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Another reason why polishing is bad for watches...

eugeneandresson
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This poor gentleman (a well known watchmaker, if he is a member here, I mean no disrespect, this is an educational post, as I found his post very sad and educational) bought this watch for himself after this (kudos). Apparently (according to his post) he just needed to give the crown a quick polish after service, and at 2800rpm the polishing wheel grabbed the crown in the hand setting position, and the rest as they say, is history...

BA471E5D-EC5E-48A9-8632-D443E705045F.jpeg


Condolences good Sir, thanks for sharing. Hope you can restore it.
Edited:
 
K
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Condolences indeed - I can鈥檛 imagine the feeling of picking that up after excitedly waiting 馃
 
JwRosenthal
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Hooolllly crap...馃槻

Ok, I don鈥檛 want to hear anyone to criticize my method anymore!
25CD2A53-D839-4732-BAA8-8E3E772AA7F8.jpeg 48575062-8225-4794-B730-2DDEB942DD76.jpeg
 
Davidt
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What a great way to remove the applied surrounds on the hour indicies to give it that vintage look.
 
Archer
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Polishing any part of any watch with the movement still in the case, is a very bad idea.
 
wouter van wijk
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Nope customers watch. He bought it afterwards. He is indeed a respectable watchmaker, I have done business with him and he does a lot for the best vintage shops in the Netherlands. Paul is confident enough to make a laugh about is own stupid f*ckup.
 
Tet
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I wonder if he manged time travel in the process.
 
JwRosenthal
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I can only imagine the feeling as he watched it happening- it鈥檚 like that longest fraction of a second when you slide into the car in front of you and you see the metal of your hood (sorry, bonnet for our friends who speak the Queens English) buckling and hear glass shattering....ugh.
 
Aquariusmatic
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Tet Tet
I wonder if he manged time travel in the process.

At least by looking at the mangled hands, the hands achieved speeds that would allow for that - traveled back to the pre-quartz era and back...
 
mr_yossarian
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eugeneandresson eugeneandresson
This poor gentleman (a well known watchmaker, if he is a member here, I mean no disrespect, this is an educational post, as I found his post very sad and educational) bought this watch for himself after this (kudos). Apparently (according to his post) he just needed to give the crown a quick polish after service, and at 2800rpm the polishing wheel grabbed the crown in the hand setting position, and the rest as they say, is history...

BA471E5D-EC5E-48A9-8632-D443E705045F.jpeg


Condolences good Sir, thanks for sharing. Hope you can restore it.
Well..yesterdays desasters are tomorrows good stories 馃榾
 
Tet
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Aquariusmatic Aquariusmatic
At least by looking at the mangled hands, the hands achieved speeds that would allow for that - traveled back to the pre-quartz era and back...

Apparently this incident actually happens/happened in 2021.
 
abrod520
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Davidt Davidt
What a great way to remove the applied surrounds on the hour indicies to give it that vintage look.

My exact thought lmao
 
tpatta
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Just a Rolex. Imagine the horror if it had been an Omega. 馃榿
Is this what is referred to as "a teachable moment"?
 
Professor
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While searching for a deVille case on Ebay I ran across a Goodwill auction of what would have been a prospective donor, except it was in even worse shape than this one.
Whatever got hold of that one the forces were so great that the hands were not only warped they were tightly spiraled. Every part of that watch was as messed up as you can imagine. The gold fill of the lugs was split and peeled away, the crystal starred, etc.
I watched in amazement as the bidding passed 350 USD. don't know what the bidders could have had in mind, since its highly unlikely that any single part was salvageable.
 
abrod520
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Davidt Davidt
What a great way to remove the applied surrounds on the hour indicies to give it that vintage look.
abrod520 abrod520
My exact thought lmao

I hopped in the shower this morning and had some crazy thoughts about buying a 39mm Luminova Explorer and shipping it off to James Hyman for bling removal and a nice yellow relume....
 
abrod520
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Q for those in the know because I could not be bothered to be interested at all in modern Rolexes - would the earlier 214270 Explorer with the applied 3-6-9 be a good candidate for a lume job? I.e. removing the WG numbers and painting lume on?
Wonder if it'd be a better chance of success to go with the newer model with lume-filled numerals, that could just be painted over or something.
 
queriver
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tpatta tpatta
Just a Rolex. Imagine the horror if it had been an Omega. 馃榿
Wouldn鈥檛 happen. Omega鈥檚 relationship means they get to test their rotor blades in a NASA wind tunnel. Rolex doesn鈥檛 do it and look what happened - a bent twisted mess. 馃槈
 
Stripey
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amcclell amcclell
Does it qualify as patina?
You beat me to it. Right now, ebay sellers across the world are taking pristine Explorers and applying polishing machines to the pulled out crown.
 
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