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A Shout-out to my Watchmaker

  1. ahsposo Most fun screen name at ΩF Oct 31, 2019

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    Gosh knows I give them enough grief, I might as well give him a bit of praise...

    I've been sending most of my work to TM Watch (@Tmorehouse51 ) for around 2 and half years now. Probably 10 or so pieces, not a lot for some of you but a fair amount for me. I learned of this service here on the forum. Sadly, my local guy developed eye problems that made really fine work impossible so I was open to shipping my babies off for service.

    I wanted my Omega 2757-2 cal 355 bumper serviced, but I kept holding off because this is one of my favorites and I fear for it's safety in somebody else's hands - the Mother Hen complex. I sent them a cal. 354 as a test in fact before the 355. They passed the test.

    I was talking to Tanner the other day about a couple of diver's I was sending and he mentioned the bumper was ready and he would be sending it back so be on the lookout for the invoice. "Fine" I replied and then he says something along the lines of "Oh, by the way I cleaned up that dial for you."

    I think I did a good job of keeping the panic out of my reply "Sounds great! I look forward to seeing it." My waffle dial, that fragile old thing! At the mercy of some maniac case-polishing mini-mechanic! Oh NO!!!

    Well, I just got the watch back and I am impressed. I have no idea what Tanner did but it is, in the hand, like WOW! better. It had a nice warm patina, mind you, but it was uneven; smudgy and dull on the 7 to 11 side. There was some existing abrasion that is still there but now far less noticeable. I think she looks great!

    Here's a before shot:

    Omega cal355_071317 6836.jpg
    Note the smudgy stuff in that 7 to 11 or 12 quadrant. The darker mark between 11 and 12 is abrasion.

    And the after shot:

    Cal 355_001.jpg

    She looks great after the facial, IMO.

    Cal 355_009.jpg

    Thanks, guys! Good job!
     
  2. ahsposo Most fun screen name at ΩF Oct 31, 2019

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  3. Henneth Oct 31, 2019

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    I really like the result, even though it was a nice watch before. Do you know how they cleaned it / what they used for cleaning?
     
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  4. ahsposo Most fun screen name at ΩF Oct 31, 2019

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    No I don't. I was frankly afraid to ask. Now that it's back and is looking good on the wrist I don't care. Maybe he'll see this post and elucidate...

    Some wristies; this is a Duchess bracelet, BTW:

    2757-2_002.jpg 2757-2_007.jpg 2757-2_009.jpg
     
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  5. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Oct 31, 2019

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    It does really look great but I would have blown a gasket if my watchmaker had done that to my watch without asking first.
     
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  6. airansun In the shuffling madness Oct 31, 2019

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    Yeah, exactly. Been there and didn’t have your good results. :(
     
  7. BradleyJ. Oct 31, 2019

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    I know some people use rodico (it's a putty) I'd probably rub the paint right off so it's better off being done by a pro haha
     
    20191031_174409.jpg
  8. BradleyJ. Oct 31, 2019

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    The finished cleaning looks fantastic!
     
  9. ahsposo Most fun screen name at ΩF Oct 31, 2019

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    I've never really had a watchmaker that conferred with me a lot. One of my first, a German Swiss guy never told me anything except the price when I went to pick stuff up. Lost me when he changed a crown out on a watch and it didn't match. I was new to this and really didn't know how to talk with a watchmaker. Would have been shy to complain.

    Having said that, in my work I sometimes go out of scope and fix a problem I perceive with a customer's set up. Generally nobody on site has a clue and if they did they probably would have fixed it.
     
  10. JwRosenthal Oct 31, 2019

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    I think it looks fantastic- you got lucky. I think SOP for most watchmakers is to make it look as good as possible (make it shiny)- so cleaning a dial would be part of that if they think they can do it without damage. Asking them not to when you drop it off would be the best way to ensure they don’t do anything cosmetic. To us, it seems a no-brainer, I didn’t ask for it so why did you clean it? But some watchmakers, it’s just the way they do it.
     
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  11. Larry S Color Commentator for the Hyperbole. Oct 31, 2019

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    Holy crap. If I ever need dial work.....
     
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  12. kopykat Nov 1, 2019

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    Would have been interesting to know how the watchmaker did it. That is not a job done by clean up agents such as Rodico.
    Maybe rinsed in diluted water or similar method?
     
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  13. padders Oooo subtitles! Nov 1, 2019

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    Diluted water? What like err water? ;)
     
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  14. jove14 Nov 1, 2019

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    Dilution is a process of decreasing concentration of solute in a solution by adding more solvent into the solution. A solution is formed by solute and a solvent, thus from this definition pure water isn't a solution it is a substance instead, and can't be diluted.
    Joe.
     
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  15. JimInOz Melbourne Australia Nov 1, 2019

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    Maybe the OP simply meant distilled water.
    That is, water that has been boiled to vapour point and the vapour condensed into pure water.
    And if the distilled water isn't pure enough, it can be re-distilled again to produce pure H2O.

    Edit: So, in effect, distilled water could be considered diluted water.
     
    Edited Nov 1, 2019
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  16. Lovewatches2 Nov 1, 2019

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    IMHO he did an excellent job on the dial and the result is fantastic!
     
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  17. BradleyJ. Nov 1, 2019

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    I follow a few watchmakers and you'd be surprised how well it can work in the right situations.
     
    20191101_085900.jpg
  18. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Nov 1, 2019

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    And you would be surprised how badly it works in the wrong situations. Along with cleaning using other methods. I've seen way more failed attempts than successful ones, and the problem is you never really know how well it will work until you try, and then it's too late.
    Ask the guy who had his vintage Speedmaster dial literally rinsed under a tap to clean it ::facepalm1:: how that turned out...or the guy who had his dial dipped in solvent to remove dust and all the printing came off...just two examples people have come to me for advice on after a watchmaker did something without asking that come to mind. Any sort of aggressive cleaning (or not even that aggressive) is playing with fire. I always tell people who ask me that they should only clean a dial (other than gently removing loose materials) if they are prepared to destroy it.
     
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  19. Tmorehouse51 Nov 1, 2019

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    Hey guys,

    First of all, I appreciate the shout-out Paul! Thank you! Second, to expand on what Archer is saying:

    The only thing i will ever use on a dial to do light cleaning and its mostly just to get the dust off is Rodico Premium from Bergeon. I would never rinse a dial in anything as in most cases it will take the extremely fragile lume off of the dial. Even when i lightly go over the dial with Rodico, i avoid even touching the lume plots. In almost all cases when you try to clean up a dial with anything other than Rodico, it makes it worse. Extreme care needs to be taken even when you are just getting the dust off of a dial because even Rodico can peel up paint that is slightly loose. The only reason i do it is to take dust off which will get into the movement eventually if not addressed.

    I hope that makes sense to everyone. In most cases, leave the dial be and NEVER submerge in any sort of liquid.

    Tanner Morehouse,
    TM Watch
     
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  20. MikeMan2727 Nov 1, 2019

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    The end result looks quite nice, thanks for sharing. I had a similar experience with my watchmaker. Before service it looked like this:

    [​IMG]

    After service:
    [​IMG]
     
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