What time is it? Watches and horology

Oof. I love the Chris Ward trident pros. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Lucky man.

On a different note, I took up Murts' advice and wandered over to my local clock/watch repair place - The Clock Gallery on South Ealing road. A good chat with the co-owner and I have a slot to get my Constellation serviced/repaired in May. They are otherwise too busy which I take a good sign.

good stuff, they are pretty knowledgeable guys.

Indeed. Dariusz took my watch and in about 60 seconds told me more about it and Omega than I had been able to dig out on my own. Again, a good sign. And they had a couple of tasty watches for sale for reasonable monies too.

Thanks Murts, I owe you many beers when things calm down a little for me.

A possible candidate. I no longer know who's homaging who.

Very cute.

I think I'll save up for the Laco Hof (42mm);

The Laco is closer to the original WW2 B-Uhr design (and they were one of the original manufacturers along with IWC, Stowa and A-Lange & Sohne)

They also do them in 45mm - which is what I am planning on getting when I have the cash...

The "Hof" is quartz btw - they do the 42 (and 45) in manual or auto as well - although they are more expensive...

more expensive is putting it simply, they're over a grand!

I'm happy with Quartz TBH.

Eh? are you looking at the 55mm ones?

Laco Munster (auto, 42mm) is 650euro : https://shop.laco.de/en/Muenster.html

Picture look the same; https://shop.laco.de/en/Hof.html

Indeed - they are the same - Laco just offer a range of movements auto,mechanical and quartz.

If you are happy with quartz then buy quartz - don't let the watch snobs put you off :)

It might however be worth bearing in mind that auto/mechanical will likely have better resale value later down the line...

That Trident Pro is lovely!
Would love one but Christopher Ward has definitely got more expensive since I got my C4 Peregrine.

Evening folks. I have a question. I have sent my 19 year old Tag off for repair. It needed a new bezel. I have just had a letter back from the jewellers, who have sent it off to Tag, saying it needs a new bezel, new screen and a full service to make it good. They want to charge me £450 for this work!

Does this seem reasonable?

No it does not. I'd say it was on the steep side of reasonable. I was recently quoted a smidge over 300 for a full service on a 1969 Omega including replacing the reversing gears (quick set).

They also suggested replacing the crystal at over 100 notes. I suggested they polish the existing one and saved myself 80 quid. This was from a very reputable firm that has been servicing Omegas for over 30 years. I can thoroughly recommend him:

http://www.robertreeves.co.uk/

Servicing a watch, even a posh one, is no different to servicing a car. The garage will probably tell you that you need everything replaced when in fact you probably need most of it replaced and the rest of it has many year's life left.

Hmm, well thing is they've already had a £50 deposit off me. If I don't go ahead with the work they'll return the watch untouched and I lose the deposit. Very frustrating! Think I might just have to suck it up and proceed. I do like the watch and I do want it fixed.

^ 50 quid deposit that's non-returnable?! Who are they?

This is unreasonable.

£50 isn't much relatively.

Sucks to have to pay a depost though. WABOCs.

^ 50 quid deposit that's non-returnable?! Who are they?

This is unreasonable.

Goldsmiths, Oxford.

£50 isn't much relatively.

Sucks to have to pay a depost though. WABOCs.

Yes but 50 quid is still 50 quid I don't want to lose. But yeah, ARBOCs! Won't be using them again.

£50 isn't much relatively.

Sucks to have to pay a depost though. WABOCs.

It's not much relatively but if you don't have it to play with then it is.

The most I've ever been quoted for an estimate to be arrived at on a service for a watch is a little less than half this - that was also non-returnable but at around £20 to just take the case back off and have a look to see what needed doing was pretty reasonable. This was for a 1964 Omega Constellation.

That'll be the cost of insured postage back and forth to the TAG service centre, plus a bit for admin.

That'll be the cost of insured postage back and forth to the TAG service centre, plus a bit for admin.

From having just looked at the Goldsmith Oxford site I'm inclined to agree.

gridds - next time you're much better off using an independent with a proven track record and specific experience with your brand / make. These high street places will almost always fleece you - not because they're crooks as such but because of the way they're setup. They're just middle men.

All the high street chains can change a battery or adjust a bracelet- that's the extent of the tools and ability that they possess.

Everything else, including changing a battery for a water resistant/proof watch will require posting the watch out to the relevant service centre- it used to be my job to take a bag of watches to the post office every day when I worked for Ernest Jones.

just fitted this WW1 satchel starp, to this.

2 Attachments

I like that.

yeah, thanks buddy, it came out really nice, the guy was chuffed.

You should be chuffed too.

Gridds, do you know what model the watch is?