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Have you ever asked a local watch smith to service your rep?
- Thread starter cacti
- Start date
- 24/7/13
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Many members have found local guys. While some pricks will surely turn up their nose to reps, you can probably find someone who will gladly work on them, the ones with a good grasp of business.
- 27/10/23
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First of all, I built my relationship with my watch maker by him servicing my gens before I got into replicas, he knows me well
Then once you have a bit of a rapport and he knows you and you're not a bad guy or doing anything illegal/shady, then you can bring him replicas
Most watch makers will work on anything, but the only ones who will refuse your replicas are the ones with Rolex certifications or some kind of certifications from big watch brands as they can lose that cert if they have been found to work on fakes
- 24/7/13
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Sure, worst they can say is "no". Me personally, I refuse to outsource anything in my life so learned how to do it myself. But my response above was based on anecdotal evidence from reading many threads over the years. The rep friendly watchsmiths are out there. Just gotta ask!
- 27/10/23
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I’d like to learn the basics like xtal and bezel swapping. Did you buy a shitter and dissect it?
Swapping a crystal is mostly fine
Swapping a ceramic bezel, you're gonna crack it. Even pros crack the bezel with professional tools. Don't bother unless you want to cry.
Buy a cheap Aliexpress homage watch for <100 and play around with it.
Once we discovered we had a replica that needed to be worked on, we called a ton of watch repair places and not a single person was interested in working on it. That said, we try back alley guys (so to speak), but instead those with actual brick and mortar establishments that have been around awhile. Didn't tell us to get the F out (especially since it was over the phone), but most did make it clear they weren't interested in our business, lol.
Certainly did. No other choice as I believe honesty is the best policy when it comes to this matter. Speaking from experience because we had already dropped it off at a local service center (believing it was genuine (story in another thread)) and consider ourselves very lucky to have gotten it back. That said, we aren't interested in purposefully trying to fool anyone as that could only lead to all sorts of other problems.
I just watched a video on this yesterday as I was curious how the bezel attaches. Please excuse my ignorance here, but do you mean swapping a bezel with a ceramic insert or swapping out just the insert? Which is the problem? Also, what operation is being performed when it cracks?
Swapping out the insert
Removing the bezel off the watch is easy
But swapping the insert is a pita
Basically when you pop it out and pop it in, you need to be extremely careful and apply equal pressure. Any unequal pressure can lead to a crack. And the replica inserts are a little thin which makes them extremely susceptible to cracking
- 24/7/13
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Getting the ceramic insert out of the bezel (most rep inserts are glued in) can be a challenge. They are scratch resistant but are very brittle. Removing the bezel in its entirety is relatively simple but you will likely damage the hytrel ring on modern reps and finding a replacement is near impossible, but can be affixed back with other methods, my favorite is the big game fishing line fix
The cermaic insert, if it must be removed, it needs to be done with heat, to melt the glue, then gently lifted and separated with a razor blade or needle. Some watches are gen construction and inserts snap in but are easily broken as reaps mentioned.
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Got it, that makes sense. Out of curiosity, what kind of glue is normally used on reps?Getting the ceramic insert out of the bezel (most rep inserts are glued in) can be a challenge. They are scratch resistant but are very brittle. Removing the bezel in its entirety is relatively simple but you will likely damage the hytrel ring on modern reps and finding a replacement is near impossible, but can be affixed back with other methods, my favorite is the big game fishing line fix
The cermaic insert, if it must be removed, it needs to be done with heat, to melt the glue, then gently lifted and separated with a razor blade or needle. Some watches are gen construction and inserts snap in but are easily broken as reaps mentioned.
- 24/7/13
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Usually it's like a tacky glue that never fully cures, like E6000, useful in that it can be melted/softened
Alan Bourdillion Traherne
Renowned Member
I usually have an old German guy in my place to work on my reps. He knew they were reps and didn't give a toss. He was good, just a bit slow and didn't work on chronographs. Unfortunately, he passed away few years ago.
- 9/11/23
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I’ve found it best to show up at their place of business with your watch and talk to the actual person who works on them. If you have to call just tell them it’s a no name Chinese watch.
Thanks, it's good to know.
Makes sense but in our case, I didn't feel like driving all over town in traffic only to be rejected. Also, not sure what would happen if you tell them it's a no name Chinese watch, and then show-up with something that's brand labeled. That might get interesting if they think you were lying to them. Then again, as long as you keep position of it, all they can really do is tell you to get out.
Trish Rashford
You're Saying I Can Sell?
- 15/1/24
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You are generally OK servicing reps through most watch smiths here in Canada except those associated with ADs or bigger chains/brands. In other words, look for an independent watch smith in a mall and 9 times out of 10 they will help because they have a business to run and don’t care about protecting AP/Patek/Rolex/Omega brands
True story: One local place I tried went to extreme lengths to avoid having to work on reps - when I called to ask if they could fix my rep, they used the excuse that they were literally closing down the next day. And they did. I mean, they could have just told me to eff off, but kudos to them for sticking by their convictions. It's annoying as they were about 15 metres away from my office.
Anyway, I tried another local watch servicing place, and they didn't respond to my email. So that was a no too - albeit less extreme.
As a result, I send anything I can't cope with myself to UK based RWI smiths. But I'll DIY when I think I can (usually with hilarious results).
Anyway, I tried another local watch servicing place, and they didn't respond to my email. So that was a no too - albeit less extreme.
As a result, I send anything I can't cope with myself to UK based RWI smiths. But I'll DIY when I think I can (usually with hilarious results).
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