going to be painful, full of unexpected problems, and ultimately very expensive.

We know that watch repair can be a painful experience, but we don’t often talk about exactly what that translates to when it comes to actual experiences. In this Ask The Audience article, I want you to not only select particular negative issues you’ve had when getting your watch fixed, but also to share some more details about the most impactful watch repair experiences (good or bad) in the comments below. The hope is that this information not only helps your fellow watch lovers navigate the world of watch repair better by learning what to look out for, but ideally will help those people doing watch repair to improve what’s broken with their systems. Don’t forget to mention watch repair service centers or brands which have exceeded expectations and that you recommend for repair, or that can offer a feeling of reassurance about how they handle watch servicing.