Had to choose between a full CLA or just a shutter fix on a Leica M3

This guy brought in his grandpa's Leica M3 last week, said it just needed the shutter curtain fixed. But when I opened it, the whole thing was gummed up with old lube and the viewfinder was full of haze. I gave him two prices: 250 for just the shutter, or 600 for a full clean, lube, adjust. He went with the cheap fix. Now he's back saying the focus is off and the advance feels rough. I told him it's because the rest of the camera is still 60 years old and dirty. Anyone else get stuck in this spot where the customer's choice just leads to more problems later?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_fox4d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, that's the tough part. But honestly, you gotta explain it's a package deal up front. A partial fix on something that old is almost always a band-aid.

sage_fox3d agoMost Upvoted

You ever try to just patch one small section? I used to think it was the nice thing to do, saving people money. Learned the hard way that on old stuff, fixing one spot just puts stress on the next weakest link. Now I see a partial job as basically setting a timer for the next problem. It sucks to tell someone they need the whole thing, but it's worse to have them call you back in six months mad because it failed again.