Need a 9300 serviced

I recall visiting Rado. They said that ceramic watches did not sell well in the US. I speculated that there might be something lost in translation of what ever the word was. In English ceramic means fragile, like fine china porcelain.

Unlike metals ceramics do not have a uniform crystalline structure. The crystals are cemented together. I think that is what the silicon oxides do in most of the common stuff. There was a book in the library titled "why things break." Was quite interesting. The author compared his failed marriage to the more practical observations of the failure of cracks in materials. There was an interesting analogy to a carpet under a table and how it bunched up around the chair and table legs. These are stress points. Much easier to visualize in two and a half dimensions than a three dimensional solid. Time remains dimension zero.

Once the electron valence bonds in the cement are broken, there is no current way known to restore them. Entropy? Glues and tapes can replace some of them (with additional material.) Interesting enough these absorb and emit photons. So when something breaks, Visible light and X-rays can be detected.

Glass is also still a liquid. Your tableware will eventually break. Even if it is not touched. When I was studying stained glass in high school, it was said the centuries old windows were thicker on the bottom than the top due to gravitational stresses.

Strong steel also exhibits a glass transition state. The breaks look much the same as when a ming vase or china doll is broken. One can see the crystalline edges of the amalgam.

Roman concrete is also interesting. Modern concrete is similar, but not quite as strong. Interesting enough Vitruvius wrote down the formula. We still use his name to describe such things. The trick is using a certain volcanic ash, named after a Neopolitin Suburb called Pozzouli. The other interesting ingredient, is iron, from blood. In a way this is art following nature. Campo Fleigi, is the most dangerous volcano in the world. (It sits under Naples, and last erupted in the 16th century.) There was a thought it might erupt in the 1980s and the suburb was abandoned for 20 or thirty years. Basically there is a cap of this stuff keeping Campo Fleigi from being another Vesuvius. As it is the whole bay of Naples goes up and down over the millennia. Probably one of the most monitored places on earth. The earthquake monitoring center in Naples looks something out of a Hollywood film. When it pops 3 million people are going to book it.

Most of this is off the top of my head. So I may have gotten things wrong here. Given that I broke the pivot on a sealed NOS palette fork the other day. It is on my mind, why the hardened pivot snapped off. The part was in storage for decades. Somehow the stress of the bridge was enough to cause it to fail. In another job lot were three more pallet forks all missing the arbor. This arbor is also a service part 1312.

Looking at it under the microscope one can see the crystals.

I also turned down another Dynamic case. That was offered at around 25 bucks. There was a huge chunk of steel missing. Possibly laser welding could fill this. Grinding and finishing the brushing could never hope to match the original.

I have been working with the laser engravers. (one would need a 4D laser to restore the electron bonds) The 30 watt fiber laser will surface melt a carbon steel razor blade and warp it. Most jewelry laser welders seem to have some sort of stereo microscope visible. They then must have some sort of filtering glass so one can look at the bead. Probably not a good idea to look at the laser with the remaining eye. Not sure how effective the cheap Chinese filter glasses are. Of course one can use a webcam to troubleshoot things.

There is also something called frictional stir welding. Which is what SpaceX uses. Think of this as two electric pencil erasers turning opposite directions. Pressed together along the edge to be joined. The heat friction will melt the metal in between and cause it to flow and swirl together, remaining the same height. I suspect this must be hell on the bearings, as one want the heat at the point of contact and not the spinney parts. Babbit bearing on the other hand were designed to liquefy. Babbit it turns out is basically solder, type metal or pipe organ alloy a a lead tin mix. Possible there may be some way to adapt this to ceramics.

I have also been looking at the nickle plating as I have some cases to work on. One YT was about chrome plating. (which is really nickle plating.) The cast parts are polished and plated with copper. This is then cleaned and polished. If there is a lot of pitting solders will then adhere to the copper. This then can be polished down to fill the pitting. Another layer of copper is then plated over the solder. This gives a base for the nickle.

The final step is the hexavalent chrome. Ironically this isotope is found in drinking water. So it is highly restricted as it is easy to detect in parts per billion. And like radiation it can cause random cell damage. So the state of California and the EU find it to be low hanging fruit as a carcinogen. Your superfund dollars at work.

Probably why they need the 11 grand for repair. Personal injury lawyers are expensive.

Since the OP has gone radio silent (rude!), we are speculating but I too think the cost quoted implies a ceramic case. Omega really took the piss when they made these pieces. It's a bit like making mobile phones out of glass, why do we buy this nonsense?

I'm guilty of it since I own a sapphire cased DeVille HourVision (if you don't know what that is look it up, it's nearly as silly as ceramic but at least it is nearly 360º transparent)

Inbetween posting here I have been reading up on stainless steel and hexavalent chromium. You actually get that when you laser weld stainless steel. I guess that is what gives SS the chrome look.

Thirteenth century morality seems to be the direction we are headed. No one really wants to know what the sausage is made from. So we ban all the offensive parts. Who needs to eat chicken gizzards, haggis, or minuto, when we have Mikey D's and BurgerLand to keep us entertained on our sports programs. People were really happy in the thirteenth century waiting for the second coming, tilling the fields for the god created overlords and building cathedrals and palaces for the bishop. They also liked writing over books in the scriptorum, since books contain forbidden knowledge what makes people offended and unhappy so must be suppressed, paper and vellum (sheepskin) expensive. And just think the plague was not till the 14th century. And Machiavelli still was waiting to be born in the sixteenth.

Does look like this was one of those hit and run topics. Which in a way what does make these forums interesting. I have plans to write up more of my restoration projects (which get lots of hits and likes but no follow on questions.) Much easier to hit command-R and react than actually think things through. It all comes out as a one sided lecture anyway.

I actually bought a sapphire disk from Paylak to see if I can put it into a goodwill case for the Venus 206 triple date moon.

I think most inquiries here are more for valuation and to see if there is a way to flip things for more instant gratification.

Sometimes I think someone has found a way to turn lead into gold. By banning lead and cornering the markets for it.

Alchemy was all about melting crushing and dissolving things until they got finer and finer to see how much they weighed.

The case cost is actually substantially more (2X plus) than the $3k they are charging you, so they are cutting you a serious break on that cost.

The dial is platinum, and that isn't cheap. Did they tell you specifically what was wrong with the dial? I'm assuming this watch was dropped, so maybe the dial feet have sheared off?

The chances of you finding someone who is truly capable of servicing this movement (has been fully trained, has the correct tools, and has access to the parts it will need), and is willing to do this to a watch with a damaged case and dial, is going to be very slim. Nobody wants a job like this that could be a major headache...

From a purely technical standpoint, sure. But why would anyone want this job exactly? From a business standpoint it makes no sense.

I have already turned away 3 people today because I am swamped with work, and this is not unique to me. The last thing any watchmaker who is swamped and trying to keep up with demand needs is a job that is potentially fraught with problems, where there's a good chance no one is satisfied at the end...in particular when there's plenty of other work that doesn't come with these issues.

I mean if there's a watchmaker that wants to do this job, then have at it, but with the vague information we have at this point I would want to see Omega's report on it, plenty of photos, and have the owner sign something saying that there's zero guarantees before I would even consider it.