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Shabbaz
·Thnx. Appreciate your opinion and everyone who reacted.
Restoration of a 1st gen Eterna Kontiki. UPDATE: ENDRESULT
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JwRosenthal
·Thnx. Appreciate your opinion and everyone who reacted.
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Shabbaz
·Calling @cristos71
Do you think Nico (dutch watchmaker) could do something like this? I've send him a email.
I will also consider James Hyman. I saw great things from him. Thnx for the tip.
Do you think Nico (dutch watchmaker) could do something like this? I've send him a email.
I will also consider James Hyman. I saw great things from him. Thnx for the tip.
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TimeODanaos
·I’m not an expert, but have had a few dials like this really brought back to life without going full Monty- just a clean, wax and relume. Every tradesman has their tricks, and you have to be of the mindset that you have nothing to lose. I think a re-lumer can get this looking great.
Will it be perfect, no. But it can look 10x better without destroying the original dial.
Looking forward to the result already!
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cristos71
·Calling @cristos71
Do you think Nico (dutch watchmaker) could do something like this? I've send him a email.
I will also consider James Hyman. I saw great things from him. Thnx for the tip.
I'd say he could and I've had him do lume restorations for me before, however they were hands only or perhaps the fill of one or two markers. For a full dial relume like you need I'd think JH would be a better bet.
I know other Dutch collectors who use NR but still go to JH for their lume work.
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Shabbaz
·I'd say he could and I've had him do lume restorations for me before, however they were hands only or perhaps the fill of one or two markers. For a full dial relume like you need I'd think JH would be a better bet.
I know other Dutch collectors who use NR but still go to JH for their lume work.
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Shabbaz
·Update:
Today I went to my watchmaker and we agreed that he will do the restoration. But he is convinced the dial was refinished a long time ago. If he's right (and it would not surprise me if he is) then nothing stands in my way to fo a full refinishing of the dial. He can send the watch to a dial refinisher in Germany. I forgot the name. Something with a A in the name. Here's the text from my watchmaker. What do you think?
I took another look at the dial under the microscope and concluded that it was made up. You can see this especially in the minute indexes, which are very irregular, but also re-drilled after the dial has been sprayed black. They didn't do this like that before.
There are no holes in the dial for the 5 balls. These should then be pasted. They didn't before!
The printing of the name, hmmmm not nice and regular in thickness.
Today I went to my watchmaker and we agreed that he will do the restoration. But he is convinced the dial was refinished a long time ago. If he's right (and it would not surprise me if he is) then nothing stands in my way to fo a full refinishing of the dial. He can send the watch to a dial refinisher in Germany. I forgot the name. Something with a A in the name. Here's the text from my watchmaker. What do you think?
I took another look at the dial under the microscope and concluded that it was made up. You can see this especially in the minute indexes, which are very irregular, but also re-drilled after the dial has been sprayed black. They didn't do this like that before.
There are no holes in the dial for the 5 balls. These should then be pasted. They didn't before!
The printing of the name, hmmmm not nice and regular in thickness.
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Dan S
·I've been reluctant to say this, but now that it has been said, I agree that the dial has already been refinished.
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Oku
·dial refinisher in Germany. I forgot the name. Something with a A in the name
If he has the correct cliches, the result will be fine.
However, you should ask yourself, if it's worth it?
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Shabbaz
·I guess Causemann: http://causemann-zifferblaetter.de/
If he has the correct cliches, the result will be fine.
However, you should ask yourself, if it's worth it?
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Shabbaz
·It would probably be a very painstaking job, but I have a couple of Eterna dials
with the same applied logo if you need a donor.
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Shabbaz
·Here's a update. I found some hands, crown and dials (thnx to @Radiumpassion) and now my watchmaker is going to relume it. We're not going to refinish the dial because we dont know what clichés the company in Germany will use. And they wont have a cliché for the very first kontiki. Besides that, we're not even sure how the first kontiki dial looked like. Was it with or without 'kontiki' and 'swiss'? We're going to leave it as is. Of course the hands will be relumed as well. It could be a total disaster. We will see. But I gave it a shot...
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JwRosenthal
·Here's a update. I found some hands, crown and dials (thnx to @Radiumpassion) and now my watchmaker is going to relume it. We're not going to refinish the dial because we dont know what clichés the company in Germany will use. And they wont have a cliché for the very first kontiki. Besides that, we're not even sure how the first kontiki dial looked like. Was it with or without 'kontiki' and 'swiss'? We're going to leave it as is. Of course the hands will be relumed as well. It could be a total disaster. We will see. But I gave it a shot...
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Shabbaz
·
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Shabbaz
·This is fun to see you lean into this. I have a watch I recently bought (overpaid) had a few issues (I should have known better) and have decided to double down- new old stock dial and hands, full service, etc. The end product will cost me twice what it’s worth, but it will be awesome!
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Shabbaz
·So today I've received a picture from my watchmaker of the final result and I must say the restoration has been done sympathetic. Within the limitations we had (hands, dial, etc were unobtainable) we've reached a good result. We did'nt do a refinishing of the dial because chances were big the end result would be worse. I'm very pleased with the outcome. And it's nice to give a grand old lady a new life. Again, I hope somebody will do the same for me when I'm old and I need a restoration.
Of course this thread will be closed with a wristshot. The watch is now on test week and I will pick it up next week.
Of course this thread will be closed with a wristshot. The watch is now on test week and I will pick it up next week.
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Shabbaz
·
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p4ul
·Please don’t close it yet....lume shot!