- 3/6/19
- 271
- 154
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I take this opportunity to review an "excellent" work by Harleysta91 / Riccardo who services my Omega received after months of waiting. I'll just describe the facts without giving personal opinions.
Riccardo behaved very well the first time I had him overhaul a Rolex with a clone movement but this second time he is confirming many of the things written about him in the past, unfortunately ...
At the beginning of 2021 I bought the Omega Worldtimer of the VSF, beautiful, the watch works perfectly (excellent precision and power reserve) so I decide to have it serviced by Harleysta, because if something happens to this watch with the raids and VSF closed I would probably fail to find components, better safe than sorry ... however ...
June 22, I enquiry for the service and he says
"No problem, it's a base 8900 with a world timer module, the delivery time will be 7 days, maximum 10 days for everything"
We agree on the price and I send the package with UPS which arrives on June 29, I ask if he received it and he confirms.
July 7, I ask him how it is going. He replies that he is taking a 10 day vacation, so I wish him happy holidays.
July 21, I ask him again if he can update me on the status of the service, he replies that he will start on July 21
July 23, he confirms that the service is finished but that he scratched the caseback while screwing it back in. I don’t give it too much weight, it can happen to everyone to make a mistake.
Riccardo also confirms that he has replaced both coil springs for the power reserve, the first spring has no inner lip (the same as an AS1130) and the other is automatic, the same used in the ETA 2671. He confirms that with the new springs the amplitude is 324 degrees and the watch runs great. He also silenced the rotor with a special lubricant and cleaned the case for maximum transparency of the glass, using ultrasound. He says he tested its water resistance up to 50 meters.
I ask him to include the power reserve springs he replaced as they are brand new, I did not wear the watch too much so they may come in handy in a few years if they become difficult to source, these VSFs have custom movements, one never knows!
Too late, he has already thrown them in the garbage and changed the bag too! Lost!
Since I have not received any photos of the service, absolutely nothing, not even an update, nothing, I ask him to send me some photos. In the event that I want to sell the watch in the future, I must be able to prove that it was indeed serviced. Unfortunately he says he couldn't take any pictures, not even one of the completely disassembled movement because he was already overdue with the promised delivery date (I was expecting photos because he took a lot of photos during the previous Rolex service and every watchmaker takes at least a few photos of the disassembled movement so I took at least a photo for granted since everyone does it).
He says that the next day he will reopen it, do some general checks and take some pictures of some parts, without then taking everything apart.
June 27, I ask him if he can finish it within the week, he says “yes, absolutely"
June 30th, he sends me photos of the movement completely disassembled in every piece with all the components arranged on the watchmaker's table.
He confirms that he will ship the watch on Monday 4th July, we agree on the price and I send him the money.
August 6, I have the BRT tracking number, August 8 arrives. I realise that the inner 24-hour ring is fixed 30 minutes forward, which makes the watch useless in regarding monitoring a second time zone, which I use. The watch is very quiet and keeps wonderful time at 0 / -1 over a two days period.
August 13 - I UPS the watch for repair paying shipping. On 17 August the watch arrives at Riccardo’s.
25 August. I ask him for updates, he replies with “good, good”.
September 8. I ask him for updates again, he replies and says "I'm testing it and everything works fine it seems"
He asks me for the address and I give it to him so he can finally ship it back to me.
September 14. He is not able to ship it yet, he says the courier failed to stop by but the watch is ready and packed.
September 17. I call him on his mobile to get news and he replies that he is not working that week because he is not feeling well so I wish him to take care of himself and we will hear the next week.
22 September he confirms that he is fine and back to work.
September 28. I ask him for the tracking number. He replies: "wait ... there is a problem"
When I ask for explanations he tells me: "I remember that during the service I removed the GMT disk, when the courier failed to collect the package I took the opportunity to try the watch again and put it on the watch winder, I realized that the disk was no longer centred and it was about 30 minutes off... so I took it apart again, I figured there was some glue on the disc that dissolved when I washed it, so I glued it with a small amount of glue, I've tested it and it seems to work fine now ".
I ask him for further clarifications on the modification and on September 30 he replies that the disk is not coupled by friction on the hour wheel but that it needs a little glue to couple, otherwise the disc would move again. He says he tried to shake it with the rotor removed to avoid damage and the GMT disc doesn't move anymore.
October 6. He says the watch should leave today or tomorrow via UPS.
October 9. Watch not shipped yet, he says UPS will pick it up on Monday.
October 11th. He ships the watch via BRT
October 14. The tracking number has not yet been found in the BRT systems, Riccardo replies that it could be due to a strike. I then contact BRT directly as the last time the package arrived in 3 days and this time the scan of the package acceptance by BRT does not even appear, the previous time the label creation and package scan was immediately visible from the tracking number as handed to the courier, I hope there are no problems with the courier ...
BRT replies to me in record time that the package was actually picked up on October 14th, not the 11th and will arrive on October 15th.
October 15th, watch arrived and the GMT disc is aligned! I wish it was over here! A screw used to hold the movement in place is missing and the strap has a stripped thread.
Response from Riccardo:
-The quality of the straps is not always up to the watch level.
-The missing screw was not there.
I reply to him that I am sure it was there and I send him the photos I had taken a few months earlier where the screw was there.
Riccardo replied that there were two, not three as the movement needs. He says that it happens often and that he has no other screws in the workshop otherwise he would have gifted them to me. He adds that he just fixed a no time to die that had no screws at all, where the dial was free to move.
I'm still not happy, I start checking the QC photos of Intime and I see that there were three screws not two mounted.
And here comes the fun part, I checked the photos of the watch sent to me by Riccardo with all the components disassembled on June 30th, and funny enough, I can see all the three screws and their washers used to hold the movement!
October 16. I point it out to him, he replies that he checks the washing machine.
Riccardo offers to pay for the shipping, to install the screws and re-waterproof the watch.
I ask him to send them to me as soon as he finds them so I can install them, I prefer this way without having to wait again for shipping etc…
October 18th, after more requests of updates, he says he found the washer but not the screw.
Currently the watch is without a screw to hold the movement and I have sincerely lost hope.
Paid 250 Euros to have the watch serviced, watch gone for 3 months and 24 days to return worse than before! Luckily it works well and is accurate, the rotor is quieter ...
Cheers!
Riccardo behaved very well the first time I had him overhaul a Rolex with a clone movement but this second time he is confirming many of the things written about him in the past, unfortunately ...
At the beginning of 2021 I bought the Omega Worldtimer of the VSF, beautiful, the watch works perfectly (excellent precision and power reserve) so I decide to have it serviced by Harleysta, because if something happens to this watch with the raids and VSF closed I would probably fail to find components, better safe than sorry ... however ...
June 22, I enquiry for the service and he says
"No problem, it's a base 8900 with a world timer module, the delivery time will be 7 days, maximum 10 days for everything"
We agree on the price and I send the package with UPS which arrives on June 29, I ask if he received it and he confirms.
July 7, I ask him how it is going. He replies that he is taking a 10 day vacation, so I wish him happy holidays.
July 21, I ask him again if he can update me on the status of the service, he replies that he will start on July 21
July 23, he confirms that the service is finished but that he scratched the caseback while screwing it back in. I don’t give it too much weight, it can happen to everyone to make a mistake.
Riccardo also confirms that he has replaced both coil springs for the power reserve, the first spring has no inner lip (the same as an AS1130) and the other is automatic, the same used in the ETA 2671. He confirms that with the new springs the amplitude is 324 degrees and the watch runs great. He also silenced the rotor with a special lubricant and cleaned the case for maximum transparency of the glass, using ultrasound. He says he tested its water resistance up to 50 meters.
I ask him to include the power reserve springs he replaced as they are brand new, I did not wear the watch too much so they may come in handy in a few years if they become difficult to source, these VSFs have custom movements, one never knows!
Too late, he has already thrown them in the garbage and changed the bag too! Lost!
Since I have not received any photos of the service, absolutely nothing, not even an update, nothing, I ask him to send me some photos. In the event that I want to sell the watch in the future, I must be able to prove that it was indeed serviced. Unfortunately he says he couldn't take any pictures, not even one of the completely disassembled movement because he was already overdue with the promised delivery date (I was expecting photos because he took a lot of photos during the previous Rolex service and every watchmaker takes at least a few photos of the disassembled movement so I took at least a photo for granted since everyone does it).
He says that the next day he will reopen it, do some general checks and take some pictures of some parts, without then taking everything apart.
June 27, I ask him if he can finish it within the week, he says “yes, absolutely"
June 30th, he sends me photos of the movement completely disassembled in every piece with all the components arranged on the watchmaker's table.
He confirms that he will ship the watch on Monday 4th July, we agree on the price and I send him the money.
August 6, I have the BRT tracking number, August 8 arrives. I realise that the inner 24-hour ring is fixed 30 minutes forward, which makes the watch useless in regarding monitoring a second time zone, which I use. The watch is very quiet and keeps wonderful time at 0 / -1 over a two days period.
August 13 - I UPS the watch for repair paying shipping. On 17 August the watch arrives at Riccardo’s.
25 August. I ask him for updates, he replies with “good, good”.
September 8. I ask him for updates again, he replies and says "I'm testing it and everything works fine it seems"
He asks me for the address and I give it to him so he can finally ship it back to me.
September 14. He is not able to ship it yet, he says the courier failed to stop by but the watch is ready and packed.
September 17. I call him on his mobile to get news and he replies that he is not working that week because he is not feeling well so I wish him to take care of himself and we will hear the next week.
22 September he confirms that he is fine and back to work.
September 28. I ask him for the tracking number. He replies: "wait ... there is a problem"
When I ask for explanations he tells me: "I remember that during the service I removed the GMT disk, when the courier failed to collect the package I took the opportunity to try the watch again and put it on the watch winder, I realized that the disk was no longer centred and it was about 30 minutes off... so I took it apart again, I figured there was some glue on the disc that dissolved when I washed it, so I glued it with a small amount of glue, I've tested it and it seems to work fine now ".
I ask him for further clarifications on the modification and on September 30 he replies that the disk is not coupled by friction on the hour wheel but that it needs a little glue to couple, otherwise the disc would move again. He says he tried to shake it with the rotor removed to avoid damage and the GMT disc doesn't move anymore.
October 6. He says the watch should leave today or tomorrow via UPS.
October 9. Watch not shipped yet, he says UPS will pick it up on Monday.
October 11th. He ships the watch via BRT
October 14. The tracking number has not yet been found in the BRT systems, Riccardo replies that it could be due to a strike. I then contact BRT directly as the last time the package arrived in 3 days and this time the scan of the package acceptance by BRT does not even appear, the previous time the label creation and package scan was immediately visible from the tracking number as handed to the courier, I hope there are no problems with the courier ...
BRT replies to me in record time that the package was actually picked up on October 14th, not the 11th and will arrive on October 15th.
October 15th, watch arrived and the GMT disc is aligned! I wish it was over here! A screw used to hold the movement in place is missing and the strap has a stripped thread.
Response from Riccardo:
-The quality of the straps is not always up to the watch level.
-The missing screw was not there.
I reply to him that I am sure it was there and I send him the photos I had taken a few months earlier where the screw was there.
Riccardo replied that there were two, not three as the movement needs. He says that it happens often and that he has no other screws in the workshop otherwise he would have gifted them to me. He adds that he just fixed a no time to die that had no screws at all, where the dial was free to move.
I'm still not happy, I start checking the QC photos of Intime and I see that there were three screws not two mounted.
And here comes the fun part, I checked the photos of the watch sent to me by Riccardo with all the components disassembled on June 30th, and funny enough, I can see all the three screws and their washers used to hold the movement!
October 16. I point it out to him, he replies that he checks the washing machine.
Riccardo offers to pay for the shipping, to install the screws and re-waterproof the watch.
I ask him to send them to me as soon as he finds them so I can install them, I prefer this way without having to wait again for shipping etc…
October 18th, after more requests of updates, he says he found the washer but not the screw.
Currently the watch is without a screw to hold the movement and I have sincerely lost hope.
Paid 250 Euros to have the watch serviced, watch gone for 3 months and 24 days to return worse than before! Luckily it works well and is accurate, the rotor is quieter ...
Cheers!
