I've had quite a few customers say that their watches came out
better than they expected. So, to help convey the type of work that
is possible, I decided to start posting some before and after
photographs of a few of the watches I've restored. These are pretty typical jobs,
and I've selected a wide variety to illustrate what can be done.
Vintage Rolex Moonphase Restoration, circa 1950, model 8171
This is
one of the rarest and most collectible Rolex watches. These
were made in 2 basic versions, an oyster and a non-oyster
variation. The term oyster refers to a Rolex that is
waterproof. Oysters always have screw backs, and typically
have a screw-down crown (the Super Oyster non screw-down crown being
the exception). This particular model is the non-oyster
version, so it has a snap back and a plain dress style winding
crown. The dial on this watch was not original and had been
refinished in the past. This was incorrectly marked both
chronometer and precision (it should be one or the other,
but not both). I did some research on exactly how an original
dial was marked, so this was refinished as close to original as
possible. I did a complete restoration on this watch, and
custom-made some new corrector buttons for it as well.
The same model watch sold at auction for over $50,000. The
auction results for that watch are shown for your reference.
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Breitling Chronomat, 2-register Chronograph Restoration
This is a vintage
Breitling Chronomat in 18K gold. As received, it was missing a
pusher and the crown, and the movement/bezel assembly would fall out
of the case if you turned it upside down. It appears as though
someone didn't know how to remove the bezel, and in trying to remove
it they broke the stem, one case screw, and one pusher. It had
a fairly nice original dial, and the case was in good shape.
The movement cleaned up nicely.
This uses a Venus
175 movement, which is very similar to the movement used in older
Breitling Navitimers. The Navitimer uses a Venus 178, which is
basically a 3-register version of this movement. Typically, 2
register chronos will have either a 30 minute or a 45 minute
register, whereas 3-register chronos will have a 30 minute register
along with the hour register.
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Vintage Rolex Bubbleback repair, rare hooded lug design, circa 1935
This is a
very rare and early Rolex. This exact watch is shown in the
'Rolex Wristwatches' book by Dowling and Hess (first edition page
106). The photo in this book is credited to Sotheby's Inc
1990, so it has quite a provenance. The design on the hooded
lugs makes this watch particularly unusual (all hooded bubblebacks
are rare, this one is exceptionally so). This watch arrived in
pretty bad shape, as shown in the photos. The case was split,
probably in part due to some rust and pitting. It may have
been dropped, or the back or case tube was over tightened, which
finally caused the case to split. I also found that the case
frame was not exactly flat, and it had been stretched somewhat in
the round, causing the bezel and back to thread on poorly.
Upon close
examination, I realized that the case was very weak at this point.
There are 3 different threads which all come together at this one
place. Some of the case had been filed away in this area,
presumably to remove some rust or pitting, adding to the problem.
I decided to make a tube out of stainless steel, to both reinforce
this area and to act as aid in alignment. If this joint was
off by even a small amount, the threads would not have lined up for
the bezel and back. I also left a small flange on the end of
the tube to give me greater strength and more surface area for the
solder. I soldered the tube with 14K white gold solder, which
is a pretty close color match to stainless and also adheres quite
well (in fact, the original pink gold hoods are attached to the
steel case using pink gold solder). The small flange is
actually quite original looking.
This is a very
difficult repair, and is extremely time-consuming. The case
has to be heated to a very high temperature so that the white gold
solder flows (about 1200 F). Keep in mind that the hoods are
attached with a similar solder, so one has to be very careful not to
heat the lugs too much otherwise they will move. Also, since
the case is somewhat pitted, it does not tolerate hot/cold cycles
very well. (Using a low-temperature lead solder would not have
been strong enough, and lead solder easily darkens and corrodes with
wear.)
Of course, I also
supplied a genuine old stock Rolex crown, new threaded case tube,
and completely serviced the movement. The case repair should
last as long as the case itself.
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Vintage LeCoultre automatic watch repair
This is a
vintage LeCoultre watch with a caliber 12A (later called cal. 476)
movement. This design is commonly called a 'bumper wind'
because the rotor doesn't turn 360 degrees, it bounces between coil
spring bumpers which are shown in the photos below. Some water
entered the case, clearly through the crown and caseback, which also
caused the dial to turn yellow. There is a coating of clear
lacquer that is applied over the dial, and in time the lacquer will
turn yellow, causing the dial to look very dark.
This watch
needed quite a few parts, including a stem, crown, crystal,
mainspring, and two worn parts in the autowind mechanism (one of
which is shown below). I also installed one extra jewel in the
autowind mechanism to correct a worn bushing. I refinished the
dial and hands and removed the rust from the case.
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Vintage Angelus Chronodato Watch Repair
This
Angelus is called a Chronodato for obvious reasons, it features a 2
register chronograph with a 45 minute register, plus windows for the
day and month, and a center pointer for the date (1-31 are printed
at the far outside of the dial). This watch was received in
fairly poor condition, and really didn't do anything correctly.
It couldn't be wound, as the winding pinion was loose in
the case. It was not possible to set the hands properly as
there was too much wear in the setting/winding mechanism. The
day/date would not change by itself, as a pin was missing to drive
this function. And, the chronograph didn't function either.
I think the correctors were the only thing that worked. The
movement was very dirty, and had some rust. I completely
disassembled the watch, even further than what is shown the photos.
I made two new bushings for the stem to correct wear so that the
watch would wind and set smoothly. I also made a pin for the
date mechanism (which was missing) so that the day/date would change
properly. It needed quite a few parts, including a new stem,
crystal, mainspring, and set bridge.
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Antique Gruen Curvex Watch Repair
This is a vintage Gruen Curvex, probably from the late 1940s.
It is a dedication watch and was given to my customer's father when
he retired from the police department. Aesthetically it was in
poor condition, but the mechanism was in pretty good shape and the
case didn't have any significant wear (this is a white gold-filled
case). I did a complete overhaul on the movement and replaced
a few parts, including the mainspring. The crown was not
correct on this watch, it was a waterproof style crown on a
non-waterproof case, so I replaced that with something more correct.
I also had the dial refinished, and replaced the crystal with a new
old stock period glass crystal. The crystal is very curved,
and therefore tends to reflect everything making it difficult to
photograph.
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LeCoultre Memovox, Automatic Alarm Watch Restoration, Caliber K825
This is a vintage LeCoultre automatic alarm watch with date.
The biggest problem with this watch was that the dial feet had been
broken off. This caused the dial to be loose inside the case,
and the hands would catch on the dial and cause the watch to stop.
Someone did a bad repair job where they tried to soft (lead) solder
the feet back on, and there was also glue reside. Neither one
of these is strong enough to work, especially since the surface area
of the bond is pretty small. Only high-temperature solder or
welding will work properly in this application.
The dial feet have to be very precisely located, otherwise the date
won't line up properly or the alarm disk won't be centered.
When you get the dial hot enough to melt the silver solder it will
burn the finish of the dial, so the dial also had to be refinished
after the feet were replaced.
It also needed
quite a bit of work to the movement. I found a similar bad
repair job on the automatic bridge, where a locating pin was filed
off. I replaced that pin and a nearby broken jewel, and
overhauled the movement.
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'Repetition
Chronograph' Repeater Pocketwatch Repair
This is a
non-branded quarter repeater with a simple chronograph. I has
the words 'Repetition Chronograph' on the inside dust cover, but
there is no real brand name associated with the watch. It is
in a 14K gold case, and is probably from the early 1900's. As
received, it didn't work - the watch would run but only for a minute
or two, and the repeater didn't work at all. It was extremely
dirty, and needed about 3 different cleaning processes just to get
it right. Also, the sweep second hand was missing, the crystal
was missing, and the pusher crown was rusted and frozen. In
order to supply a second hand, I had to make a special long tube to
fit this watch, and then attach that to a vintage sweep hand I had
in the shop. I had to repair the inner workings of the pusher
crown, as those are not readily available anymore, especially not in
this size and quality.
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Marcel Cane ( Lemania ) Chronograph Watch Repair
This is a small brand
watch that was purchased by my customer while travelling overseas.
Obviously, one of the pushers was missing, and the manufacturer was
no longer in business so a factory replacement pusher was simply not
available. It is actually a very nice quality watch, using a
Lemania hand-wound movement (very similar to the one used in the
Omega Speedmaster Man on the Moon watch). The case is solid
18K, and has a nice heft and a hinged back. I fabricated a new
pusher from solid gold. I didn't have a single piece of gold
that was quite thick enough, so I soldered a small block using hard
plumb solder (i.e 18K plumb solder contains 18/24 gold content for
an exact color match, whereas a lot of 18K solder actually has about
12-16K gold). You can see how oxidized gold gets when heated
by the purplish hue in the third photo. The pusher I made
actually fit the case a bit better than the original, which you can
see in the last 2 photos.
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Rolex Red Submariner,
model 1680
Vintage Rolex sports
watches have become very popular recently, and the red Submariner is
one of the most desirable. This one has a more interesting
story than most, as told by my customer:
"It's
the only watch I have used since a friend gave me it in 1974 and has
a lot of sentimental value to me. I have put it through its paces;
it has dived to 180 feet, locked out of submarines, made hundreds of
parachute jumps, gotten pounded in big surf, suffered temperatures
from 20 below to 120 above, and been in combat with me during my 30
years as a Navy SEAL."
The customer sent me the watch without a
bezel, as shown in the photos. He had two bracelets with it,
neither of which were attached to the watch, presumably because both
had problems with the fliplock clasps and wouldn't stay closed
properly. I did a complete overhaul, with new crown, tube,
back gasket, crystal, and a few movement parts. I also
supplied a new bezel, insert, and bezel spring. I repaired
both bracelets, replaced the riveted pin holding the fliplock, and
adjusted the clasp for solid operation.
The owner Rick W. from Virginia
Beach, VA commented:
The watch and bracelets arrived
yesterday. Immediately unpacked them and saw that everything
looked just perfect. Slipped it on, still cold from the
mail. It started running right away and I let it reach wrist
temperature, then set it by the atomic clock. It has kept
perfect time since then.
I keep looking down and admiring
this watch I have worn since 1974.
It was in very rough shape when I sent you it,
but you completely restored it so that now it both
looks brand new and
has the sentimental value of
an old friend.
Thanks, Tom...you are the man.
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Vintage Rolex Bubbleback Repair
This is a pretty
typical repair of a vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch. This
watch didn't run very well, the crown didn't screw down, and the
rotor / autoweight rattled in the case because the rotor axle was
broken. These watches represent an early (and somewhat
unrefined) design of an automatic winding mechanism. They tend
to have 2 main problems. The first problem is that the rotor
axles break due to a relatively small lower pivot, and due to the
fact that the rotors themselves are rigid. There is no
provision for shock protection of the autowinding mechanism.
(if you scroll down to the Rolex with the later 1030 movement, you
will see that the autoweight has cuts in it which help the rotor
flex and absorb shock.) The second problem is wear in the
unjeweled plates. On this watch, I added 6 jewels total to the
autowind mechanism to correct this wear. This is by far the
best way to solve this problem. Again, if you scroll down to
the Rolex with the 1030, you will see that they eventually went to a
fully-jeweled design.
Incidentally, the
dial and hands on this watch appear to be in original (not
refinished) condition, but on closer inspection I realized that this
dial is an older refinish. It has a nice patina, and we
decided to leave it alone.
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Vintage Rolex Transitional Bubbleback Repair, Caliber 645 movement,
early 1950's era
This watch is
typically called a 'transitional bubbleback'. It is a bit
bigger than the above watch, and the case is no longer straight
between the lugs (where the strap fits). You can see the
evolution of their autowind mechanism, where Rolex started to add
jewels to the autowind mechanism. You'll also see that the
rotor is slightly larger in this watch, presumably to help the watch
autowind more effectively. This watch also has the 'Super
Oyster' crown (winder), which did not screw down. This design
didn't work very well, especially compared to their earlier screw
down crown designs. The 'Super Oyster' crown was only in
production for 3 years.
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Vintage Wittnauer Chronograph Restoration
This vintage
chronograph was received in very bad shape. It was
missing a pusher, the lug at 2 o'clock was bent, and the
movement was rusty. After inspecting the movement, I
realized that it would need a lot of parts. Beyond the
obvious, I found most all of the wheels would need to be
replaced due to rust and bad pivots. I decided to
source a replacement movement that I could use for parts.
This is a good idea as it is less expensive to buy a
complete movement than it is to buy the individual parts.
It also helps me estimate the cost to repair, as it puts a
price cap on the cost of parts. Most of the original
movement was unuseable, but the overall originality of the
piece is still intact as the replacement movement is an
identical replacement to the old one. It is a Landeron
248 movement, if you are interested.
I overhauled the new movement,
and used some of the plates and miscellaneous parts from the
old movement. I applied new luminous to the dial,
hands, and bezel. I also replaced the crystal, both
pushers, and the caseback gasket. I turned the sealing
surface on the caseback, as that was badly damaged from a
botched attempt to open the caseback without the proper
tool.
After the customer received his
watch, I got this very kind e-mail:
I received the watch today, I
am amazed at what I took out of the box! Out of my current
collection I think this will get the most wrist time and one
of the only ones immune to the chopping block when things
get rough. Now I have no fear in buying that beater chrono
or watch, because I found a watch maker that can make them
whole again and get their hearts beating once more. The
craftsmanship is of a very high level, but what truly sets
your work apart is the outstanding customer service you
provide every step of the restoration process, and your
willingness to answer any and all questions. I am currently
hunting down a Wittnauer professional chronograph 242T and
trust me when I say I don't care what condition it's in if
the price is right, it will be showing up at your doorstep!
Thanks, Wade from Hawaii
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Vintage LeCoultre Futurematic Wristwatch Repair
I repair quite a few old LeCoultre
watches, including alarm watches and Futurematics. This watch
was received in decent aesthetic condition, though the lugs were
bent inward quite a bit. I assume someone wanted to fit a 16mm
band to this watch which was designed for an 18mm, so instead of
buying a properly-sized strap they chose to bend the lugs.
Stupid, but it happens. Also, the case back was loose.
The dial had been refinished previously. I think the dial
could be better, but it was not bad so we decided to leave it alone. The movement had quite a few problems. I replaced the driving
wheel and added 2 jewels to correct some wear in the autowind
section. I also replaced the rotor bearing, which was
worn and not original.
These movements are pretty unique in
that the watch actually stops autowinding when the power reserve is
full. There is a relation between the reserve indicator and
the autoweight, so when the mainspring is fully wound a hook engages
the autoweight and stops it from moving.
Because of this unique design, most
watchmakers do not know how to properly service these movements.
There are special procedures to get the reserve indicator,
mainspring preload, and autoweight hook to function correctly.
I have factory documentation on this movement describing these
procedures, and I have developed a few of my own techniques to
restore these watches to proper functionality.
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"Stewart Warner",
made by Chelsea, Car Clock Repair
This is a clock from
a vintage Pierce Arrow automobile. The owner of the clock also
owned the car, and was having the car completely restored.
This was very dirty when I received it. It needed a thorough
cleaning and a new mainspring. I didn't take any 'before'
photos, these are just shots of the completed car clock repair.
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Patek Philippe Minute Repeater
This is an
example of a high-end repeater repair. The photos show how
many parts are in these movements, and just how complicated they
are. Consequently, the costs to restore such a watch are also
high. In case you do not know, a repeater is a watch with 2
gongs that will chime the time on command. They were
originally used to be able to tell time at night without having to
light a candle. The gongs are not shown in the photos, but
they are basically 2 wires that go completely around the movement,
one sounds a low tone, the other a high tone.
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Rolex Oyster
Perpetual, 1950's era, caliber 1030 movement
On many
watches I spend a fair amount of time on the aesthetics. This
job was quite opposite in that I spent almost all of my time on the
movement.
This watch had
great sentimental value to its owner. It was a gift to his
father, who was a sea captain, by his crew. Unfortunately, the
owner got the watch wet (which is a bad idea for vintage watches),
and the watch leaked. He then took the watch to a few
different 'Rolex repair facilities' (his words, not mine), and no
one could fix the watch. What is even worse is that one of the
places that looked at the watch basically stole quite a few parts
from the movement.
Parts for this
particular watch are very hard to come by, as this Rolex caliber
1030 movement was only produced from about 1950 to 1957. In
contrast, the successor to this caliber was the 1500 series which
was produced for 20 years. Eventually, I had to go to about 8
different suppliers (plus my own inventory) to obtain all of the
required components. Including screws, this watch needed 42
parts!
Photo 1 shows
the watch as I received it. Basically, all of the sweep second
parts are missing, as are most all of the autowind parts.
Photo 2 shows the movement after cleaning, with quite a few new
parts already installed. All of the components on the white
background are also new (as they were all missing).
Photos 3 and
show the finished watch. You'll note that quite a bit of the
rhodium plating has worn off the movement, this is pretty common on
watches that got wet. It is primarily an aesthetic concern
only.
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Panerai Chronograph,
El Primero movement
This customer had
taken this watch to another watchmaker and supposedly had it
repaired. It wasn't right the first time, so he took it back
again. It stopped again after taking it in a second time, so
he eventually contacted me. It needed a cleaning and
some adjustments to the escapement (which was why it kept stopping).
I also adjusted the flyback mechanism, as the hour recorder wasn't
zeroing-out properly.
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Hamilton
Wristwatch, movement caliber 980
Here is one example
of a before and after shot of a Hamilton watch I recently restored.
It was a fairly typical job, and was of great sentimental value to
its owner as it belonged to his grandfather. Work included: clean
and polish the case, overhaul the movement, refinish the dial, and
replace the following parts: balance staff, balance hole jewel, mainspring,
stem, crown, glass crystal, and hands.
8/11/00. The customer
sent me the following e-mail after the repairs were completed. This
was entirely unsolicited, and purely coincidental that I had taken
before and after photographs. I know some people might doubt the authenticity
of this, but it is real:
Excellent work.
The watch is wonderful. You exceeded my expectations and that doesn't
happen very often. I, too, am an engineer and burdened with a persistent
quest for perfection. My grandfather's watch is as close to that as
anyone, anywhere could have accomplished. You are a true craftsman.
Thank you for a rewarding experience. Bill G, Elmwood Park, NJ.
Omega Seamaster
Chronograph, 1960's vintage, movement caliber 321
This watch required
a different approach than the Hamilton. First of all, the bezel and
crystal were missing, and the watch didn't run. The hour hand was
bent at nearly a 90 degree angle, and the sweep hand was also pretty
badly bent. The dial was original, with some minor imperfections,
but was still too good to refinish. The case was originally plated,
and was showing some wear especially at the tips and inside edges
of the lugs. Because of the age of this watch, parts availability
was hit and miss. Original parts that were still available included
the crystal, pushers, crown, and back gasket. Neither the hands nor
the bezel were still available, so I had a bezel fabricated which
I then altered to match the style of the original bezel. I then polished
and plated the entire case and bezel so everything matched. I ended
up using the original hour hand, by straightening, polishing, plating,
and finally applying new luminous paint to it. Of course, I also completely
overhauled the movement. (there is a slight dark ring around the bezel
on the 'after' photograph, which is just a lighting/reflection problem,
it's not really there.)
Rolex Oyster
Chronograph
This watch illustrates
a slightly different approach, in that originality is important in
vintage Rolex watches. The dial was in very nice original condition,
so we pretty much left it as original except for reapplying luminous
paint to the hour and minute hands. It needed quite a few internal
parts to make it right, as it had been carelessly repaired in the
past. I refinished the case and bracelet, and replaced the crystal,
crown, tube, back gasket and pushers. It was important to maintain
the originality of this watch to preserve its value.
Rolex Bubbleback
Repair
Here's another
vintage Rolex restoration. Unlike the chronograph above, the dial
on this watch had been poorly refinished. It made sense to have it
refinished properly, with the correct gilt print (instead of the white
on the previous refinish). I also replated the hands. The movement
needed quite a bit of work, having a lot of wear in the autowind section
which I corrected by installing jewels. I also replaced the tube,
but kept the original crown, and replaced the mainspring, crystal,
back gasket, and other worn parts.
Waltham Pocket Watch
Repair
This was a sentimental piece. Obviously, the dial on this was
in very bad condition.
