Ok! If you survived my initial diatribe and you have come back for more - I can tell you there is a little crumb of wisdom that will help you avoid a lot of headaches! Shopping on the interent is like buying a used car on Western avenue in Chicago - except you stll can't look under the "hood." So how do you avoid buying a watch that hasn't been properly restored. The warranty is not an absolute assurance - trust me! Nope , you need hard proof!

If you ask the dealer to provide a Vibrograph tape of the watch you are buying and he can't provide it - run for your life! The Vibrograph is the premier diagnostic tool that every legitimate watchmaker must have. This device is like an EKG for a watch! The print out it produces is the verification of the watch's performance. The tape should have a striaght line down the middle that consists of little dots. Diagonal lines going to the left or right reveal positional errors. Positional errors are the result of a damaged balance staff and that means the watch does not run accurately in those relative positions. Why? Because, all watches are affected by gravity to some degree. The balance staff is the major moving part in your watch and it serves as the axle for the balance wheel which combined with the hair spring determines if the watch runs fast or slow! The balance wheel oscillates back and forth 18000 beats per hour! The balance staff has two pivots - top and bottom that are about three times the thickness of a human hair! They are simply the tapered down ends of the staff. Yep, they are fragile! If the watch has suffered any kind of impact one or both of those pivots at the end of the staff will be damaged - resulting in a balance wheel that wobbles and causes excessive friction at the point where the damaged pivot enters the jewel cup. This creates the positional error because the friction on that pivot will increase or decrease depending upon the position of the watch. Ideally, a perfectly straight balance staff allows the perfect rotation of the balance wheel and thus even pressure and friction at both ends of the staff, this results in positional errors that are very minor and can be compensated for to some degree!

If he has properly serviced the watch he will be able to provide the tape that the Vibrograph prints out! This tape will not ensure that you got a fair deal but it will ensure that you get a watch that works properly and is reliable! After all, that's half the battle. So, make sure to get it straight............ on the tape!