watch repair people are only human so don't be a twat noob...

[The_Proctometrist 16]

This is not in the repair section because it's an observation.  So here's the deal, I took my little BP Sea Dweller with a crappy  SA 3135 to my rep friendly repair dude, as per the advice of all the wonderful but foul mouthed watchmen on this site.  It took 5 minutes to find this guy on Yelp, so I'd know what all the fuss is about.  This guy is performing a complete overhaul and is cleaning out the dirt, dust, semen and smegma. It will take 2 weeks for him to complete his tasks as he is old school, methodical, zen kind of guy. It will cost yours truly $195 Canadian dollars which translates into $5 American, given that our currency is shit,  and he  guarantees this so called crap movement for one year.  He services a lot of gens and reps and said there is absolutely no reason why these twat faced rep unfriendly watch repair places can't service and repair our watches.  They are just being jerks.  He is also calling bullshit on all you SA 3135 haters.  He is of the opinion that it's a decent little movement that CAN be repaired as long as the watch repair person is trained and has 3 brain cells.  He is really enjoying reading these forums by the way, I hope he joins.  It seems most of the watch repair asses have no training and have learned on the job by replacing batteries at Sears, or they have 1 month mail-in training.  I am quoting the watch repair dude now: "If the watch repair person is really trained in the art of  horology and repairing movements they can fashion the parts they need. That's the fun part of the job.  There is no reason to toss it and you can keep an SA 3135 running forever as long as it's cleaned and smeg free. "  It's also very accurate if serviced.  So there you go SA 3135 haters follow the way of the jedi and hand fashion your broken bits. Speaking of which, I better deal with my broken bit right now...

Edited August 15, 2019 by mmjmmj
my arse is capable of a lot of flush...

[Rx4Time 1,472]

Well, I personally never said it wasn't repairabile, but parts are virtually non existent.  I'm glad you found someone who can and will take the time to fashion and modify the parts to repair it.  Overall the SA is a better finished movement vs the SH, but little in it is genuine spec.  I'm curious what city you are in?  It's always good to have a list of watchsmiths available. 

[The_Proctometrist 16]

21 minutes ago, Rx4Time said:

  I'm curious what city you are in?  

I'm in Vancouver.

[Piloten 332]

Calgary here. I have another rep friendly repair guy here so that is at least two.

-J

[The_Proctometrist 16]

7 minutes ago, Piloten said:

Calgary here. I have another rep friendly repair guy here so that is at least two.

-J

Awsome, I found 3 on yelp in Vancouver but I ended my search after maybe 5 minutes on account of my ADHD. I'm sure there are more.

[hanski 40]

@mmjmmjit would be nice to get the contact info for this watchmaker. I’m just down in Seattle and it’s been next to impossible to find a decent watchmaker who can do the things I cannot (replace jewels, make new reversing wheels for an SA3135, etc). 

By the way, I was up there the other month, stopped by the Night Market in hopes to find some reps. Only thing I could find was great food and fake Supreme socks - oh well. 

Oh, and I agree with your watchmaking fellow - the SA movement is pretty decent except for the automatic works. Those wheels just suck! 

[ShovelnTC 31]

Anything is possible give enough time, skills and money, all of which are in short supply for most of us but I'm glad that you were lucky enough to find someone.

[BenjaminButton 149]

195 of your Canadian equates to about 121 of my coins - just about spot on for what I like to spend on buying a fake watch, full stop. When the pubes are fully ground into dust and mixed up with the ky jelly they use for lube and the watch stops I dig another hole in the garden, say a little prayer for all those that got bugger all for making it and fuck it off.

 

Of course if I had the self taught skills to de-pube and lube and do whatever else is required I would but I don’t so I don’t.

 

[deju 1,859]

You're so  wrong I don't know where to start.

Your statement:  

Quote

Unfriendly Rep Repair People Are Just Jerks

No in fact repair people are mostly highly skilled and to be frank rarely appreciated and fairly paid people.

The jerk in 99% of the situations are the people with items for repair,  who have no skill, no appreciation for peoples time/knowledge and last but not least have: 

no patience or  budget. 

The fact is regardless of the product everything is repairable with enough time and money.

You're on a replica watch forum, news flash if we do a demographic of people who wear replica's I'm saying that all rep fora puts us in the sub 5% of all buyers/wearer. 

So you're very much in a bubble. A minnow in the ocean, Not the whale in a fish bowl.

I'd like to quote @BenjaminButton as he has hit the head on the nail of everything I just said;

38 minutes ago, BenjaminButton said:

195 of your Canadian equates to about 121 of my coins - just about spot on for what I like to spend on buying a fake watch, full stop. When the pubes are fully ground into dust and mixed up with the ky jelly they use for lube and the watch stops I dig another hole in the garden, say a little prayer for all those that got bugger all for making it and fuck it off.

Of course if I had the self taught skills to de-pube and lube and do whatever else is required I would but I don’t so I don’t.

 

If we do an example and I'm going to be even more fair and say the average holiday special replica people are buying is £100.00.

Why is someone with a £100 replica going to waste their time repairing? Surely anyone with a brain will understand if they could do it themselves they would but they can't so the cost of labour would make it un economical.

 Not a JERK, as mentioned they have no concept of peoples time or skill. We could argue that these people are also self entitled.

The will take a ruined £100 replica to a watch maker then expect it to be fixed for £25.00. on top of this they will expect it done as a priority and ASAP.  

They certainly won't understand there is a non existent supply chain.

They will hold the watch maker accountable for time scale.

They won't want to pay true value of skill or time.

Oh and please don't forget (and anyone who has worked on or with any chinese parts will agree). There will be further unseen issues found when working with them. 

So it's a lot easier to  blanket ban working on replica's than have to deal with a hoard of Jerk's.  

 

[GingerApple 7,272]

Deju's time of the month?

[deju 1,859]

8 minutes ago, TheFreckledTampon said:

Deju's time of the month?

The concept passes to any industry  I see a lot of these jerks. 

[NCRich 13,744]

Can't stress this enough......buy a 2824/36.

That is all.

[GingerApple 7,272]

@deju

I can imagine doing what you do!!!

OP seems to have found a legend though - wrap that watchsmith in cotton wool OP and be incredibly nice to him. If he's at the level of manufacturing bespoke gears/parts (and willing to do it again a competence price), he's worth his weight in gold!

And joking aside Deju/BB, the days of throwaway, $100 reps doesn't paint the full picture. Some of the reps are at another level these days - think of the expense of a noob Daytona or a double-tourbillon-whateveritwas that popped up at several thousand bucks recently - if you have something like that, you're not throwing it away when the movement craps out! 

[deju 1,859]

6 minutes ago, TheFreckledTampon said:

@deju

I can imagine doing what you do!!!

OP seems to have found a legend though - wrap that watchsmith in cotton wool OP and be incredibly nice to him. If he's at the level of manufacturing bespoke gears/parts (and willing to do it again a competence price), he's worth his weight in gold!

And joking aside Deju/BB, the days of throwaway, $100 reps doesn't paint the full picture. Some of the reps are at another level these days - think of the expense of a noob Daytona or a double-tourbillon-whateveritwas that popped up at several thousand bucks recently - if you have something like that, you're not throwing it away when the movement craps out! 

Yeah some replica's are awesome now, but still they are probably shifting the shite ones by the metric ton. We would need to find an insider to give us a rough idea, but the cheap shite will far outweigh the high end replicas.

True story, here is a photo of the Replica tourbillion owners club....

[brang1 3,989]

i call bullshit! Who the hell has 3 BRAIN CELLS?

[GingerApple 7,272]

15 minutes ago, deju said:

Yeah some replica's are awesome now, but still they are probably shifting the shite ones by the metric ton. We would need to find an insider to give us a rough idea, but the cheap shite will far outweigh the high end replicas.

True story, here is a photo of the Replica tourbillion owners club....

What the fuck have I just seen!!!!!!!

Literally what is going on there!!?!

The guy third from the right in the back row seems to have some sort of split sack (amongst the other obvious problem).

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

[black263 228]

19 minutes ago, brang1 said:

i call bullshit! Who the hell has 3 BRAIN CELLS?

6 moderators.  

[GingerApple 7,272]

3 minutes ago, black263 said:

6 moderators.  

I know exactly which ones you're talking about....

[brang1 3,989]

6 minutes ago, black263 said:

6 moderators.  

i stand corrected 

[deju 1,859]

55 minutes ago, TheFreckledTampon said:

What the fuck have I just seen!!!!!!!

Literally what is going on there!!?!

The guy third from the right in the back row seems to have some sort of split sack (amongst the other obvious problem).

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Mental eh! 

50 minutes ago, black263 said:

6 moderators.  

I  wish we had awards, this post deserves it! 

[The_Proctometrist 16]

the title of this post has been changed by the op because it has come to the attention of some that i'm not paying attention to how i space my cans and i'm a twat.  i see some in our little gaggle have not been able to discern from my posts around these fantastic forums that beyond being a noob, i am clearly an idiot.  some have, so i would like to say  thank you to them. being canadian i am culturally bound to being polite at all times. to   @BenjaminButton  i say, i am with you man, truer words were never written!!!  you clearly understand that anything i post will always speak to the catharsis that my arse is certainty capable of a lot of flush. in addition to the above i would also like to add that i like them french-fried potatoes, mm-hm...

3 hours ago, BenjaminButton said:

195 of your Canadian equates to about 121 of my coins - just about spot on for what I like to spend on buying a fake watch, full stop. When the pubes are fully ground into dust and mixed up with the ky jelly they use for lube and the watch stops I dig another hole in the garden, say a little prayer for all those that got bugger all for making it and fuck it off.

 

Of course if I had the self taught skills to de-pube and lube and do whatever else is required I would but I don’t so I don’t.

 

i just had to add  @BenjaminButton  quote in this post because you got to mulch boys, you got to...

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by mmjmmj

[GenTLe 1,495]

Actually I perfectly understand those who don't want to put their hands on reps.

One thing is to repair a watch that you are pretty sure was built well, has spares, and was working well since the beginning.

A complete different thing is to deal with something that may have bad material inside, poor performance since the beginning, may have ran dry for a while, you don't have spares (or obtain them is an headache).

All of this charging the same money as gen as the time is the same (if not more due to the previous considerations), hence having a customer expecting a watch that performs gen-like...

Plus, at least here in Italy, if you have a commercial activity and the voice you have reps spread, you seriously risk a visit from police and a fine that can bring to a business closure and penal issues.

So why should they put themselves into such troubles??

[deju 1,859]

32 minutes ago, mmjmmj said:

 

 

We're all noobs  but I like your candor!! Not like that Ginger twat.... 

 

[The_Proctometrist 16]

8 minutes ago, deju said:

We're all noobs  but I like your candor!! Not like that Ginger twat.... 

 

thanks, i've always been a Mary Ann kind of guy anyways...

 

[Logixa 8]

@deju is right

@GenTLe is right.

@NCRich is right

After doing work on more than 70 (rep) watches here are my conlcusions:

- Sx31xx movement are horrible pieces of gut-fucked shit. Marges on the parts are retarded and they rarely run "good", even after a full stop-shop service from top to bottom. I thought it was me that had this problem but then I took a close look at the work of other watchmakers/modders on these movements and they were all the same. Results all over the place and barely anything that could be tagged as "good"
- Servicing a movement costs 4 to 6 hours on a eta based movement. 6 to 8 for replica Sx31xx movements. Again, shit quality steel and parts.
- You are paying somewhere between 100 to 175 for a service on a rep. Thats cheap as fuck.. If I would calculate the costs vs time spent on a watch then thats peanuts.
- SA movement is shit. you are blind/moron/not knowledgeable about your subject, if you think otherwise. PS: SH is also shit.
- all chrono rep movements are shit. Dont buy them.
- Fashioning the parts for a watch is part of EVERY watchmakers education. It literally is and they all can do it. Again, why spend the time on something thats not even worth 120 bucks?! Calculate the costs of making your own parts and you will know.

Lets make it more simple:

Parts cost: 200-ish
service cost average: 175-ish
your watch price: 400-ish
 

So you want to spend approx 375 on a 400 bucks watch? And the chances of getting it really good are very slim? 

 

Yeah, please move on kid would  the watchmaker say