You own a beautiful Patek Philippe watch, carefully kept during the years to be worn for that special occasion, the wedding of a friend or a son, a gala dinner, a special event.

A watch with an economic value. For this reason you always make it overhauled by a Patek Philippe authorized Service Center such as Hausmann & Co. It may cost something more, but I am sure there won’t be any surprise.

A watch that you love to wear at his maximum beauty, with an adequate strap. DARN! The strap is getting old.

A strap… an external, not risky, accessory. Hausmann & Co. is far away, I will not be able to get there before Saturday evening. Thanks God there is a small watchmaker store near by with a lot of straps in the window, surely he will have the right one. 5 minutes, a work done on the back of the store “you know, the case of the watch is in gold, I prefer to pay the required attention”, and the watch is ready for the party.

After a while, and after only one year from the overhaul, the watch is not working. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.

I bring it back to Hausmann & Co., I am lucky, I have the warranty on the overhaul.

But… a second DARN, a little bit bigger and louder, this time. Yes, because it comes out that the strap change was a raid of gold components of the watch.  Precious because made in gold, and extremely rare (thus very valuable) because original Patek Philippe spare parts, inaccessible to not certified watchmakers.

To complete the damage of the loss of components, you have to add the present of the back of the watch that, maybe due to the hurry, was not well closed. What does this mean to the watch? Dust, that during months kept depositing inside the mechanism, damaging it till requiring a new overhaul. Unfortunately, not covered by the warranty.

What is the moral? As in all categories, even among independent watchmakers there are many serious and reliable professionals, and we know it from direct experience. But, unfortunately, there are also many of them that choose the easiest way to keep on their company.

This is why we love to remember that Hausmann & Co. started its work on 1794. A company is not able to continue a two-century business if in any time would have chosen shortcuts to stay alive.