Lewis watchco website down

[YY77]

Got this in my mail today, never used his services but admired what he did;

 

[JimInOz]

Yep, just got it too. Sad news.
Hope he can return as an non-aligned independent, we can't afford to lose watchmakers here.

 

[JimInOz]

Forgot to say, just recently had my Speedie serviced by Adam.
The whole experience was trouble free and the actual watch service was exceptional.

 

[Evitzee]

Yep, I got the email this morning. I've got three of Adam's modded watches and the work was impeccable, very high quality with interesting and tasteful modifications. One conclusion I make is Omega wants to firmly dictate what you can do to your watch using genuine Omega parts through an Omega certified watchmaker. Mods of any sort are not tolerated. Change straps and bracelets all you want (non Omega are ok, for now), but don't touch the head. No changing of hands, dials, bezels or backs, Omega knows best. A shame, and bad news for the Adams of the industry, and Omega owners.

Edited: Jul 21, 2024

 

[YY77]

Evitzee

Mods of any sort are not tolerated....A shame, and bad news for the Adams of the industry, and Omega owners.

The milky ring removal he offered on the sapphire crystal was something I would have considered.

 

[JwRosenthal]

This is really disappointing on several levels and smacks of Rolex behavior.

When I was researching the superdome mod for my sub, I read of several people who had approached their independent Rolex service providers asking if they could just replace the crystal with an aftermarket acrylic dome (Rolex does not offer acrylic anymore) and they were told that if it is not a sanctioned Rolex procedure/part then they couldn’t and would risk losing their certification and parts account.
So disappointing.

 

[sheepdoll]

Curiouser and curiouser, Said Alice to the white rabbit.

 

[chichi]

It's been coming for a while...

Used to be able to order the service dial for say a Panda Speedy but then corporate said if you want to order the dial you have the exchange the prior one

 

[chichi]

so orange hands like Ultraman or heck how long ago did Corporate also say no more cases so no more Watch CO equivalent SM 300s? 2021? 2022?

 

[BLOW UP]

YY77

Got this in my mail today, never used his services but admired what he did;

That sounds extremely harsh, really sorry to hear that!

 

[BLOW UP]

JwRosenthal

This is really disappointing on several levels and smacks of Rolex behavior.

When I was researching the superdome mod for my sub, I read of several people who had approached their independent Rolex service providers asking if they could just replace the crystal with an aftermarket acrylic dome (Rolex does not offer acrylic anymore) and they were told that if it is not a sanctioned Rolex procedure/part then they couldn’t and would risk losing their certification and parts account.
So disappointing.

It sounds very harsh, but I guess it's understandable to a degree if having to resort to using non-OEM aftermarket parts.
Is the mod on 5513/12? Did you have to change the bezel/bezel insert? I'd very much like to see pictures of how it turned out if you get a chance

 

[padders]

If Omega set rules for accreditation and you don’t follow them this can be the outcome. Sale of parts (if that’s what occurred) and unauthorised mods are clearly going to be a problem. I always wondered how Lewis managed to bend the rules others fell foul of. Clearly in fact they couldn’t.

 

[Archer]

JwRosenthal

This is really disappointing on several levels and smacks of Rolex behavior.

Trust me, Rolex is orders of magnitude more controlling than Omega is. Omega really has only a few cardinal rules, and for the most part they are pretty simple for watchmakers to follow. I understand the desire to push back on, or ignore rules that seem to go against what you believe in, but doing so can come with consequences.

 

[JwRosenthal]

Archer

Trust me, Rolex is orders of magnitude more controlling than Omega is. Omega really has only a few cardinal rules, and for the most part they are pretty simple for watchmakers to follow. I understand the desire to push back on, or ignore rules that seem to go against what you believe in, but doing so can come with consequences.

So for the sake of understating (since I do not know the nuances of what happened with Lewis)- I get that Omega has rules as to what you can and can’t do as part of a factory service. But if a client with whom you have a good relationship were to send you an aftermarket part they wanted installed (like a third party colored hand, older factory dial or aftermarket crystal), would you be able to install that part outside of a “factory service” or would that still risk running afoul of omega’s policies since you are one of their representatives?

In my line of work there are things I can and can’t do in an official capacity. But off the clock- in my own time (provided it doesn’t conflict with ethics rules) I can do side work that doesn’t conflict with my official duties.

 

[Archer]

JwRosenthal

So for the sake of understating (since I do not know the nuances of what happened with Lewis)- I get that Omega has rules as to what you can and can’t do as part of a factory service. But if a client with whom you have a good relationship were to send you an aftermarket part they wanted installed (like a third party colored hand, older factory dial or aftermarket crystal), would you be able to install that part outside of a “factory service” or would that still risk running afoul of omega’s policies since you are one of their representatives?

In my line of work there are things I can and can’t do in an official capacity. But off the clock- in my own time (provided it doesn’t conflict with ethics rules) I can do side work that doesn’t conflict with my official duties.

I don't know the specific reasons behind what happened to Lewis, so I just want to make that clear.

The specific scenario you bring up, I would say the answer is "it depends"...

If for example Omega no longer made say a seconds hand that was needed for a vintage watch, and you as an Omega watchmaker were given one to install that say a customer had custom made to match the original, I don't think Omega would take issue with that. By the same token, I don't think Omega would like me just buying generic parts (say crystals for the sake of the point) and using them, when original Omega crystals are available. So that would be somewhat situational, and also depend on if it's a one off, or you are making it a business practice to use generic parts.

Of course with Rolex, one generic part makes the entire watch fake in their eyes, so again they are very fanatical about this compared to Omega.

If I had to guess what happened here, I have seen that he has made and sold watches using Omega service replacement parts - at least in the past but I'm not sure if he was still doing so. I think he was even putting his own identification and serial number on the inside of the case backs at one point. This is similar to the Watchco issue, where you are in a sense competing with Omega in selling watches. I know it's not really the same, but they see it that way, and I have been told point blank by Omega that this is something you will lose your account for doing. This is different from the situation where you could convert a watch for someone - it was their watch and you were servicing and converting it.

Anyway, that's all I would speculate about here - not my place really, just saying that as much as you might agree that people should be able to do what they want with a watch, if you do it for them, you might get burned.

 

[Archer]

JwRosenthal

This is really disappointing on several levels and smacks of Rolex behavior.

Coincidentally, and sort of tangentially, this was posted on another forum today...

"While at Knar, I asked their in-house Rolex servicer (who will have an onsite workshop once complete) about obtaining parts for my vintage Seadweller. I figured maybe someone removed from Rolex could have a bit of pull on getting parts, without the hassle of going through the mothership. I learned some interesting things:
- unequivocally, no, they are not able to get ANY parts for older Rolex watches
- any Rolex out of production for more than 25 yrs, meaning the reference of the model (I think I recall that correctly), is not serviced through the "regular" Rolex channel (i.e. RSC), but goes to a special Rolex "vintage restoration unit" in Switzerland.
- the cost at the restoration center starts at 20 000 CHF
- and no, you can no longer (probably temporary but still) buy another bracelet for your Rolex even if the model has the option. So if you got an Oyster or Jubilee and want to buy the other to swap, too bad."

I cannot verify the exact accuracy of this information, but I have heard through the watchmaker grapevine some very similar things. The one I take with the biggest grain of salt is the price for servicing at this special unit - that's sounds absurd and probably isn't real, but this gives you some idea of how bad the world of Rolex is getting (at least in Canada), compared to Omega.

 

[JwRosenthal]

Archer

Coincidentally, and sort of tangentially, this was posted on another forum today...

"While at Knar, I asked their in-house Rolex servicer (who will have an onsite workshop once complete) about obtaining parts for my vintage Seadweller. I figured maybe someone removed from Rolex could have a bit of pull on getting parts, without the hassle of going through the mothership. I learned some interesting things:
- unequivocally, no, they are not able to get ANY parts for older Rolex watches
- any Rolex out of production for more than 25 yrs, meaning the reference of the model (I think I recall that correctly), is not serviced through the "regular" Rolex channel (i.e. RSC), but goes to a special Rolex "vintage restoration unit" in Switzerland.
- the cost at the restoration center starts at 20 000 CHF
- and no, you can no longer (probably temporary but still) buy another bracelet for your Rolex even if the model has the option. So if you got an Oyster or Jubilee and want to buy the other to swap, too bad."

I cannot verify the exact accuracy of this information, but I have heard through the watchmaker grapevine some very similar things. The one I take with the biggest grain of salt is the price for servicing at this special unit - that's sounds absurd and probably isn't real, but this gives you some idea of how bad the world of Rolex is getting (at least in Canada), compared to Omega.

Yeah- Rolex is like Bulova to me- the company is dead, the current iteration has nothing to do with the old one and I’m on my own for servicing/parts. Better start hoarding my parts now like I did with Bulova…except those were a whole lot cheaper.

 

[Davidt]

In the UK at least, the bracelet situation isn’t the same. It absolutely is possible to buy alternate bracelets for both out of production and current production refs, E.g. 16710 and 126710 GMTs.

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

Archer

The one I take with the biggest grain of salt is the price for servicing at this special unit - that's sounds absurd and probably isn't real

Would this be the same as the Rolex Heritage Department? They are the ones that I’m aware of that does restorations and are quite pricey. I had looked into it back in 2022 and found current (then) pricing that was discussed over on the Rolex forum. I had shared this information over on this thread:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/caught-a-rolex-gmt-1675-with-silver-dial.124157/




Shortly after my comment (above) the author of that thread shared more detailed info regarding their specific journey with the heritage department:




It’s certainly not cheap.

 

[JwRosenthal]

BLOW UP

It sounds very harsh, but I guess it's understandable to a degree if having to resort to using non-OEM aftermarket parts.
Is the mod on 5513/12? Did you have to change the bezel/bezel insert? I'd very much like to see pictures of how it turned out if you get a chance

14060, I posted about it here

https://omegaforums.net/threads/bubble-dome-on-a-14060.129811/