Debate on what it takes to make a high end watch.

[willy]

A few years ago i went to a well known Patek service center in Copenhagen.I owned a PP Aquanaut that needed a service.I spent about 15 minutes talking to a watchmaker who had serviced Patek watches for many many years.At this time i was thinking about buying a Lange watch.So without beating about the bush,i asked him what he thought about the quality of a Lange compaired to a Patek.He told me something that i absolutly did not know anything about.And to be honest,i have never read or heard about.He told me that Lange finish their watches using traditional handwork,and that Patek use something called Chemical polishing.I asked him to explain the difference.He said that in his experience the Chemical polishing did not last as long as the traditional method.He could service most Patek watches,but a Lange was a different story.Curiosity killed the cat,as they say.So i asked a few other service centers in the UK,just to see if this was a general opnion or not.The message i got back was about the same that he had told me.But to be honest,i have absolutly not much idea about how you can polish a watch in this way.I can however remember the time i worked in a factory that Chromed the Rolls Royce Emblems that sit on the bonnet of this car.This was a chemical process.It just makes me wonder how many watch brands use this method today.And tell us a load of bullshit about hand finished.Does this not make you think?