MilDiver
703
Adding few points to the comments by the wise members here
Nov 13, 2022,06:08 AM
Sorry it happened to you, hope it will be not so painful process.
1. I Swim almost daily with any of my watches rated 100m and up, no issues, I just check the crown as a habit!.
2. Watch value has nothing to do with cost repair. a Meteorite GMT costs 4X of SS GMT and still has the same movement.
3. REPAIR.
The main point is if they have real watchmakers to handle the situation or a "technician"...
A watchmaker can fully clean some of the parts, restore them, maybe replace some movement parts.
A technician (often called "watchmaker" these days) will just take module/movement in and out....this takes less time hence more profit to the service center.
I once gambled and purchased a 16570 EXP that had water damage and was left like that untouched for years. just because the dial was so nicely "destroyed". I took it to my watchmaker and 500$ later it was as clean as a new watch (but the dial), he only replaced the rotor bearing module with a used one.
4. Cost
Some of the repair costs represent profit for the service center and your dealer, if they decide to wave the profit, costs can be reduced quite large.
5. I have a vintage Calatrava in restoration at Patek. simple manual wind watch. cost is 2100$ (2022 prices)
Hope this helps