The number of repairers is certainly falling, and the ones that remain will only be interested in the jobs where they can charge most. It's no harder working on an Omega than a cheap old 60s watch that belonged to someone's dad.

Servicing a mechanical watch properly involves stripping the whole thing down, there's little if any scope for short cuts, and that takes time. Add on the overheads (watch cleaning solvents at over £10/litre etc), heating and lighting of the work area, the ever-increasing cost of spare parts plus the time involved in tracking parts down, it's easy to see how the costs mount up.

Car owners can still do basic maintenance on their cars, such as changing oil, spark plugs, brake pads etc so they can save money by doing stuff themselves, but there's not really an analogy for servicing a watch. You have to develop the skills and technique to do the whole thing, and that includes getting the tools, cleaning materials, oils etc too. Unless you plan to make a hobby of it, it isn`t viable to set yourself up to maintain a few of your own. Changing batteries should be within the scope of most people but even that requires decent case-opening tools, a case clamp, a well-lip work area, a few decent magnifiers, a few screwdrivers, a couple of bits of pegwood (cocktail sticks will suffice) and a stick of Rodico. Finger cots and plastic tweezers also help.

I would never put anyone off, I started in 2010 with no previous experience (apart from car work, DIY and laboratory work) but I was lucky to get some training paid for at the BHI as part of my redundancy package, that helped me a lot to get started. Would I recommend this route to anyone else?.........maybe, but it's got a whole lot harder with manufacturers restricting parts supply and that frustrates me greatly.