Should a watch company offer a lifetime warranty? (I)

During the Watch Time New York Show in the fall, I had fun listening to collectors who, as any nervous retailer will tell you, have a scary amount of knowledge and ask a lot of questions. At one booth I heard a gentleman grilling a brand manager about warranty restrictions and service issues. The brand manager responded that his company regularly extends warranties beyond the standard two-year limit, especially for good customers. This comes as no surprise: when a guy spends $40,000 on a watch, and the crown comes off 26 months into its tenure, a repair bill would seem petty and insulting. Even if a customer “shocks” a watch, he should be given some slack, depending on the size of the ding and the extent of the damage. Later, the brand manager asserted something else: he said it is the goal of the watch industry to ultimately give “lifetime warranties.” And that got me thinking. Is it possible? Is it even desirable?

Timepieces in the luxury segment are made to last. This is particularly true of watches made in the past 10 years, when vast technical advances have been applied to even mass-produced models. Silicon components now render movements lubricant-free. Supermaterials like ceramic and titanium resist wear, scratches, salt water, shocks… even bullets. Warranties are starting to reflect this. Since 2015, Rolex has offered a five-year warranty on all its watches. Breitling and Omega recently followed suit, offering five-year guarantees on certain movements (Breitling’s in-house calibers and Omega’s co-axial calibers).

People confuse a warranty with a service contract

Even older, pre-owned watches that have been properly maintained are made to last. Danny Govberg, who sells both new watches at his Pennsylvania store, Govberg Jewelers, an Authorized Dealer for many top brands, and pre-owned watches on watchbox.com, comments: “As long as you don’t screw up, your watch will work for five years no problem. A warranty might as well be eight years, or 20 years. In fact, as long as a watch is well maintained, it could last 100 years or more. We see pocket watches from 1840 working perfectly. A Rolex that is five years old is like a five-year-old child. It’s really a baby. A 10-year-old watch is like a 10-year-old child. Look at Patek – they even tell you that you never even really own the thing because you pass it on to the next generation. They don’t say ‘throw it out after 30 years’.”

From an operational point of view, then, a warranty is almost beside the point. It covers manufacturer’s defects, and those are going to show up in the first few months. Anything that goes wrong after that is a service issue. If you shock the watch, even within the warranty period, you will have to pay for repair, and the owner is always responsible for regular service. The problem is that people confuse a warranty with a service contract. Slapping a lifetime warranty on a watch only perpetuates that misunderstanding. “I think the concept of a lifetime warranty would be somewhat misleading,” says Rudy Albers, president of Wempe Jewelers in New York City. “If you have had your watch for 20 years and the bracelet comes apart, is it a manufacturer’s defect or is it just life? And what would a lifetime warranty mean? People might think it means free maintenance. If everything, including service at five-year intervals, were to be covered under a lifetime warranty, your watch would cost a lot more.”

Owning a fine timepiece equals owning a Ferrari

Even holding a warranty from an unauthorized dealer is useless if that dealer is not certified or does not have a relationship with brand repair centers, because the wrong kind of service can seriously devalue a watch. Rolex, Patek Philippe and most other top watch companies will only release parts to certified watchmakers who must qualify, some at a succession of levels, in order to work on certain watches. If non-manufacturers’ parts are used, the brand will no longer service the watch. Not only would that void a warranty, the brand would refuse to service the watch, a logical action for any company that wants to protect its brand equity.

“It’s not even just that they won’t release components,” says Albers. “Some watch companies seal the watches in a way that an unauthorized watchmaker wouldn’t even have the tools to open. If someone else tries, it could leave marks on the case. Even lubricants are more of a science than they were 10 or 15 years ago. There are different lubrications for different components, and amounts are very particular.” Albers equates owning a fine timepiece to owning a Ferrari. “You wouldn’t drive it for 10 years without service, and when it does need service, you wouldn’t take it to a Chevrolet dealership.”