A rare post from me I know, but I'm seeing more and more issues with reps caused by well intentioned owners attempting to fix their own watches and they are causing me quite a few issues.
Now Im all for people trying to fix their watches, and reps are obviously worth a lot less than their gen counterparts, and certainly a more viable candidate to begin your exploration into the watch repairing world than a 6k Rolex, but I just want people to be aware that sometimes the damage they do can be irreparable. I just want everyone to understand the risk to the watch when working on it yourself, literally what is quite an easy fix for someone that knows what they are doing (me), can quickly turn into the end of the watch if the damage caused is severe enough at inexperienced hands.
Dont get me wrong, everyone is more than entitled to do whatever they like with their own watch, I just want to make you aware of the risks. This can be even more of a problem because of the lack of parts availability, like the 3235 Rolex rep, which is the latest one Ive had an issue with. If you break a part, replacing it could be nearly impossible, or very difficult at least.
So my latest find, as I said is with a 3235. The watch has arrived with me as it only runs in certain positions - it doesn't take me long to work out why. And running in certain positions is generous, the watch is barely running at all in reality, as shown on the timegrapher.
I suppose there is a slight chance it left the factory like this, and id never put anything past them, but Ive never seen this before from the factories - if others have then Ill stand corrected, but this is just one example.
Below is an image of the watch in question, a 3235. The problem area is the balance.
Zoomed in shot of the balance. The purple bit in the middle is the shock setting, usually a spring holds this in place - not this one. This has been glued, there's glue everywhere! You can see all the glue round it in the image. This is a critical part to the running of the watch and an issue here is likely to have quite dire consequences to the good running of it. Just for good measure the hairspring has also been given a tweak and is no longer as it should be. This watch is never going to run like this, or keep any sort of decent time anyway. In my opinion this watch is now beyond repair for a rep - unless a new balance complete can be sourced.
All I'm really saying is be careful, you could ruin your watch by attempting to fix it, if you want to take that risk then by all means go for it, but I know that some of these reps aren't cheap so just be careful.
What Im going to have to do is start making a small charge even if the watch is returned undone, Im losing too much time looking at these watches, repackaging them and posting them back only for the cost of postage.
Dont take this post the wrong way, im not saying don't work on your watches, just understand the risks involved
Now Im all for people trying to fix their watches, and reps are obviously worth a lot less than their gen counterparts, and certainly a more viable candidate to begin your exploration into the watch repairing world than a 6k Rolex, but I just want people to be aware that sometimes the damage they do can be irreparable. I just want everyone to understand the risk to the watch when working on it yourself, literally what is quite an easy fix for someone that knows what they are doing (me), can quickly turn into the end of the watch if the damage caused is severe enough at inexperienced hands.
Dont get me wrong, everyone is more than entitled to do whatever they like with their own watch, I just want to make you aware of the risks. This can be even more of a problem because of the lack of parts availability, like the 3235 Rolex rep, which is the latest one Ive had an issue with. If you break a part, replacing it could be nearly impossible, or very difficult at least.
So my latest find, as I said is with a 3235. The watch has arrived with me as it only runs in certain positions - it doesn't take me long to work out why. And running in certain positions is generous, the watch is barely running at all in reality, as shown on the timegrapher.
I suppose there is a slight chance it left the factory like this, and id never put anything past them, but Ive never seen this before from the factories - if others have then Ill stand corrected, but this is just one example.
Below is an image of the watch in question, a 3235. The problem area is the balance.
Zoomed in shot of the balance. The purple bit in the middle is the shock setting, usually a spring holds this in place - not this one. This has been glued, there's glue everywhere! You can see all the glue round it in the image. This is a critical part to the running of the watch and an issue here is likely to have quite dire consequences to the good running of it. Just for good measure the hairspring has also been given a tweak and is no longer as it should be. This watch is never going to run like this, or keep any sort of decent time anyway. In my opinion this watch is now beyond repair for a rep - unless a new balance complete can be sourced.
All I'm really saying is be careful, you could ruin your watch by attempting to fix it, if you want to take that risk then by all means go for it, but I know that some of these reps aren't cheap so just be careful.
What Im going to have to do is start making a small charge even if the watch is returned undone, Im losing too much time looking at these watches, repackaging them and posting them back only for the cost of postage.
Dont take this post the wrong way, im not saying don't work on your watches, just understand the risks involved
