Send out for service, or swap movement?

[spectre6000]

I've been working at this for a little over a year now. Over the last few months, my desk has been completely occupied by work related stuff and unusable for watches, but I may be back in business soon. I've gotten to the point where my successes outnumber my failures, but I still don't have enough confidence to stray too far from the 404 Club. I know enough to be dangerous, but I also know that I know enough to be dangerous...

Meanwhile, my daily wear watch (a watch I care about), is past due for a service, I want to swap the keyless spring out for a 2 detent spring to eliminate the ghost date function (I have the spring in hand), I want to relume the hands, and I might want to replace the crystal with one that has a different profile (not sure if it's doable, and don't trust my crappy crystal press even if it is). I can easily do the keyless spring, but I'm not comfortable enough yet (especially considering ETA's parts availability) to tackle a movement, etc. I don't want to risk borking. 

I decided to pay someone to do the work for me (I'll feel better about it for the next service), and hopped on google to see who in the area was good... Pickin's. Are. Slim... I'm not going to go into too much detail, but that exercise was pretty bleak. I ultimately looked through AWCI's member database and found a few (2) certified watchmakers within a reasonable distance. I was only able to get a hold of one.

Long story short, it sounds like he was going to just replace the movement, farm out the hand relume job, and then charge extra to swap the keyless spring and... I guess remove (rather than not re-install) the date wheel and related parts. I can definitely do all of that well within my comfort zone... Not only that, but for the money, I'd be able to upgrade the movement and have a spare for parts or some project down the road or something.

I'd kind of prefer to keep the movement original, etc. but I can't say there's not an economic component to this... What should I do?

[jdm]

11 hours ago, spectre6000 said:

I decided to pay someone to do the work for me (I'll feel better about it for the next service), and hopped on google to see who in the area was good... Pickin's. Are. Slim...

That is to be expected. Since years already one has consider sending his watch for an estimate and work. You can easily check the watchmaker profile and reputation by his online presence and searches.

[spectre6000]

Expected, yes. I guess I'm an optimist, and held out hope that Denver was a substantial enough city to have a decent one active. I'd given thought to reaching out to someone on here whom I've come to trust, but fear that might be frowned on. 

You didn't touch on the idea to just replace/upgrade the movement, send out the hands, etc. Am I to assume that wouldn't be your recommended course of action?

[jdm]

21 minutes ago, spectre6000 said:

You didn't touch on the idea to just replace/upgrade the movement, send out the hands, etc. 

Is that a 2824? Get a Chinese one to practice on, they come dirty and dry from the factory so will benefit from a service even when new. Once you have it running as it should swap it to the watch and set aside the original mov't to decide about it later.

About reluming I never did it but don't think that's very difficult, sure you need quality materials and a little practice. 

[spectre6000]

Yeah. 2824-2. Nothing special. Available all day long from a variety of sources, ETA, Sellita, Sea-Gull, etc. and the new Soprod Newton looks like it'll drop right in (haven't confirmed hand size, but it seems they're specifically targeting drop in replacement). I think there's another non-clone drop in replacement movement out there, but I don't remember exactly what it is off the top of my head.

Reluming certainly doesn't look hard, I just don't want to practice on these hands since they appear to be irreplaceable. I'm concerned specifically about removing the existing lume without scratching the mirror finish on the show side.

[jdm]

5 minutes ago, spectre6000 said:

ETA, Sellita, Sea-Gull, etc. and the new Soprod Newton looks like it'll drop right in

These are all quality items hence expensive, a no-name Chinese from a reputable HK seller should be around USD50. 

[spectre6000]

So your advice would be to just swap the movement myself, then?