Hello Jeff,

The answer is yes, it is.

I wear my vintage chronographs all the time, and some of those have never been serviced.
Most vintage watch collectors will most likely tell you to keep your vintage timepieces as far away from water as possible, but I get a kick out of swimming with a couple of mine, mostly my Hamilton Chrono-Matic, a real beater, but a few months ago I had a chance to go in the ocean with my Autavia "Viceroy". It's been in both, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I must say I did a little pressure test before doing it, I took the movement out and left the case in a bucket of water for an about an hour. It was completely dry by the time I opened it. Not quite a pressure test, but I knew it was safe to go swimming with it.

If I were you, I would offer $1200.00 for the Autavia, all the jeweler can do is say no, but he may well say yes, after all he is a friend of the family. What do you lose by asking?

Good luck!

Darwin