Luxury Watch Servicing and Repair: What the New Tariffs Will Mean

It’s something nearly everyone new to the world of watch collecting forgets to take into account. Wrapped up in the thrill of acquiring their first grail piece, lost in the idea that this is something which will last a lifetime and be passed down to future generations, the actual cost of keeping it running that long completely slips their mind. 

However, when the time comes to have the watch serviced or, if you’re unlucky, repaired after an accident, the bill can leave a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth of the unprepared. 

Well, unfortunately, for those in the United States, things are about to get worse.

How Much Does Servicing Cost?

If you consider how a watch works, it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise that they are relatively expensive to service and repair. Even the most basic time-only movement consists of somewhere in the region of 150 parts, all requiring the perfect placement, cleaning and regulation to keep the whole thing working in mechanical harmony. If you have a chronograph, that part count goes up to about 250-350 on average. Fancy an annual calendar? Those can be over 400, while for the high complications—tourbillons, minute repeaters, rattrapante chronos, etc.—the sky really is the limit, with some exceeding 1,000.

If I was a watchmaker capable of servicing something of that complexity, had sat through hundreds of hours of training, decades of on-the-job experience and had invested in all the microscopically calibrated equipment I needed to perform the work, I’d want to be compensated for it too. 

That’s why a complete service on, say, a fairly simple Tudor Black Bay dive watch at an authorized service center will run you in the vicinity of $600-$700. 

At the moment.

Why ‘at the moment’? Because the same 39% tariffs which have recently hit Swiss watch imports into the U.S. also apply to the individual parts watch repairers need to do their job. 

How Much Will Servicing Cost? 

In many ways, servicing a watch post-tariffs is going to go the same way as buying one. In other words, it’s going to get more expensive and probably by a lot.

Will it be immediate? It won’t be instant, for the same reason it costs about the same to purchase a new watch right now; the U.S. still has a certain amount of parts inventory on hand which was brought in before the new tariffs were implemented. But, once those components have been used up and there’s no alternative but to import more, slapped with that 39% hike, then at least some of that extra expense has to be passed on. To you.

How much is that likely to be? It will depend on where the servicing gets done. An authorized service center will be able to absorb more of the increase than a smaller independent working with finer margins. They will also be able to stockpile more parts, hoarding them to avoid repeat tariffs. That, of course, puts pressure on the flow of components to the independents and will most likely increase lead times for any repairs.

Even so, best case scenario being discussed within the industry right now is that service bills are going to go up by at least 10% and possibly as much as 30% in the near future. 

Put into numbers, let’s say your Rolex needs a new sapphire crystal. If you’re lucky and your RSC already has a bunch on hand, having a new replacement fitted during service will cost you approximately $300-$600. But if you’ve timed it wrong and the center has to buy in a crystal from Switzerland, that part suddenly costs them 39% more to get through customs and now your total bill climbs approximately $400-$850. 

Or, servicing that Tudor diver we spoke about for $600-$700? It will be given new gaskets and seals as a matter of course, which might have totaled, let’s say, $150 worth of parts a couple of months ago. Now, even with Tudor swallowing some of the additional cost for you, that could still come up to $200 or so after tariffs. So your bill has risen to $750-$800 for the same work and the same parts.  

(I did another one just for fun; a platinum Patek Grand Complications Ref. 5374/300P-001, a minute repeater with perpetual calendar, can cost up to $25,000 for a service. With tariffs, that might go up to over $31,000!)