Has anyone heard from Steve Schurmann / n2fhl recently?

Correct, and I'll add that a watchmaker only makes money when he's at his bench. If he spends all day chatting, he isn't getting anything done. I'm used to giving Steve, or Sam in Philly, a watch and then forgetting about it until I get a call that it's done. It might take 3 weeks, it might take over 3 months. Nobody in my family has ever perished over a watch that's been at the shop.

😕 Not a single soul who posted in this thread expressed anything close to "sit tight and shut up" regarding service with Steve.

In fact, every post and suggestion was the exact opposite of that advice. Literally, the opposite. What was suggested was that if you're not the type of person who can handle being ignored while the work is being done, or, you need constant updates and schedules , then you should find yourself a different horse to ride.

I guess Steve is like the watch Nazi from Seinfeld. No soup for you, one week!!

remember what a shakebox George was with the soup Nazi? Lol. Some of the best TV ever. Real cultural zeitgeist...

You're spot-on, dead right and various other well worn cliches about it just not bring cool to let people twist in the wind, especially if you're aware that some of your specific clients are scared and frustrated.

There appears to be some strange little sado-machoist dynamic going here with regards to this entire scenario.

Frankly, the only "solution " here is to find another watchmaker who would be a better match to a particular clients' personality....

from the sound of things, Steve ain't changing his ways.

I do not understand the vast majority of this thread.

I expressed concerned about the absence of communication from Steve Schurmann, and the over-whelming response has been the advice to get another watch-maker. While this is the obvious choice, it does not address the original matter of communication.

One fellow says he's hasn't heard from Steve for a week, I haven't from him in 6 or 7 weeks and one fellow hasn't heard from him in 11 weeks.

Wanting a reply from your watch-maker in under three months is not a matter of being scared or frustrated, or have anything to do with hand-holding, or some sort of pseudo-intellectual sado-masochistic nonsense.

It has to do with the basic social contract between a customer and a craftsman. There are certain conditions implicit in such a contract. The customer's role is to describe the work desired, and to pay for it when it is finished. The craftsman's role is to do the work in a professional manner, and this professional manner includes replying to or remaining in communication with the customer.

Nobody has ever questioned Steve's integrity, the quality of his work, or if he loved his family and his country. The only question has been of his communication skills.

Letting someone go without a reply for 11 weeks is, at best, discourteous, and, at worst, unprofessional. As pointed out above, it would take about a minute to contact a customer, whether it's to ask for patience or to bring the customer up-to-date. If asking for such a courtesy every few months is too great a burden, then Steve is clearly not the right guy for some of us.

I would like to point out that while I may be 'new' here, I have owned a lot of watches over the past 2 or 3 decades, and I have dealt with a lot of service situations. I have sent watches to Japan and Suisse for repair; the longest was for the repair of a leCoultre in-line movement clock, and that took 7 months because they only have one person who works on these clocks. I was neither scared or frustrated by the wait . . .

Among others, I have used Rik Dietel in Florida, Christopher Lucic in Arizona, and Al Jensky in Canada.

The one constant in all of those dealings was that the watch-maker, shop or manufacturer responded to questions or comments in a timely fashion.

Contrary to misinformed opinion, I am not afraid to wait for a repair; as KCScott said, it's the being ignored that's irksome. If you do not receive a reply, especially from a one-man operation, you are left completely in the dark.

I think all the support of Steve is admirable, if misguided. Steve is a great guy and he does great work. I, however, prefer to deal with someone professional enough to reply to a question when it is asked every month or two.


By the way, the 'ignore' feature doesn't seem to work . . .

Well, seems its on vibrate ... no, silent, too


ulackfocus says he's ok & busy, very busy. Customer service? Well, it's out there now for future reference. if in this quite small world we need to decide between knowledge & Cust Srvc, knowledge is the winner IMHO

Let the artista work!

I have to say I'm fortunate, and in the same boat as Mike. I feel sorry for the workloads of some of these guys though! I am strong believer in communication and courteous responses and I get both of those... 😀

Edit: this is not to gloat, but to give credit, where credit is due. Not everyone works like this. One should never assume anything about a person until they have the facts. I've found people have different approaches and methods of their own...

Hi to all,
I don't know Steve at all but I understand he must be a great watchmaker and I never met one(great) who wasn't serious enough to keep his "business" going. I've also learned that you should never get impatient when dealing with a watchmaker. On the other hand I completely understand eelpie's side and many times was caught in the same kind of situation but I don't think you will have to worry for much longer... at least after this thread😉. By the way, can anyone tell me where Steve's workshop is situated? Does he accept work from abroad?
Cheers!

Interesting conversation. I do apologize to all for the recent lack of responses and will try to do better in the future. This happened to me at about this time last year and I stopped taking watches for a while and tried to do a reset. Once again I’m overwhelmed with this work.

I started working on watches in 1974 after I got out of the Air Force and before I even went to watchmaking school. Watchmaking has been my lifelong career but through the years I've pursued many other hobbies. I’m an avid bird watcher, I assemble my own computers and used to do all my automotive work (engine rebuilds, body work, etc). I have an advanced class amateur radio license (N2FHL) and have talked virtually all over the world using Morse code. My main interests were antenna design and low power (2-3 watt) communications.

I work full time as a watchmaker in a large South Jersey store. I’m currently working overtime as I am backed up about 5 to 6 weeks. At age 63, I take 9 pills a day and wear an insulin pump. After being away at work for 11 or 12 hours, I come home, eat my dinner and just want to take a nap!

I met Dennis (ulackfocus) a few years ago on the Watch Talk forum. He encouraged me to do a little work on the side. This “little bit of work on the side” has exploded into a volume that I am honestly having trouble handling. Through it all I have tried to maintain a professional approach and quality standards. Every watch I receive is photographed, described and all the numbers are recorded. Accurate customer records (email, address, etc) are also maintained so that those who worry that I might drop dead will have all their watches returned. Between the take-in, billing and shipping at least a half hour is spent.

Then the emails. I don’t carry a phone and by choice I am not one of these people who checks my facebook page (don’t have one) and emails all day long. I often just check the email after dinner. Although I seem to be a fairly good watchmaker, I am not a collector and don’t even wear a watch. You guys don’t realize how “needy” some of you are. Aside from those who need continual updates, I am asked to field all manner of questions about these watches and often have to research the answers. So some evenings I don’t get much real work done at all. I recently showed Dennis the printout of the NINE PAGES of correspondence that I had with one customer about one watch.

Promising a completion date on these vintage watches is also a loosing proposition. I recently completed and checked a Speedmaster and was winding it for the last time before shipping when the brand new mainspring snapped. It happens, but almost the entire movement has to be disassembled to replace it. These vintage watches have an amazing array of little problems that must be addressed. Often the whole job is stopped for the need of one part that must be located and ordered.

So once again I apologize to all those who have speculated that I expired. I’m posting this on the forum and making an effort to contact all today with a status report.

Steve

Steve - its a holiday. Enjoy it!!

If you take care of you, all will work out just fine, in time. That's all we really have ... time to spend with family, time for our pursuits

I don't believe he discriminates between men and women . . .