Simon Freese

[watchtinker]

watchyouwant

In Australia, there still are good older Watchmakers with vintage Speedmaster service times around 4 - 6 weeks max. And prices are still reasonable . The more praise you heap on one Watchmaker , the longer get the queue.

Indeed. Every trained watchmaker must be able to work on vintage Omega calibers and hand-wound vintage Speedmasters are equipped with either 321 or 861 movements which are very basic chronographs. If no particular action is needed, a complete movement overhaul requires no more than a day (even less for a skilled watchmaker).

 

[NeedForSpeed]

Has anyone heard anything from Simon lately? The last I heard from him was in April stating that he had already started the service so it will be ready very soon. I messaged him a week ago and again yesterday but no reply, messages not even read with blue ticks on WhatsApp. So now the concern increases again

 

[Mark Rick]

Hi.
I was InTouch with Simon a couple of weeks ago with reference to a watch of mine he's working on and informed me that he is working through and catching up with the backlog of works he has, however due to a staff issue this is reflecting on the time he has for admin.
Simon has always replied to me personally but there are times where patience has been needed.

 

[Mods]

Mark Rick

due to a staff issue this is reflecting on the time he has for admin.

Does this mean he has employees servicing watches for him? I was under the impression he serviced the watches?

 

[Mark020]

Saw this on insta today

 

[sxl2004]

My daughter is going to College in London.
Maybe that is my chance to be close. I am particularly Excited about the all levels. No experience fits into that category.

 

[watchyouwant]

sxl2004

My daughter is going to College in London.
Maybe that is my chance to be close. I am particularly Excited about the all levels. No experience fits into that category.

So, you will apply for the Job ?

 

[sxl2004]

watchyouwant

So, you will apply for the Job ?

My daughter will only be there until May, so with the visa app time it is not really realistic

 

[Spacefruit]

I meet Simon about twice a month. He has been though an extremely tough two years in his personal life with a nasty divorce, which I am happy to say (with his permission) he has now put behind him and is free of any incumbencies.

He has always had a strong business in trade watches, which do not really require the skills of a vintage watch restorer, and can easily be handled by a second watchmaker - this is why he is now looking for help to free his skills for vintage watches.

Furthermore, now he has got some help with the admin, and things are changing.

I understand the frustrations, particularly those members who feel out of reach, and the fear of the security of our watches. I can assure you all watches are safe, secure, accounted for and "in progress".

One of the most common issues causing a delay is when a vintage watch arrives for a routine service (which ought to turn around in four weeks), and is then discovered to need an obscure part. This can be very time-consuming to find, and almost impossible to charge the time spent looking to the customer - which means he loses money by not working on income producing services. Now that he has some help, and if he gets the watchmaker to work on straightforward servicing, I believe things will catch up.

One of the people helping him is particularly good at sourcing, and this leaves him free to work on watches, so I am optimistic about the future.

 

[Omegafanman]

I saw Simon end of July and he was doing great and hard at work (as always :0)
Always worth the wait for one of the best watchmakers out there. He can mend time perfectly but can’t make it / only so many hours in a day.

 

[jaegodylan]

Spacefruit

I meet Simon about twice a month. He has been though an extremely tough two years in his personal life with a nasty divorce, which I am happy to say (with his permission) he has now put behind him and is free of any incumbencies.

One of the people helping him is particularly good at sourcing, and this leaves him free to work on watches, so I am optimistic about the future.

Perhaps worth mentioning you have a financial stake in his business as a partner in it.

 

[JimInOz]

jaegodylan

Perhaps worth mentioning you have a financial stake in his business as a partner in it.

Perhaps worth discussing via PM?

 

[GarethS]

jaegodylan

Perhaps worth mentioning you have a financial stake in his business as a partner in it.

I was just thinking what would prompt such frequent aquaitance - My first assumption was friend or neighbour!

 

[GarethS]

But so good to hear that Simon is in a better place. I've used him a couple of times for straightforward servicing and although the comms were definately minimal the work was actually pretty prompt.

 

[cristos71]

watchyouwant

The more praise you heap on one Watchmaker , the longer get the queue.

^ This!

Too late for me now, my WM has developed a standard backlog of 3-4 months minimum, sometimes up to 6 months when parts are needed.

 

[cristos71]

Mark020

Saw this on insta today

@Aludic something for you?

 

[M'Bob]

jaegodylan

Perhaps worth mentioning you have a financial stake in his business as a partner in it.

Im struggling to see the relevance…

 

[wrist time]

M'Bob

Im struggling to see the relevance…

I personally find it relevant. Crosses over to shilling imo. Further muddies an already not pretty picture.

 

[smitty190373]

wrist time

I personally find it relevant. Crosses over to shilling imo. Further muddies an already not pretty picture.

What has your issue been out of interest?

Watchmakers work is very well regarded amongst vintage collectors, watchmaker gets over loaded with work, watches take longer to return....that's hardly an unpretty picture.

I use Simon a lot, and have done for almost 10 years. Anyone that knows Simon well will know how open he is, so Spacefruits update could have literally come from anyone.

I have no financial interest in the company, other than using Simon to service watches. I can give you the same update, if that makes it more palatable for some.

He has recently taken on staff to help with administration, this also saves him booking watches in, which is very time consuming.
He does a lot of trade work with modern watches, often quartz. He is now looking to add competent staff, that will do this work instead of him.
He has gone through a stinker of a divorce, which is hopefully now resolved.

Did anyone ever use Aldo for SM300 bezel restoration? I got used to a 12-18 month wait, with absolutely no contact until the work was done. I asked him how he kept his customers, he said 'If they don't like it, they will find someone else'.

My watches have also started taking longer to be serviced...so in January I thought I'd try and find a new local watchmaker.

A local guy was recommended to me, so I began using him.

I dropped in a WWW Timor in 95% condition, this came back with a scratched dial, the perfect aged lume was all gone, the hands were now filled with superglue, and painted Airfix orange. It also came back without the dust cap, which he denied was there. Overall that cost me about £250 to fix. He had a VERTEX which came back minus parts, and also a nice Smiths W10 that came back with added 'patina' to the dial.

He had a watchmakers bench set up in the corner of a fairly large department store. When it came to discussing the above, and finally bringing my sorry experience to an end, we almost got into a fight. We were shouting and screaming at each other, with little old ladies shuffling paste with their trolleys in hand. All in all it was quite a surreal experience, and one I don't wish to revisit.

Moral of the story for me... stick with what you know, even if it takes longer.

Edited: 3:52am yesterday

 

[jaegodylan]

I have also used Simon for a very long time. We have a good friendly relationship.

I sent in two watches that took an extremely long time to service and received them both back with issues. Sent them back to resolve these issues (both minor) and it took another 9 months to return with repeated promises of next week.

The point here is that the quality of the work has also declined in addition to the wait time and communication.

I am sure he can and will recover.

I do think that someone with a financial interest defending the multiple statements of fact should disclose their involvement.. but to each their own.

I hope things return to normal for Simon soon but I would not currently send him anything.