Guys apologies for an early question, now all accredited watchsmiths when servicing a watch will/would leave a series of numbers scratched into the caseback when said watch was serviced.
I'm sure this question has been asked in the past, but what do they mean? Can you tell what year the service took place etc or is it just an individual number given to the watchsmith on completion of training?
I'm asking this now as I have this watch on my bench that the customer has sworn blind it's never been serviced, but I beg to differ as it was pretty mucky inside including fluff and an eyelash!!!! And the inner bezel had been glued to the dial Aaaarrrgghhhh, and in turn whilst the previous person had had the movement out they forced it back into the case and in turn caught the lug that locates the inner bezel on the case and bent the dial!! Anyway also on the caseback are to numbers left by watchsmiths who have previously worked on the watch.
So I was wondering if you could get any information from these numbers. Don't worry I'm not about to snitch to the BHI about shoddy workmanship, after all we all have our off days, im just curious that's all, especially as I can tell my customer that either he was had, 30 odd years ago or he's not telling me everything and im putting right some dubious work carried out by an ape.