I've been after a Lip Nautic Ski for a little while now... Got totally stiffed on an eBay deal (refused to sell when I'd won the bid) and wasn't overly keen on spending the £350+ that they seemed to go for...
So, I took a total punt on the bay for a non worker... Took it to my genius watchie Steve Burridge (I work 10 mins from where he lives and he's one of the nicest guys you could ever meet) and he cleared up some corrosion from a battery that had leaked in it and lobbed a new battery in it and 'ta da' it worked... Don't you love it when that happens...? He also did some light case refininishing and cleared up the glass and hey presto a beautiful watch with a crisp dial in beautiful condition appears...
To say I'm delighted is understatement... Such a cool watch!
It's on a NATO for the moment, but, I've ordered a red leather Rallye strap (brave)
So, show me your greatest restoration efforts
Before... A sad lip
After a happy lip :D
Last edited by Wolfie; 26th June 2014 at 21:21.
I bought this for peanuts as a non-runner and my watch guy had it in perfect nick in no-time:
Sadly that's not always how it goes. I bought this dead Tissot to get it repaired. After a watchie held onto it for a ridiculously long time he quoted me a ridiculously large sum to get it repaired. Fed up with the situation I then gifted it to a more technically adept forum member. With one new part from the Bay and some fiddling he got himself a perfectly fine Tissot:
Never bought watches that needed a lot of work. But my 79090 had some Wabi and the bracelet was see-through.
Was changed to
Then the watch case done. Lume filled in, so from
To
Well, these look like NOS:) Quality of photos is great as well!
Originally Posted by JackW
I bought this for peanuts as a non-runner and my watch guy had it in perfect nick in no-time:
Sadly that's not always how it goes. I bought this dead Tissot to get it repaired. After a watchie held onto it for a ridiculously long time he quoted me a ridiculously large sum to get it repaired. Fed up with the situation I then gifted it to a more technically adept forum member. With one new part from the Bay and some fiddling he got himself a perfectly fine Tissot:
^^^^
Quite!
They're both stunners!!!
I had two of these Smiths with Seiko derived movements.
They are clearly automatics, but were advertised as "needing a new battery" on the bay of fools.
The unmolested one on the right was too good to be a beater, so I stupidly let it go on sales corner.
It was perfect for it's age.
Thinking it was going to be easy to source a donor movement, I hit a few problems.
Sieko movements were expensive, so I bought a gold Smiths hand wind for parts.
I couldn't bear to strip it down, and I still have it (shown below)
I even bought an HMT auto, but the date window was 9mm from centre, instead of 10mm.
Eventually a member here donated a SOKI, and the movement swap was completed.
I am wearing the Smiths Auto now ready for work tomorrow.
It shouldn't have the Soki Mercedes hands - but it's all I have.
This is the final verison of the Franken repair (I wish I kept the original one).
I've had a lot of watches modded by other people, but I was proud of myself for being able to resuscitate this one myself.
The dial and minute/hour hands came from a Seiko 5 that was too small for me. The majority of the watch is a Seiko SKX173 that was losing about two minutes per day when I bought it. The problem turned out to be a hairspring that had been stretched out of round somehow. I transplanted the balance bridge and hairspring from the same Seiko 5 that had donated the dial and hands. I finished it off by adding a second hand that came from the late Noah Fuller, and a bezel insert from his business partner, Jake Boudreaux. I was happy with the way this turned out and it now loses about 2 sec/day.
After decades in a drawer following an ill-advised day at the seaside I managed to get my Dad's 1958 Omega "improved" for his 75th birthday from this:
to this:
It took longer than the six minutes implied by the pictures, but not a bad effort, I'd say.
That's very impressive - who worked on it?After decades in a drawer following an ill-advised day at the seaside I managed to get my Dad's 1958 Omega "improved" for his 75th birthday from this:
to this:
It took longer than the six minutes implied by the pictures, but not a bad effort, I'd say.
This:
plus this:
became this:
I got it serviced and resurrected by a little local watch and jewellery shop, Guess & Co in Surbiton. They evidently use a very good dial restorer/repainter - they, my Dad and I were all rather surprised at how well it turned out. Fortunately the movement was almost entirely unaffected by the water damage and corrosion.
Thanks - might pay them a visit sometime
My dad's old sieko diver leaked while diving and sat in a drawer for over 5 years. I brought a donor sieko off eBay and swapped the movements over. Was not an easy job and my 1st time attempting anything more difficult than bezels, case back jobs. The hands were a pain in the a** as had no proper tools. Gave it to him for his birthday 2 years ago as a surprise now his daily and going strong. Will get a wrist shot when he's back from holiday.
The finished watch.
This one is probably my biggest save to date, a Seiko H558 Arnie (sellers pic) -
It took me eight or nine months searching for new parts including a new movement from a donor watch, new gaskets, new crown and stem, new repro shroud, new a/m insert, new sapphire and the hands and dial were relumed -
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...on-(pic-heavy)
Just recently this:
Became this:
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...05-resurrected
Cheers..
Jase
Wow... Some impressive contributions... Well done! The Omega transformation was particularly impressive and nice touch restoring your dads seiko diver mr.chef... I bet the was well chuffed!
I think there is something particularly noble about bringing a nice watch back from the edge
Fantastic work on the bracelet, can I ask how it was done/who completed the work? Always useful information to file away lest my watches head the same way.Never bought watches that needed a lot of work. But my 79090 had some Wabi and the bracelet was see-through.
Was changed to
Thanks the hands were such a pain using only tweezers and a shaky handnice touch restoring your dads seiko diver mr.chef... I bet the was well chuffed!
Somewhere I have an amateur "before" pic of a 1996 Blackbird, which I refinished by hand, stripped/reassembled then sent off to have the movement fettled (I couldn't do that bit, only refit and crudely regulate). It was a joy to put back together. However, it's neither new nor old, not particularly iconic, and not large and "brand-values" enough to warrant much interest. So the picture will remain buried.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
That is amazing!!!...
to this:
...
From now on, I will never dismiss a watch outright just because of its dial condition.
Funny that - my dad had a Tissot F1 that was given to my grandad when he retired as an electrical engineer at Mather & Platt. He took it to a jeweller down south who it turns out crammed an oversized battery into it, wrecking the contacts.Sadly that's not always how it goes. I bought this dead Tissot to get it repaired. After a watchie held onto it for a ridiculously long time he quoted me a ridiculously large sum to get it repaired. Fed up with the situation I then gifted it to a more technically adept forum member. With one new part from the Bay and some fiddling he got himself a perfectly fine Tissot:
It subsequently went to every high street AD in Manchester and every one wrote it off as too difficult and expensive to fix. I'm convinced to this day that a decent independent could fix it in no time at all, so I'll have to dig it out of its box one day and give it a go.
Sure, it was Michael Young. I have his email if you need it but can be found online as well.
I haven't worked on anything myself but Rich Askham has sorted four watches for me including the Eterna here:
http://thewatchspotblog.com/?p=3246
The work he does is superb and he has a couple more of my watches awaiting the magic touch (Rich - I'll get those Heuer hands sorted!).
"A man of little significance"
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