680 €, and here is where it goes.
A VH-19 comes apart into 142 pieces and goes back together in the reverse of the order it was built. This page prices that descent stage by stage, because an estimate that arrives after the watch does is not an estimate.
Five stages, priced
The hours are what they take on an average watch that has not been opened by somebody else. If yours has, we say so and quote again before touching it.
- 01
Intake and inspection
Rate read in six positions before anything is opened, amplitude logged, case and crystal photographed. You get that sheet whether or not you go ahead.
- Bench hours
- 0.8
- Charge
- Included
- 02
Strip and clean
142 parts out, four baths, ultrasonic at 40 °C for the plate and bridges, hand-pegged jewel holes. The hairspring is cleaned separately and never in the machine.
- Bench hours
- 4.5
- Charge
- 230 €
- 03
Parts replaced as standard
Two case gaskets, the crown gasket and the mainspring if its set has gone past 15 % of free length. Everything else is replaced only if it is measurably out, and you see the measurement.
- Bench hours
- 0.6
- Charge
- 60 € parts
- 04
Rebuild and oil
Nine oiling points, three oils and one grease, applied under the microscope. Mainplate first, case back last, exactly the order the watch was built in.
- Bench hours
- 6.0
- Charge
- 310 €
- 05
Case, test and ten-day run
Crystal polished on the wheel, case pressure-tested at 5 bar, then ten days on the timing machine and a second rate sheet to set beside the first.
- Bench hours
- 2.2
- Charge
- 80 €
Four things we refuse, and one we insist on.
- RefusedPolishing a case that would lose its chamfer
- RefusedRefinishing a dial — age belongs to the owner
- RefusedServicing another maker's movement
- RefusedFitting a part we did not make or specify
- InsistedA ten-day run before it leaves, every time
Five years of oil, read off the machine
This is a real sheet from a Réf. 02 that came back at five years and two months. Nothing was broken and nothing was replaced beyond the gaskets — the oil had simply gone, and the rate went with it.
- Arrived at+9.6 s/day, amplitude 218°
- Left at+1.1 s/day, amplitude 289°
- Parts changedThree gaskets
- Charged680 €
Send the serial, not the watch.
Write first with the serial from the inner flange. We answer with a slot, an insured label and a box, and only then do you post it. A watch that arrives unannounced sits in the safe until we have a bench free.
- Full service
- 680 €
- With new barrel
- 980 €
- New crystal
- 210 €
- Re-strap at service
- 140 €
We will still be able to do this in 2056.
Spares for every VH-19 are held for thirty years after the last one is delivered, and the drawings are on paper as well as on a disk. If this bench ever closes, both go to the horology school here with the right to make parts.
- IntervalFive years, or sooner if amplitude drops below 240°
- TurnaroundNine weeks · twelve in autumn
- Guarantee on workTwo years from the day it goes back in the post
