Seems to be a viable option...?

Thoughts?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321732126351?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

There is at least one watchmaker i'm aware of that works on these bezels. I believe he uses a resin based method and it does look alot like the original. However, my understanding is that it can quite a while to get one of these refurbished. The aluminum replacement seems to be pretty close. I think its better than no insert at all.

 

that went cheap. I hope, you snatched it ! should be easy, to have them made.... kind regards. achim

 

The Italian restoration last time I had it done was 250 euros and quite a long wait, but I believe the result to be worth it. A nice finish and most importantly a slightly concave effect on the insert.

That to me looks too flat, a bit matte and something of a stop gap solution. And at almost the same price as an ``Aldo`` for me it´s a no

 

The work Aldo does is amazing but his communications and turn around time are a problem. I sent him a bezel, he emailed me to say it had arrived, then four months later I emailed him to ask if it was ready, a further two months passed and he mailed to say it was then mailed to say it wasn't my bezel and he been confused.

What followed was a bit of a nightmare, turns out it wasn't my bezel he'd received it was a bezel from someone else in the UK, my bezel had been lost in the post (which I checked and confirmed, the last time it was tracked was turin) the significant problem (other than losing an irreplaceable bezel in the italian postal service) was that because Aldo had taken so much time to confirm this I couldn't even claim on the insurance.

Aldo does great work but is extremely unreliable

 

ohh,nooooo............that is a terrible story ! did you find another bezel? kind regards. achim

 

Sadly not Achim

The bezel was actually a spare I'd picked up 'just in case' but as a result I missed out on a lovely 2913 because et bezel was missing and I didn't have a spare. I think the biggest problem is that Aldo does simply outstanding work but I have no confidence in his turn around times (in the worst case for me it was 9 1/2 months) and sending anything to Italy is a gamble no one wants to take, I sent it fully tracked and insured and foolishly didn't cross reference because a week after I sent it I emailed Aldo to ask if it had landed and he said it had.

One of those things but I would struggle to use Aldo again if I am honest because of this experience.

 

Is this an aftermarket bezel?
( I appreciate these bezels are more fragile and I believe are very difficult to come by - but not impossible looking at posts on this forum. I also appreciate it is aluminium not resin so a little different )

 

was clearly stated in the auction. was made in small numbers. kind regards. achim

 

Looks better than having no insert, which is
how you normally see these. I get the sense
the waters are being tested

 

Agree, I think this is just the beginning..

 

I've looked into making these myself over the years. It went very high in my opinion. My son, software guru, has made a soft copy in .pdf. The aluminum is a little trickier as it needs to be thin, anodized, precut and flat. I have a shop here in Texas willing to do the work and it is about $500 minimum but that gets about 100 copies. Problem is........if I have the wrong size, it will be another $500 to try again .
Anybody else try it? Anybody want to join me?

 

you will need an original insert for testing with a plastic softcopy. they will need fiddling around the lume marker anyway with every single insert. after all these years no bezel will be perfect. but that is easy to do. you can see in the auction example, they did the same... who has a bezel and can send it via courier to texas? I will have at least 10 customers with missing inserts....think about having it printed on the right thickness glossy plastic. will look even better and is easier to handle..... kind regards. achim

 

I've got the watch and have made several in plastic (vinyl). They look ok but don't hold up with cuff wear. Even thought about 3D printing but the same problem is they are too soft and brittle. Aldo does an awesome job in his hard plastic. Any other thoughts? I'm open for any ideas.

 

Chaps in the lab where I work have 3D laser scanners, a large commercial 3D printer, laser welder, commercial paints, cold cure acrylics, heat cured acrylics, sheet titanium etc etc ( they make eyes, ears, noses etc )....the works.
I have no intention of asking them to try, have done my bit of and will pop off to other threads, hoping odd boy gets an offer of 2 145.022's!

 

Very sorry to hear about this, it has always been my fear when I ship one...but Ive used Aldo several times and every time he advises to only ship via Fedex overnight. I would never trust my bezel to the postal service. Did he not send you the email explaining how to ship prior?

Regarding the Ebay bezel, I actually bought one to check it out and its surprisingly good, nearly as nice looking as Aldos. I think that Aldo's has a few advantages: 1st its applied directly to the bezel so no installation required and it looks slightly better (the difference is subtle but visible) The aluminum one requires glue and I'm not sure how it will last long term. Whereas Aldos is literally applied to the bezel and becomes part of it. Although, this is actually one of several ways you can tell a legit bezel from a replacement. Aldo bezel actually bleeds onto the edges, whereas the original has a clean line around the top and bottom edge. The other difference is only visible under a loupe, but the font is digital looking on both Aldos bezel and the bay bezel, the bay bezel looking slightly worse. The image below compares a real bezel to Aldos.

Overall both are great choices, I prefer Aldo's work over the Ebay bezel...but either is a great choice for those with no inserts in their bezels. Neither is as good as the original, and even a partial bezel IMO is better than a full replacement.

 

An original bezel on a vintage Seamaster makes a very big difference on the value. Like on a Rolex Gmt 6542...
Here is a rare and correct bezel. Take a look especially on character '0', '3' and '4'!

 

Please help. Looking at 165.014 with no bezel, bad redial and wrong hands. Movement is cal. 550 with 20,323,xxx. Have not made a commitment yet. What advice can you give?