The accused:
Simon Home, Perpetual Watch Services – Stockport, Cheshire and VintageHeuer.com aka Jonathan Scatchard
I hope Jonathan reads this & changes watchmakers.

I won’t bore you with all the details, communications and every tiny detail, so a short re-cap is here..

I’d like to note that Jonathan Scatchard (runs vintageheuer.com) doesn’t do the servicing himself, and all he is guilty of is very poor communication and customer service. He sends watches off to Perpetual Watch Services, a company that is mainly a business to business operation.
It is worth noting that I didn’t know that Jonathan didn’t do the service, nor was I informed that the watch was to be sent elsewhere. In fact, getting PWS’s details from Jonathan was like getting blood from a stone.

Nov 9th 2011.
My Heuer Autavia 1163 Chronograph arrives with Jonathan.
I await a ‘quote’. A quote doesn’t come, I chase up and I get a vague reply that it ‘needs some parts’ and a high quote (IMHO). I immediately think that something isn’t right – with a vintage watch, I want to know exactly which parts – these things are important.
I email back asking for details – nothing.
Months pass by, poor communication. I request the watch back, serviced or not. More time passes.
No communication. I ‘threaten’ a personal visit, I get a vague response. Nothing. I threaten legal action.. nothing.

It is May 2012 now... 5 months has passed.

Eventually I manage to find out where the watch is – at Perpetual Watch Services.
I ring them up and speak to the companies founder/director, Simon Home. He sounds like he knows his stuff, he is still hands-on and services watches himself.
He says that he isn’t aware of any issue I’ve had with Jonathan, and is happy to service the watch for me personally (something they don’t strictly do), so bypassing Jonathan/vintageheuer.com.

We agree a price of £250 for a straight service with a timing printout, it’s higher than I wanted to pay, but I just want the watch back, plus Simon really put my mind at rest, and instilled confidence. A few week later, I get the watch back…

No timing printout – well, that doesn’t bother me too much.
Tiny paint loss from both sub-registers, presumably where no or little protection used when lifting the sub dial hands. Not good.
I wind the watch, start the chrono, and it doesn’t work properly. The ½ hour register ticks over after one minute. When it gets to 1min 50 secs the main central sweep chrono hand stops dead. I reset, repeat, the same thing happens.
The watch was clearly not tested for even 2 minutes. Disgraceful.

I ring Simon, he asks for me to send the watch back. No chance.. I sent it off to my regular watchmaker that I trust fully.

This is what was discovered:
Also, I'd like to note that my regular watchmaker wasn't aware of the identity of who had 'serviced' the watch before.

The chrono was set up all wrong, the depthing and alignment of the registers was incorrect.
The centre sweep was getting caught up on the minute hand. Appears the centre pipe on the mainplate was bent, so the minute hand rose then fell by several mm's. The dial, hands and calendar plate needed to be removed to put it right.

The cannon pinion hadn't been separated and re-greased, so after a few cycles of the hands it was almost solid. So the hands had to come off again, and the watch had to be disassembled right down to the train wheels. The centre chrono hand was also loose on it's pipe.

So..
Why didn’t I send my Autavia to my regular guy in the first place.. Answer is because I’m stupid. He was fully booked at the time. I thought I would give Jonathan at vintageheuer.com a go. Jonathan is a well respected vintage watch expert. He has written books and has a good reputation.

But, as much as Jonathan is guilty of poor communication, this pales into insignificance compared against the poor workmanship that Simon Home at Perpetual Watch Services provided.

A BIG thanks goes to my regular watchmaker, you know who you are! :0)

Cheers
Stewart