Printable View
Or maybe not??
with damage............
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0760.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...DSCF0765-1.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0766.jpg
At what point do you admit defeat??
I'll tell you something for nothing, it'll take more than a little road rash to put me off ;-)
Just waiting on feedback from the owner to make sure he is happy with the end result / /compromise
You gotta love a challenge, haven't you?
Paul
Ohhhhhh Paul ya big tease, me reckons you have made it spanking :chuncky: Mind you mine was no-where near as bad !!!
it would appear that the forum member in question is happy with the results and is happy for me to post the after shots.
The member in question, "Matt London" who posted a thread some time ago regarding an "off" whioch I think was bike related to be honest and from the sounds of Matts personal injuries was something he would sooner forget :-(. A thread initially posted by Matt here - http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...ling+road+rash
Between the two of us Matt only managed to getting around to posting the watch earlier this week so have had it less than 24 hours. We have been building a new house which is all but finished so when Matt said he would be posting it soon I jumped at the chance :-)
As per the pictures above the damage was heavy and I dread to think what damage was done to Matt!!
Here is a quick overview of the damage and a refresher pic or two to save you scrolling up and down -
On the picture below you can see that the bracelet has deep scratches / gouges across it's entire width.
- The outer links on the 9 O'Clock side have taken a heavy impact and have chunks missing out of them
- the centre links have deep abrasions across their entire length and width wit raised jagged sections
- the outer links on the crown side have lost their sharpness on the edges / ends and again have deep abrasions and raised areas of metal
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0760.jpg
The picture below reveals to some extent just how deep and jagged some of the abrasions are, the raised centre links have taken the brunt of the impact however the outer links have been fairly heavily damaged as they have bounced over the tarmac / stones :-(
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...DSCF0765-1.jpg
As much as I enjoy refinishing watches for people there are times when sometimes it can become quite boring following the same routine and approach for specific types of damage / general wear marks and light scratches. Polishing is probably the one area that raises the most challenges and is harder in my opinion to get right than brushed areas.
I much prefer the odd request to look at something different and particularily like working on Breitlings (god only knows why) and more specifically when a watch has been in the wars and has some battle scars.
Matt's PM to me was one of the above where I wanted to see if I could achieve anything like a decent level of rectification. Hopefully I haven't done too bad.... pictures are coming honest!!
Like any refinishing job there are many stages, the first is stripping thew watch so you can work on it easily, the second is cleaning it and the third is rectification of heavy scratches, minor scratches, dings and gouges. Light scratches are easily despatched with abrasive blocks and finishing pads...... dings, gouges and heavy scratches require a bit more consideration, patience, experience and the requisite tools.
Matt may well have cringed if he had been sat next to me yesterday afternoon as I reached for an engineers small file with very fine teeth. I knew that approaching the gouges and raised areas of metal would quickly degrade the shape of the links and result in a poor finish. The trick is to remove the raised sections first which are created by an object, in this case a stone / gravel / tarmac ripping through the metal and pushing the meatl upwards and outwards.
Once you have removed the raised areas of metal you can better evaluate your next cousre of action which in this particular instance involved some reshaping of chamfered edges, ends of the links, top of the links etc etc. Only after this could I even contemplate the more mundane task of refining the finish.
Enough waffle here are some after shots. It isn't perfect as some of the gouges were very deep and Matt didn't want to lose the shape of the links, chamfered edges etc too much so a compromise was reached :-)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0785.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0786.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0787.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0790.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0793.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0804.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0809.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...y/DSCF0812.jpg
Whilst not absolutely perfect I have to say I am quite happy with the results :-)
An enjoyable refinishing job that has given me a great deal of satisfaction!
Hope the above was of interest and you like the before and after pictures
Paul
I think it is like a tailors "invisible" repair - often it is impossible to make it invisible, but a skilled tailor knows how to make it so your eyes don't see the repair....
Wow - well done that man!
Hard to fathom, that its the same links.
First rate work Paul. Have to say in today's disposable society it's good to see something restored to good condition, I can see why you are pleased with the results.
I trust said member was restored to full fitness after the off.
Congratz, I like a lot the finall result.
I wouldn't have thought you could polish that up, I would have just gone for a new bracelet but that's amazing!
Top work!
Yes i can see why you are justifiably pleased with that job!
First rate work as ever Paul :thumbsup:
TBH I'm struggling to see any compromise.
Cheers,
Gary
Excellent as usual Paul :thumbsup:
While no expert (and I certainly would never consider doing it for anyone else) I like removing little scratches and dinks from watches and bracelets. I would have taken one look at that and declared it "fit for the bin!" Amazing transformation.
Excellent job.
Like everyone else I can't really see the compromise in those pictures, it looks like you have worked miracles. Keep up the good work!
impressive work!
Brilliant job! Like others have said, I can't see where you have had to compromise.
Very impressive results there, Paul. :thumbsup:
May I ask how long it took to achieve that?
R
What an amazing result, I just can't believe that from what it was like before, well done mate. :applause::applause:
Its back on the road and I would be pleased with it in that repair state
Speaking as a fellow repairer/refinisher, I`m impressed. Also glad this one didn`t come my way because there's a LOT of work involved to get such deep damage out, and I`m v. busy at the moment! Retaining the chamfered edges must've been tricky to do.
It shows what can be done, though; not quite a miracle but not far off! I'm too polite to ask the price of this job but a lot of hours must've gone into it.
Refinishing work is tedious and does get boring; however there's always a sense of satisfaction when the job's completed successfully, particularly when it starts off in such bad condition.
Well done, mate, from one Paul to another!
Paul
Well done Paul (op), as Paul says above, it must of been very tedious and laborious. That is a great end result. You must have the patience of a saint, plus the attention to detail...... great work once again.
What a fantastic job done there!
Looks as good as new.
Great work there . It's amazing what a good craftsman can do !
That is an amazing transformation, totally 1st class work!
As others have said amazing, I wish I had the eye, patience and the tools to be able to do this.
Well here is a thread revival. I missed it the first time around but just found it when searching for a thread I started about replacing the module.
Paul did an amazing job on the watch. I was so so pleased with the result! I fixated a bit on the damage to the watch as a bit of a diversion from the injuries I sustained. It was great to have that made good.
I must also give kudos to Paul for his comms. Due to the complications of lung collapse and the subsequent required wait for orthopaedic surgery, I was strung out on morphine for a bit of a prolonged period. My family told me afterwards that I wasn’t myself for a while. I thought I was fine 😁 Paul must have thought I was a bit different......
Cheers again Paul.
That looks amazing work. Hopefully it’s still in good nick and you haven’t dinged it!
that work is incredible, i wouldn't have believed that could be saved!
Wow, just wow!
Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
Very impressive
Good lord, that is remarkable. Great before and after pics - thanks for posting.
Hopefully your recovery is/was as good as the watch repair, stunning work.
One of my favourite transformations!!
Very impressive, would never have thought that result possible.