They certainly do. Coincidentally, my watch (the Longines in the opening post) ran its battery down and I handed it into Goldsmiths last week to send to Longines UK for the battery to be replaced.

I have just today received the ominous message "They have advised that your watch needs to be sent to Switzerland to be assessed". Eek!

Not only do I not like it being sent away every 5 years, I really don't like the idea of it going abroad. I have no idea what the problem could be and have asked Goldsmiths if they have any clues.

Please don't let my lovely precious irreplaceable watch given to me by my late wife have ticked its final beat

It's a twin-quartz Conquest VHP, 33 years old, in titanium and gold. No-one is going to have spares for it except Longines in Switzerland, I can accept that. If Longines UK have already inspected it, I doubt that a second opinion is going to help.

I am uneasy, but I've given them the go-ahead now. Fingers crossed.

It's bad news, but still better than having become non-functional.

Longines Switzerland have reported that, having inspected the case, it will never be waterproof again. They asked whether I wanted it repaired on the basis of that information, so I said 'yes'.  It means that, realistically, it will become a dress watch for me to wear on special occasions.

I will never remember to remove my watch to shower or swim, so there's little point in wearing it constantly as I shall end up damaging it.

So, a new plan.  Keep the Longines for wearing to go out.  Find something non-crap that I can live with day-to-day.

Lovely. Always admired the timeless design of the Sea Dweller.

Fantastic! Are you still diving? I'm hoping to get back to diving after a 20 year break - will have to see how much of my old gear can be serviced and safely used. I have a fabulous Mares reg that I really hope I can use again.

Goldsmiths have messaged me to say the Longines has returned from Switzerland. Stand by for an eye-watering bill.

Meanwhile, I have to put in a good word for the OnePlus Watch 2 Nordic that has been on my wrist since the bad news.  I chose well, this is an incredibly functional smart watch with a good battery charge life of over a week compared with most smart watches of 24-36 hours.  It does the job well and looks decent, too, unlike the horrific Apple and Samsung efforts, which are horrible, and the Google which is meh.  I chose weather, stress, heart rate, sleep and fitness out of loads of optional screens.  I also get notifications, messages and e-mail, too.  More useful than you might think.  It runs Google Wear 4, which is an Android OS for watches.

Oh, and it's waterproof, too!

I can't believe it, my Citizen Eco-Drive actually ran out of charge.  I ended up buying one of these - www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCTS4211

The moral of this story appears to be "Don't wear long sleeves all day, and then all night too". At least it gave my Xiaomi Redmi Watch 3 Active a run out I suppose, not that it was fun watching my heart-rate go up every time I checked the tracking on my EVRi delivery.