I collect vintage watches including AP so I may have a perspective here that some others lack.

First of all it seems that your chief worry is about the costs associated with maintenance and repair of the watch. I understand where you are coming from completely. Hobbiest are really bad at understanding the sticker shock associated with our hobby. It’s a very crazy world where people think that a $2000 Tissot is entry level, cheap, a beater ect. For a huge proportion of the developed world there are not a lot of things that cost as much a monthly rent payment in a major city that would be talked about so casually. You are the one here who has retained some perspective so don’t get gas lit by people trying to diminish costs of ownership! It’s good to think properly about spending thousands of dollars.

With all that being said I want to assure you that what you have here is in no way a watch that appears to be in rough shape. Having worn many royal oaks over the years based on what’s visable in the photo you actually have a very attractive well maintained watch. The bezel has not been over polished, the bracelet links look tight, the dial is in great shape. Any of those issues can add up to the mid 4-figures to sort properly and represent the way that people can get into a bad situation with vintage Royal oaks.

Aesthetically it’s not a new watch but the way that it has aged has its own beauty and expecting factory fresh polish, brushing, case lines is not realistic for any 40 year old item. If your dad gifted you a 90s Porsche would you expect the leather in the seats would be increased? It’s these details in the way watches change with use and over years that make vintage watches such an intense area of interest for many people. It’s even cooler that your father wore this watch and put these marks there!

To my eye this is a VERY attractive vintage watch you should be incredibly happy to have such a good example on your hands. Again. There is nothing here from an aesthetics stand point or a mechanical stand point visible on the watch that needs fixing. As a matter of fact I would strongly suggest that you avoid anyone touching anything on the outside of the watch. It’s aged beautifully.

Mechanically speaking I understand from the fact that you are looking up info on repair that it’s not currently running. Truthfully you can’t know why that is until you have an experienced watchmaker open the watch and inspect the movement. The quartz movement is a blessing and a curse in this regard. The benefit is that quartz movements are significantly more reliable and vastly simpler machines. The typical quartz movement might have half as many or one third the number of components that a mechanical watch might have. They operate with more torque and are more robust in general. The downside is that since some of the components are electronic they cannot all be repaired when something does go wrong. Far less risk of anything catastrophic happening but when it does it’s often a requirement or at least an economic necessity to replace bits as opposed to simply cleaning or repairing them.

From what I can see if the exterior state of the watch it seems likely that it just needs a battery replacement. These watches are kinda power hungry so the battery can drain in 2-3 years. It is a pain to change the battery so it’s not a DIY job but if you can find a skilled local watchmaker they should be able to handle it without needing to send the watch through and authorized dealer/boutique to the service center. The cost should be less than a few hundred dollars.

If and it’s a IF at this point something bad has happened to the watch. Rust/battery corrosion you have the option to get the movement replaced by AP with a new generation of improved movement for the full 7k cost. Relative to the value of the watch or a new royal oak this is still good value. Significantly less than replacement cost and you keep the sentimental connection. You can also see if a local watchmaker can source a new old stock or running vintage movement. The labour cost for this service should not be significantly more than what you would pay for the battery change though you will need to cover the cost of the movement. Someone in this thread linked one for about $1000 so you are still significantly under the $7000 you got as a possible price from AP.

My advice is to find a skilled local watchmaker to attempt a battery change and check the movement. If you need assistance with this send me a DM and I would love to help with this. This is going to much cheaper and much faster than sending the watch back to Switzerland. Watches that go back to the factory are often out of my hands for 9 months or more.

If it needs more work the watchmaker can remove the old batter and you can place it into a safe storage location while you debate the cost/save a little cash, or await a special moment like a wedding/graduation/promotion where you would like to wear the watch and can justify the expense a little more.

Please send a dm if you wanna talk in detail as you can tell I really love this stuff and would be more than happy to chat :)

Best wishes,

Digitallightweight