Probably the 50th thread about this but I have to let out some steam.

In the summer I had a watch serviced, a gold plated Nivada inherited from my grandfather, so it means the world to me. When I got it back the date didn't change, so I handed it back to him asking if he could fix it. After several visits to the shop with 2 months interval and several promises from him that he could easily fix it, a couple of weeks ago I told him to just assemble the watch and forget about fixing the date, as I would like to wear the watch for Christmas. So when I got it back today the dial, which was flawless and very beautiful when I delivered it, had several yellow/brownish stains as if someone had tried to wipe it with something and there had been a chemical reaction.

He said it couldn't be him as he hadn't touched the dial and that it had to be old damage but then I showed the photos of the perfect dial that was taken the day I turned it in for the date fix in July. He just continued to say that he was sorry and that he didn't know how it had happened. He then offered to sent it off to Portugal to have the dial refinished...

I don't believe there is anything to be done. The watch is not worth anything except sentimental value and he claims that he didn't do it and don't know what has happened to it.

Have anyone else had same kind of experience and done something about it? I immediately went to another watchmaker and he will try to clean the dial gently, if he is able to. He wasn't sure.

I get that vintage watches can be tricky but how the hell do you screw up a dial, when you only have to fix the date?

Any way this was the dial before :-(

 

Do you have any after pics of the dial? Difficult to comment on otherwise.

 

With any service be it watchmaker, mechanic, contractor... the second they pretend like an issue didn’t happen and fail to make good I’m gone. Find a new shop.

 

That is really shit.
I sent a watch to Stefan who is a member here. When the watch came back the crown stem came loose as soon as I turned the crown. He told me to return the watch, he fixed it and sent it back. No questions or discussion.
That is the way to deal with a problem, because of the way he dealt with it, he has a customer for life.

 

This is a pretty common thing and I went through something pretty similar

https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-cosmic-dial.64868/

This is such garbage. The person KNEW they had damaged the dial, but tried to lie/hide about it. The same thing happened to me where the person told me that the dial "was just cleaned". They initially became furious when I told them they weren't tell the truth before the "watchmaker" fessed up.

For me the route was to hunt down a dial from a donor. This was a PITA.

My 2 cents is to get documentation that the watchmaker screwed up and have them pay for replacement. Even though say they can do it, I wouldn't want my family heirloom being in the hands of someone that dishonest 1 second longer.

Unfortunately, it is the price of a lesson to only go with people who are highly recommended. Go with a forum person. Even if it takes longer (with shipping etc....), it pays to have it done right.

Very sorry buddy, I sympathize with your pain.

 

Had the same situation with a car. When I went to pick it up, the windshield was cracked all the way across the bottom. I went in to complain and the owner said it wasn't them, sorry. I told him the windshield wasn't like that when I dropped the car off. All he could say was sorry. I told him he would never work on another one of my cars and left. A few days go by, and the owner calls me and tells me one of his mechanics fessed up and said he broke the windshield when a wrench slipped while removing a wiper. Owner paid for a new windshield and I never went back. If he would have admitted it up front and fixed it from the start, he probably would still have my business.

 

Well, back in the day when cars had simple hub caps that were easy to pop on and off, I had a friend who was very unhappy with a customer who failed to pay for work that had been completed. So, he bought a pound of fresh shrimp, and surreptitiously placed the bag (with small holes punched) inside of one of the guy's front hubcaps. Oh, and this is was in South Florida, during the summer.

My understanding is that, having brought the car to several mechanics in a failed effort to locate the source of the horrible odor, the man gave up and sold the car.

 

He would have removed the dial to get at the date mechanism as it will be between the plate and the dial - that's the standard way of doing things.

Everyone is fallible and all you can do is minimise the risk by following the best practices possible. So, if you see photos of your watchmaker's work and he has the dial sitting on his bench uncovered then he runs the risk of damaging it at some point. Same with hands and really every part. If you keep everything in a covered container and separate compartments then you minimise the risk by just taking out the parts as you need them.

Without the "after" pics, it's not possible to know anything but I assume you know your new watchmaker's work? If so, you should trust he'll be able to do the best possible work to get the dial back as close as is possible. A real shame that something has happened though. Good luck.

Regards, Chris

 

Yes, it is a lesson learned the hard way :-( I have used him several times in the past without any issues but needless to say I am not coming back.

I will post a photo of the damaged dial as soon as I get it back from the other watchmaker. If he is not able to do something about it someone here might have an idea if anything can be done. Didn't take any photos because I was so furious

 

Best of luck. Let me know if we can be of any help.