Ever buy a watch that you knew would be impossible to fix but it was too beautiful to pass up?

Not sure I'd have tackled this again, although I was forewarned by many good members. I'm with you on RGM. Roland is a pretty amazing and talented guy with a talented team. Lots of background info on RGM, but here's one from Anthony Bourdain that tugs at the heart:

Someone else was using the Laser CNC last night. I was working on some pipe organ stuff anyway. I think there is going to be a lot more of this sort of thing. Especially if the fiber laser can cut springs. Which the you tube videos seem to imply.



Some of the members of the Horological tours in the 1990s were into tools. They would search fleamarkets and other places for old equipment. My mentor who had a tool and die shop would also look for tools at auctions. He let me play with a Belcor[sp] cam driven screw cutting machine. My own CNC he got at auction and sold it too me for his cost. The other part was to prove a point. That one can not punch a button and have parts come out the other end. It was a lathe mill combo with an aftermarket CNC. I removed the mill and the CNC. Sometime I want to set it up as a standalone machine, with a high speed spindle.

I still suspect that some of the NOS valjoux parts and others are made on the old equipment, where it is used to produce short runs.

CNC is no panacea. It takes just as long to enter it into the computer as it would to make it with a saw and file or grinding wheel. The difference is that once entered, the master file can be used to make any copies.

This tech can also cut out the cams. Which when used with a pantograph engraver, can be used to mill out all sorts of stuff. It is interesting how my 30 year old AI textbook has whole sections on checking cam profiles for faults. Cams are a lot faster than steppers or servos. Some of these machines work faster than the eye can see.

Well the title is more generic that the thread actual evolved to be. It is easy to bash Gallet. Especially as one or more of the Landerons or venus chrono watches I bought 30 years ago had Gallet dials. Which I used as practice for my re-dialing experiments. In 1996 Gallet was just another "house" brand. I actually learned a lot in this thread. That the name was revived in 2000.

In some ways I now regret stripping those dials. Mostly becouse of this thread.

I suspect I am underwater on most of my watches. The problem, is that I have no tallent for flipping them. I get a watch and fall in love/hate with it. The hate though is more I would hate selling it after spending so much fustration on it. Often the time waiting for parts or machine time and I have moved on to the next infatuation.

Guess I like flirting with watches.

One thing is that if there is a way to replicate a part, then the market would be flooded with such parts. I have been watching a pawn shop sell of thousands (or even 100s of thousands) of old watch parts. Omega parts seem to sell for the most. Othertimes one gets distracted, There was a jam Mason's jar full of omega parts. I forgot to bid and it sold for half what I was willing to bid and probably 1/4 to 1/8 of what the parts were worth. It was however a grab bag, there was however at least one part visible I could use.

The successors to Gallet, seem to have done this on an industrial scale. It also sours the waters for others who might want to fix watches for others. Apart from the customers are simply too demanding and the liability to great.

Watch arrive back from service today! Almost 1 year at RGM and 1 1/2 years at Gallet, close to 3 years after first buying it.

Looks beautiful 🥰



Look closely at the last picture.

🤬 🤬 🤬

So was anything actually done to the watch?