So--

My Speedie needed attention--broken mainspring--so I took it to MJ Watch in Glenview, Illinois, as a few people seem to have had a good experience with them, and I was averse to shipping it when I could use a local watchmaker.

Big mistake.

The watch came back to me with a different set of hands. It went in with a nice set of Tritium hands; came back with Superluminova that had been badly applied, especially to the minute hand. They had explicit instructions not to polish to attend to anything except the mechanicals.

Anyone else have this happen? What recourse might I have? They haven't responded to my email about it.

Here's the before pic:



Here's the after:

 

If they are not answering emails, pick up the phone and call them - I just looked it up and the phone number is (847) 729-7400.

For them to replace the hands without asking first is a major no-no in my books!!

 

I'm guessing that maybe they accidentally damaged the tritium lume and decided to attempt a repair. "He'll never notice."

 

I'd call them if I could but I am deaf and cannot use a phone; hence, email.

 

It's so badly applied too--smeared on the minute hand, and piled up high on the Chrono hand......

 

As you probably know, you have two options. Replace the hands with period-correct hands with intact tritium lume, or have these hands re-done with color-matched lume. The first would probably be preferable, but obviously more expensive.

 

My watchmaker had the tritium lume in one of my watches disintegrate when he removed the hand (old and brittle). It’s a risk any time you remove hands for service. But he told me immediately and I had it color matched by someone I know can do it. For them to have lost lume- it happens. To not own up to it- that’s a problem.

 

I’m beyond shocked. This is way outside of my experience with them. They have done an uncountable number of services for me. If you wish I’m happy to go discus. They always stand by their work. They are very highly regarded.

 

Perhaps the thread might use retitling until it’s actually determined what happened?

 

They finally did reply-- acknowledging they broke the lume and tried to reapply it, and acknowledged it was badly done, and that they should have told me--but didn't. (I didn't notice it until I got home). The reluming wasn't noted in the detailed list-of-thing-done (which I asked for), and which I was given. They said to bring it back in--so I'll probably go back tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, I've change the thread title--.

Larry, I'm surprised as well, as I spent a lot of time considering different watchmaters in the area--and like you say, MJ had a good reputation. We'll see what their follow-through is like.

 

I’m going to have to agree.

 

The cover-up is often worse than the crime. I hope things turn out ok. These kind of stories always make me wonder why I send vintage watches that are running fine for service.

 

In my mind, the “right” thing to do would be to offer to replace the hands with an original tritium set at no charge. If the lume fell apart during service and they had contacted you, there might have been all sorts of options for you to consider—replacement, stabilization, color matching, or a mixture of these options, since presumably the lume did not fall completely out of all three hands. The fact that you are now without options is on them, and they should do what they can to make up for it.

 

I really hope you get the watch restored.

 

I agree.

 

Is it a good move to prophylacticly stabilize the tritium in hands when they go in for a service? And how would one do that? Spray clear lacquer on the backs of the hands?

 

Agreed. If it was just a section of one hand, that would have been a simple relume of one to match. But they made a categorical decision without consultation. But they have owned up to it and are willing to make good, and that’s a good sign and worthy of recognizing.

 

Not sure if you meant proactively, but prophylacticly does get the idea across.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts--I'll be going back tomorrow, and will report on the outcome in due course.

 

Stabilizing the lume requires removing the hands, so if the damage happened here during removal (and wasn't due to some form of negligence) then in this case not sure what could have been done.

For stabilizing lume, I use the same clear binder material that is used to mix with the lume powder when reluming:



It is applied to the back side of the hands using an oiler:



Then the hands are left to dry under cover:



Once dry they can be installed. I've found this to be very effective at preventing cracked or very thin lume from coming out of hands.

Cheers, Al