I've recently been advised that I need to have a military watch cleaned, oiled and adjusted even if it is running good. This seems wrong to me...if it ain't broke, don't fix it...so I thought I'd see what the prevailing opinion is.

Hi Bob,

Its like running your car until it squeaks and grinds to a halt, then having it towed it to the quick lube depot.
I often say to people if we were to put a drop of oil on a piece of glass what do you think would be there if we came back a year later?

Yeah, I get it Chris, but I KNOW when my car needs oil! It seems to me that if the watch starts to loose a bit of time then is the time to COA. Let me go a step further and ask:

...if I have a nice Omega automatic and I had it serviced in 2012, when 'should' I have it done again?

Well I would say between 3-5 years of ownership or normal use. The idea is to get to it before damage from lack of service starts. It is a guess of course, or if you start seeing a change in normal performance during that period. after a car oil change they will often say so many miles or months.
I often get Rolex in that have had nothing done to them at all, about 15 years they stop running. of course by then you can see wear occurring, hard impacted grease that was once oil there are certain models I have been getting in recently that are failing much earlier that that.

Bob for those of us here like Chris, myself and many others on this site who work on watches we see the damage which is done to watches that go to long without a service. Dirt and dust manage to get into about any case and once it begins to mix with oil an abrasive substance can be produced which hastens damage to parts. I mainly work on pocket watches and I suggest service every 3-5 years. Of course there is debate amongst folks about the span between services, but I suggest you don't judge the need for a service by waiting for a watch to "act up" or have problems.

Rob
www.pocketwatchrepairs.net

This begs the questions, why would you wait till your watch is starting to show trouble?
To save a few bucks on one of your treasures?
Would you be thinking that watchmakers are full of crap and just trying to steal your money?

I have to agree with Chris. I was in the Hospital for three months and when I finally got back to the bench I dipped my oil applicator in the well and it was dry. I was using that super duper miracle oil from oil eBay. The Moebius 8000 well still had good oil in it. If it dries up on the bench then what about the watches I've done? Not to use some else s forum But years ago I had a friend at a junk yard whom drained the oil from a engine, poured some oil additive on the parts and that motor ran for 45 min before it quit. Why can't one use it in a watch?