As the discussion about the free supply of spare parts to the market has flared up with Omega’s decision to cut off the supply as of 1/1/2016, let me show you where a completely non-existent supply of parts leads. Just if you contemplate buying an Omega in the future…

I got approached by Francis, who has a pretty beaten up Patek Philippe, and he wanted a quote, which I gave him. He mentioned that he had gotten a quote from PP, and I was of course interested!

The watch is in pretty bad nick, as you can see from these photos.

The case will need some work as well! Badly scratched throughout, but still good enough to restore.

So my idea here would be about £200 or so for the case, as some filling in will be necessary. All the screws will need polishing, and some spare parts would be nice if they would be available. So if it were something with freely available parts, I’d say another £300 or so on parts, and £250 to put it all together. A dial restoration at £100, and that should round up things. So we would be looking at £850 or so.

Now let’s see what Patek Philippe came back with. Please sit down, get a glass of wine, or better, something stronger, and multiply your estimates by quite a lot.

Here we go:

Product restoration: €2655

This includes the disassembly and examination of all components, replacement, cleaning, hand finishing and adjustment of basic movement parts as necessary, crown, lubrication and regulation.

Dial restoration: €1745

This is a painstaking process of removing each individual layer of fired glaze, the meticulous refinishing of the dial to retain as many of its original detail, followed by the re-glazing of the dial by applying individual layers of lacquer then firing and polishing each individual layer.

Laser work: €500

With wear and damage the original specifications of the watch case have suffered from their life of wear,Patek Philippe offer the unique ability to laser correct and repair the watch case, lugs and horns as close to the watch’s original splendour.

Crocodile strap: €435

To supply and fit a genuine crocodile leather strap in keeping with the watch’s original aesthetic

18k Yellow gold buckle: €725

To supply and fit an appropriate Patek Philippe genuine buckle.

Archive extract: €195

Patek Philippe keeps a written record of every single watch they have produced since their inception in 1839. The extract will give the original records of the watch’s provenance.

At a total of EUR 6,225, a bargain!

This is what happens if a manufacturer is allowed to have a monopoly on their spare parts.