Watchmaker... Who are You Guys Using Now?

[stumpy1972]

I know it's been brought up in the past, but I did a search and didn't find much.

My wife broke the crown off the handwind pilot watch I made for her (piece of the stem still inside the crown) and I'm not sure I'm up for the repair since my eyesight has been screwed up as of late and not sure I could get the piece of stem out of the crown anyway. So.... I need to know who I can send it to for repair and clean an lube? Jack at IWW? Any others you can recommend and that are reasonable? Thanks!

[streetracer101]

Contact Terry about his guy. I don't trust Jack anymore. He fucked up the last 2 watches I sent to him.

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[JP Chestnut]

a lack of decent repair people is going to eventually put a huge dent into our collective enjoyment of this hobby.

[streetracer101]

If the big companies have their way, soon all repairs will have to come thru them because of unavailable parts.

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[5661nicholas]

Get in touch with Terry....


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[Nomadz]

Contact Terry about his guy. I don't trust Jack anymore. He fucked up the last 2 watches I sent to him.

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I have used Jack for years. Based upon the experience of someone i sent Jacks way with two watches. I would agree with this.

[hoppes-no9]

... touch ... Terry....

FIFY

[JP Chestnut]

If the big companies have their way, soon all repairs will have to come thru them because of unavailable parts.

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They may get their way, and it may not end up being what they want - as is often the case.

[paipanic]

Hi Dan, if I remember right you're on the east coast, but if you don't mind shipping it to the best side (West side), Nesbits in Seattle is top-notch. I use them for my warranty work (which is very simple stuff), but they handle lots of the usual suspects like Rolex and Omega, PP et al., both vintage and contemporary.

Can't recommend them highly enough, and Jan Nesbit is fantastic to deal with.

http://www.nesbitswatchservice.com/

[matt.wu]

LAWW is great. Probably not what you'd call cheap, but I think they're reasonable for the quality of service. I use them exclusively for mods now and use them for most service as well.

[nweash]

Terry's guy or LAWW depending on the watch.

[toxicavenger]

For regular services the two guys I use are great. I would not use them for any crazy ass mods like triple gasket crowns and factory case refinishing. The two mentioned about by Jason/Wu do the best case factory style case refinishing I have ever seen.

For regular services I can help you out though, at a great price also.

[Steve O.]

http://www.ultra-vintage.com/

Great work, reasonable prices, and turn around times quick enough that your watch doesn't become a distant memory of something you once owned.

[gwells]

http://www.ultra-vintage.com/

Great work, reasonable prices, and turn around times quick enough that your watch doesn't become a distant memory of something you once owned.

andy's a good guy. did a nice job on my zodiac sea wolf a few years ago (and he's considered a go-to guy for vintage zodiac, lots of NOS parts that are hard to find elsewhere).

[gonzomantis]

Anyone still keen on Dominique Weiland? My SD needs a little love.

[streetracer101]

Anyone still keen on Dominique Weiland? My SD needs a little love.

Didn't Ben have a recent bad experience with him? Just send it to LAWW.

[logan2z]

I haven't seen this name mentioned yet so I'll throw it out there:

Craig Bergsma at Chronodeco

He seems to specialize in vintage watches/chronographs but he may take on more modern pieces too. He serviced my vintage Heuer Autavia and my Sinn 1550 SG. Had one glitch with the Heuer and had to return it for an additional repair but no issues with the Sinn. A lot of the Heuer guys who hang out at OnTheDash recommend him and I think that Mike (River Rat) had good luck with him as well.

Maybe other guys do this as well, but one thing I like about Craig is that he'll reserve a slot for you but won't take your watch until he's ready to work on it.

[toxicavenger]

Anyone still keen on Dominique Weiland? My SD needs a little love.

Didn't Ben have a recent bad experience with him? Just send it to LAWW.

Yes Ben did. He still hasn't made it public but he got shit on pretty bad by Dom. Honestly considering Dom's prices you would be better off going with LAWW.

[Nellipj]

I haven't seen this name mentioned yet so I'll throw it out there:

Craig Bergsma at Chronodeco

He seems to specialize in vintage watches/chronographs but he may take on more modern pieces too. He serviced my vintage Heuer Autavia and my Sinn 1550 SG. Had one glitch with the Heuer and had to return it for an additional repair but no issues with the Sinn. A lot of the Heuer guys who hang out at OnTheDash recommend him and I think that Mike (River Rat) had good luck with him as well.

Maybe other guys do this as well, but one thing I like about Craig is that he'll reserve a slot for you but won't take your watch until he's ready to work on it.

+1 on Craig. He did the service on my Heuer Autavia as well and he was great to work with on that vintage. Not having to ship him the watch until he was ready to work on it was a great service.

[Nellipj]

Anyone still keen on Dominique Weiland? My SD needs a little love.

Didn't Ben have a recent bad experience with him? Just send it to LAWW.

Yes Ben did. He still hasn't made it public but he got shit on pretty bad by Dom. Honestly considering Dom's prices you would be better off going with LAWW.

I sent Dom an email asking to set up a service and I never heard back from him. I will go with LAWW when I need a Rolex service.

[toxicavenger]

Anyone still keen on Dominique Weiland? My SD needs a little love.

Didn't Ben have a recent bad experience with him? Just send it to LAWW.

Yes Ben did. He still hasn't made it public but he got shit on pretty bad by Dom. Honestly considering Dom's prices you would be better off going with LAWW.

I sent Dom an email asking to set up a service and I never heard back from him. I will go with LAWW when I need a Rolex service.

You might have just avoided a shitty job on your watch.

[gonzomantis]

Anyone still keen on Dominique Weiland? My SD needs a little love.

Didn't Ben have a recent bad experience with him? Just send it to LAWW.

Yes Ben did. He still hasn't made it public but he got shit on pretty bad by Dom. Honestly considering Dom's prices you would be better off going with LAWW.

I sent Dom an email asking to set up a service and I never heard back from him. I will go with LAWW when I need a Rolex service.

You might have just avoided a shitty job on your watch.

Thanks for the updates, guys. It is sad to see watchmakers get dropped from recommendations, especially since there seem to be so few good ones left.

[BBK357]

Ok about Dominique....


I avoided telling the story because I know some peeps here use him a lot and I don't want to make it out like I'm a shit stirrer....


To make it short- he's done a few minor things that I found sloppy, but I kind of accepted it as nobody is perfect.

I've sent him quite a few vintage Tudor subs and my 16800.

To note, one Tudor sub he fully serviced came back seemingly great... until one night I came home from work, took a shower with it on, dried it like I always do, changed nato straps, and put it back on. I fell asleep on the couch that night, woke up a few hours later to looks at the time, and the crystal was fogged. On the inside. I then sat it upside down in a bag of rice and had it overnight shipped to him. He didn't find any damage and said "well maybe I didn't screw the case back on tight enough..."


And most recently, about a year ago he serviced my 16800. Came back and I noticed when the date changed it would "click" and the date would be stuck in between numbers. Also, ever since I had it serviced, I noticed the bezel pip was no longer aligned.
I sent it back to him under warranty repair. I could tell in speaking to him that he was annoyed about me bringing up the misaligned bezel, but he admitted fault to the date and fixed it.

When I received my sub, I open the box and was very excited... and I found my watch, missing its original dark trite Lume pip, as it was replaced by a SL pip.

I felt deceived. He never told me anything about this. I called him, spoke calmly and questioned him about it. He said he lost it when he popped my bezel off. It hit the floor and I quote, "I spent too much of my time looking for that. I'm not wasting anymore of my time".
Wow. This guy must not see the value of vintage, as the common old Swiss watchmaker has the thinking of... "if it's old replace it". I found this out by finding my own local old Swiss guy, who thought I was nuts when I went to his shop to replace my SL Lume pip with an old trit he had in his parts drawer.
His Pearl matched better than the one that was original...

Original-

-
Dom replaced-

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Then I found-



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[matt.wu]

^ Do you still have that watch?

[toxicavenger]

^ Do you still have that watch?

It's been serviced, of course not.





Seriously, I think he does still have it.