pre-moon DON bezel damaged during service - please advise

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to collecting speedmasters but have the bug bad. I recently purchased a 105.012-66. It certainly wasn't a perfect example but i really liked to patina and the wear on the dial so went for it.

I expected it to need a service so found an authorised service centre near me. I popped in today to see how things were going. They need more time to complete the service but during the inspection I noticed there has been a lot of damage on the bezel during the cleaning. I raised this and showed before images of the watch and they explained that the paint simply came off during cleaning.

As I'm a bit new this I wasn't entirely sure what I could expect. Needless to say I'm gutted. I would have much rather the bezel not be serviced than have it damaged to this extent (sorry i don't have photos of its current state yet but will post next week if helpful, the image uploaded was how it went into the service. I would say about 10-15% of the bezel has come off) but I understand the bezels are fragile.

I guess my questions fall into two categories:

1) what if any recourse do i have with the service centre. Is this simply something i should have prepared for or have they been reckless with the work?

2) emotion aside can i do anything to restore the bezel or replace it with an age appropriate bezel. If the latter, does anyone have any good tips on where to find a 1966 DON bezel or any advice on people who maybe able to carry out the restoration work in the UK or Europe and what effect would that likely have on the resale value? I'm wasn't planning on selling it on particularly and i appreciate it certainly isn't a perfect example, i just had an emotional connection to it which is why i got it. I'm worried every time I look at it now I'm just going to feel angry and disappointed.

Thanks in advance to this brilliant community.

A

Lets back up for a minute. Is the picture above pre-service or post-service?
If it is a pre-service picture please give us a post picture.

It can but it shouldn't happen. Bezel "paint" does not simply come off.

thanks for replying, the picture above is pre-service unfortunately I stupidly didn't take a picture today but will post as soon as i pick it up next week.

If the "paint" loss is actually from a previous repair attempt and not the original anodized finish, then that makes more sense. Then there is not the negligence I was perceiving.