Four checks before you pay

Four checks that take five minutes and avoid most disappointments.

1. That the counters work

Start the chrono and wait a minute. The 30-minute counter has to move. Plenty of pieces have a dead hand there and nobody notices until the second week.

2. That the reset is simultaneous

All three hands return to zero together. If one arrives late, something is badly assembled.

3. The pusher

• Dry and short: good sign.
• Soft with long travel: different architecture.
• If the lower pusher does not spring back on its own, stop.

4. Thickness

With a cheap caliper, at the centre of the case, from the highest point of the crystal to the lowest point of the back. The numbers are in the previous note.

None of this replaces opening the case. But it rules out eighty per cent before you pay.