What do you mean by "repaired"? What work does he think needs to be done?
My colleague brought his Gold cased Longines in today.
The question was "where can I get it repaired"
My reply was why would you want to?
I hear stories about patina and also some wonderful restorations and repairs on here so.
Would you fix it?
Where would you send it
What do you mean by "repaired"? What work does he think needs to be done?
It's hard to say without seeing the watch in its current condition. I don't know Longines, but it may make a difference based on whether it is a particularly rare or desirable model or not.
There will always be differences of opinion when it comes to restore vs leave original, but for me the key question is "what do you want to do with the watch afterwards"?
If the owner is not a real WIS, or if the intention is to end up with a wearable timepiece, then perhaps go for a restore.
If it is usable and of sentimental value, or the owner wants to sell the watch or keep as investment piece, then perhaps get it serviced but otherwise leave it alone.
That's the decision I made regarding the G-P I posted about here (shameless plug): http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...rard-Perregaux
There was nothing particularly special about the watch other than it had cost next to nothing to buy and had a nice clean movement. Left unrestored it had little tangible value and would never have been worn, but restored I can now get some real pleasure from wearing it. It perhaps gives you some idea of what can be achieved if the goal is to end up with a watch that can continue to give years of service based on a restoration at a modest outlay.
If you post some photos of the specific watch in question I am sure you will get much better advice.
Last edited by willie_gunn; 22nd February 2018 at 11:40.
Sorry, all I can see when you post the URL is the image.
Let's try again with a different host
Not the clearest of photos, but it looks pretty decent to me.
Does it keep good time?
M
The problem is keeping the quarter patterns on the dial a restore will get rid of these, I don't know anyone who could redo them. Sunburst, straight line etc no issue, but not this.
So either leave the dial as is and just service and polish the watch, or re do the dial removing the pattern but making it look tidy again.
Are dial restorers able to replicate that wonderful quadrant effect?
Edit: previous post written at same time as mine says No..... :(
Last edited by Der Amf; 22nd February 2018 at 14:07.
Probably just stamped out.
On a high end dial it would be made using a straight line engine turning machine.
That looks pretty cool as it is
I don't think I'd touch that cosmetically apart from a light polish of the case (assuming it's solid and not plated). And then a mechanical service.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
I don't know what he thinks would be achieved by refinishing that dial, as it looks perfect to me.
If he wants to restore it back to its former glory then why not. I can think of worse things to spend money on.
Sent from my [device_name] using TZ-UK mobile app
That is a nice watch. Best not molest it.
Perhaps it worth writing to Longines themselves? You never know what they may have sitting in a far corner covered in dust. Nothing lost trying and then you get to keep the original.
The watch is owned by your colleague, who obviously does not like the look of the dial. A nice, even patina is one thing, but this dial is far from that! I wouldn't want to wear that Longines, either.
Find him a dial specialist who can carefully clean up this dial, or point him to a quality re-dialer. This watch will just sit in a drawer if he finds it unattractive.