Leaderboard

I truly believe that Mike is honest, forthright, and is not trying to "cut and run". He has been thrust into a family situation that I'm sure at his age he had not the faintest idea that he would be involved with lawyers,wills and trying to go through probate. Even for folks that have had experience with this, it's still a time consuming procedure. It's also pretty exhausting, as you are trying to do something that one, you are not involved with on a regular basis, and second, most folks would rather be doing just about anything else besides sitting down and listen to a bunch of lawyers. Layer all of that stress on top of recent surgery and being sick, I'm sure he's running on fumes right now. Having said all that, when you are dealing with folks that really don't know you, except through the forum, people tend to start getting antsy when they don't get replies. Sometimes a quick PM of just a few words is all it takes to put customers at ease. I know that it is time consuming, and it takes time away from your bench, eating, sleeping and meeting with lawyers,but it's and important part of business. One of the positive things that will come out of this is you will know from the folks who are waiting for watches, who you will cull from your customer list. The other thing that I would bet that you take from this experience is not letting yourself get overloaded with work, as life's twists and turns always happen unexpectedly, and always at the worst time. The best part of this is like everything else in life, this too shall pass. In a few weeks, everyone who has a watch with you will have it back, hopefully most will be happy with the work and life will go on. And finally, What I find a little strange, if you send a genuine watch to the manufacturer for repair or restoration, it may take 3-6 months to get it back, and I can guarantee you, they don't tell you anything beyond what they are going to do and what the cost is!

My 1979 Transitional 16750 I think, well maybe....

I can fully understand how these sort of situations can arise... and I understand how difficult it can be for anyone in this situation... But reading the first reply ...I personally feel is wrong.. To say this is only reps and my family come first is totally applaudable.... and I feel the same way.. but you are talking about yourself...you are now dealing with others.. and in that respect by taking this work and other members watches you are no longer just doing a hobby for yourself... Guys who have spent their money and sent thier property to you have put thier trust in you... you cant just walk away from that and expect them to understand that ...no matter the reason.... A simple thread or contacting a mod/crew member would give comfort to those who are in your hands and its a single conduit of communication..that can be easily updated withoiut spending to much of your time on it By taking watches and taking money this is no longer simply a hobby for you but it is for those giving you thier trust and thier money... all they ask in return is a simple flow of information in return... I am not out to beat M with this and I dont doubt his honesty but I do think that by saying that ...he really doesnt understand or has given any thought to how these guys feel or I certainly know how I would feel if I sent soemone a few hundred/thousand worth of stuff... and heard nothing..

Mike I consider you as a friend and a good watchmaker and honestly I don't have a worry in my body that you won't come through but stop with all the excuses and meaningless side stories. People have their 'babies' with you! Forget watchmaking for 2 hours, step up and call/ email ALL your clients and give them a status update. Let them know when their watch is scheduled according to your new time frame and give them an option: wait or send the watch back. If you do that today this whole nightmare will be over tomorrow. Just my 0.002.

I'm a pretty patient guy and from what I've seen of Mike on the board I do trust him but not heard from him re my watches in for repairs for a good while now, I'm no noob to our hobby so kerb the bullshit guys, what's going on with him atm? He has 4500$ worth of my stuff atm and comms are not happening, what's happening? Mike if you read this thread get in contact mate, people are getting nervous and rightly so......

Envoyé depuis mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk 4

I'm glad Mike is hard at work and not reading this thread.

As a watchmaker on this board I can provide some insights in how we work. No watchmaker (who is in his right mind) will ever accept 100 watches for repair, service or whatever in one single time frame. On average we are talking about 20-30 watches at a time for watchmakers who do this for a living. And let me tell you that those numbers are already very difficult to handle for one man. I myself work on 5 watches at a time max. as I also have a day time job. And yes, it requires extensive project management skills and excell sheets to keep everything aligned. The actual watchmaking only takes place on 2-3 watches at a time because you just can't take apart 20-30 let alone 100 watches.... Where do you put all the parts? No, depending on what needs to be done you switch between those 2-3 watches. Waiting on parts for one movement? You start taking apart movement number two or pressure testing watch number three, etc.... The rest of the watches are waiting in que: untouched! At least that is how it is supposed to be done. Planning, scheduling and communication are key!

Disappointment. I thought I'd be seeing some ebony b#tches up in here! Jk! Nice watch! Wear it in good health!

Profound

This $ 20.000 watch must be replicated IWC Portofino 5251 46mm diametre so its huge Comes in both display and closed caseback..obviosuly the replica should be closed caseback http://ninanet.net/watches/others05/Mediums/mIWC5251.html This watch houses the ancient IWC caliber 9521 pocketwatch movement, which is 16 3/4 lignes (about 38mm diameter) and only 4.15mm thick, surely an achievement which must have been the culmination of many years of development and tweaking. While this movement might have been placed into a case less monstrous than the actual 46mm diameter chosen, my surmise is that having a thinner bezel would lead to an unbalanced look, and since the case itself is only 6mm thick, structural integrity might even have been a concern. Besides being highly refined, the 9521 is luxuriously equipped with Breguet spiral hairspring, a huge Glucydur balance and (yea!) Incabloc shock protection, and maintains a power reserve of about 48 hours, running at 18kbph. The dial is matte-enameled, all markers sharply and meticulously silk-screened, and the moon and stars adorning the midnight-blue field are evidently of gold; they are extraordinarily and beautifully reflective indeed, and produce an impression of movement and color that I have certainly been unable to capture. Finally, the highly-curved and low-mounted lugs seem to allow the Portofino a comfortable, if not necessarily flattering, perch upon even my very modest wrist, for which I am most grateful. Aesthetically, apart form the remarkable and enchanting view through the back, the whole design strikes me as quite delicate, even feminine. The bezel, lugs and watch itself are very thin, the wispy hands and numerals, the gilding of the hands at the mounts, and of course the teeny globe-adorned crown, all conspire in my mind to form an impression of fragility, not exactly what I associate with IWC products. http://home.watchprosite.com/?show=forumpost&fi=17&pi=6003573&ti=880213&s=0

This is none of my concern really, but if PM'ing customers is such a full time job, posting one topic on this forum would take 2 minutes and alleviate 90% of the anxiety that going silent has caused.

Yay!!! Received my watch today via DHL!! Ordered last Thursday and received it today! Awesome service from Trusty, certainly makes up for my first purchase. Think I might buy my third tonight lol

This is the V4 Diver from new maker/chanel Print on dial is solid Lume of inner bezel is plentiful crown guards is rounded to fit crown The V4 Diver in natural light Lume is pretty good, but Hour hand lume is too feeble. Strap looks crisp with deep lettering Clasp looks fine when strapped on V4 Ccaseback screws and detail looks pretty good V4 faults?: Too short cover/crownguard over the second crown?? Poor finish of inner side of clasp...RUST?? at least discoloured End links are all wrong??....+ horrible connection to strap in one case Some notes on the new maker V4 (No! this is not the noob 4.1): Micro Review of V4 Diver Dealer: SEAD Price: about 348US$ + V4 Lume is reasonable good in most part. Lume on inner bezel is ok. -Minus: Lume on Hour hand is not sufficient. Re-lume of hour hand needed + V4 Case and bezel is good in most part -Minus: part covering/crownguard for the second crown, for rotating the inner bezel, is too short in V4 +V4 AP Clasp is ok on the face shown -Minus: Rusted/discoloured appearance of markings on inne side of AP clasp + V4 Caseback and markings looks pretty good, screws recessed -minus: all the end links are wrong and go into the case, should reside on the outside bezel/case (see arrow ) + Bezel looks reasonable, but screws are only minimally recessed on this V4. + V4 Crystal is clear enough.Very easy to the read time even in very poor lighting conditions. +V4 dial looks crisp enough -Minus: V4 cyclops and date is of ridiculously poor quality (i.e too difficult to tell the date) + Strap has clear markings and look nice. -Subjectively the strap feels brittle -Minus on mine the endlink is not connected correctly on the strap and hopefully strap is not permanently damaged (se arrow) Conclusion: Its ok

No offense, you may or may not be new at all this, but sean dials are well known and there is nothing dishonest in his description. For 65$ and 20$ shipping I wouldn't be making such a fuss and be trying to impeach a forum member. The dial is worth what you paid. Sean's "superlumed" or anyones for that matter- rep parts....do not compare to what you would get with a genuine Rolex, Omega, or even Seiko.

Mike, I have faith in you brother. BTW, Mike's got 3 of my 'babies' and as soon as he's taking in new work, I think I have another one for you to work on Mike Dave...

That's the key to the whole situation. communication is the basis of trust. Most folks are very trusting, but when communications are cut off, people start to fear the worst. there are enough of us around that have been here long enough to remember some of the other guys who came on the forum, worked on watches with no problems and then either disappeared with folks money, or kept watches for months and then did a terrible hurry up job on the project. One constant with every one of the guys who have been a problem here was the lack of communication. PM's returned in seconds at first, and then suddenly, no response at all.I certainly don't put Mike in this category, but just and example of why folks are skeptical. All those fears could be put to rest by spending a little time getting everyone up to speed. And like Rolexman said, give folks the option of returning their watches if they are not happy with the time frame. I believe that it would be more productive to take a time out every day and sit down and answer emails and PM's. It is certainly less time consuming and certainly less frustrating than having to stamp out brush fires! I completely sympathize with you, as there have been times that my life has been in total chaos, and it seems like things are spinning out of control, but in the midst of all that, when you have a few moments, sit down and go through your PM list (I'm sure it's long and growing) and start with the oldest and eliminate them one at a time.

This is my all-time favourite and I regret it so much having it sold This is my current favourite but I guess that'll change once my 1680 is back

I still think that MD is a honorable member. There is lot of great work that he has done and lot of help he has provided to members in repair section. I still do believe, that Mike is completely different story compared to Texski who just run away and [censored] many guys here. It is true, that sometimes the life is not as flawless as we may want and i agree that such situations can f..k up anyone. But on the other hand i do not agree, that Mike was passive in lets say last 3 months. I read many posts and shouts about the same thing "where is MD...Has anyone seen MD lately...MD got away?... etc.". All those posts got at least short status update about what is currently going on with him by MD. So i cannot agree that he was not responding. Saw many posts past last three months, just search for them. It would all have been easier if MD would have his own dealers section, where he could post some status updates that would not get lost in time and where he could post some "important notices, status updates, waiting lists or whatever". But MD does not have his own section (thus he should have contacted admins already and at least ask for it) and those posts got lost and many members were not reading them either. But if there are some members waiting like more than 4 months (some say it is 6 months already), being on MD's place i would have contacted all the members with ongoing bussiness who are waiting more than 3-4 months, as they deserve it (at least for patience), and let them know what is going on (and maybe getting this thread pinned for some time until Mike gets in the bussiness again here in general discussion would help). And yeah Mike people here are/were patient for a long time but i do understand how are they feeling right now, so maybe a few sentences to your customers would help a lot. Get over those unlucky chapters in your life soon. We are with you and hope to see you back in bussiness again

Working on it , no promises. ................................................... Mike we understand the sit but like I have said before just put down the tools in between taking care of family stuff and just reach out to the guys on a one to one exchange. I am sure you will find all will say watches when ever but info needs to be forth coming per what you have and status.

Thanks to Finn for sharing his experience in the shoutbox. A communication breakdown after 6 months? Come on Mike. That story really got me thinking overtime. Even when life gets in the way you still have a responsibility to the people doing business with you.

I am interested in seeing what story/excuse comes up next... I can understand few not getting responses back in a timely manner but this seems like the tip of the iceberg.

I recommended his services to a friend with an expensive Franken and he has the watch but has stopped communicating. My friend is also patient but it makes people extremely uneasy to go dark pm/email wise. Md, stop working and return Pm's please it's in your best interest, we all trust you and it's understandable that you are back logged because of those unforeseen events but returning Pm's is all people want you to do, most of us are patient but it wears thin when communication stops

I suspect that like me everyone else is happy to be patient. Many of us have been waiting for a quantum leap in Pre-V dials like this for years. Thanks for your continued heroic effort. No one is going anywhere.

From all my watches my Exp II with pinholes is my favorite: Rolex Explorer II 08 by Bidle, on Flickr The Patek Nautilus 5711/1A 010 is also among the favorite because of the unbelievable nice dial. Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A-010 14 by Bidle, on Flickr

dear all let me share the updated list 1. ikequebec (201/A non-matching) 2. ikequebec (202/A non-matching) 3. Sergeant_At_Arms (201/A matching) 4. Sergeant_At_Arms (202/A non-matching) 5. torresp (201/A matching) 6. ubiquitous (201/A matching) 7. ubiquitous (201/A non-matching) 8. dropbear2008 (201/A non-matching) 9. dropbear2008 (202/A non-matching) 10. altesporsche (201/A matching) 11. altesporsche (201/A non-matching) 12. altesporsche (202/A matching) 13. altesporsche (202/A non-matching) 14. m3amg (201/A matching) 15. air (201/A non-matching) 16. air (202/A non matching) 17. boston909 (201/A matching) 18. NTB (201/A non-matching) 19. NTB (202/A non-matching) 20. Korneevy (201/A matching) 21. deanr (201/A non-matching) 22. torresp (201/A non-matching) 23. torresp (202/A whatever) 24. milesd (201/A non-matching) 25. coolfire (201/A non-matching) 26. coolfire (202/A non-matching) 27. NiLo (201/A non-matching) 28. NiLo (202/A non-matching) 29. mir36 (201/A non-matching) 30. chrisser88 (201/A matching) 31. civic4982 (201/A matching) 32. civic4982 (202/A non-matching) 33. EMM (201/A matching) 34. ogladio (202/A non-matching) 35. esco (201/A non-matching) 36. esco (202/A non-matching) 37. fitch (201/A non-matching) 38. fitch (202/A non-matching) 39. HikeUSA (202/A non-matching) 40. Jakob (201/A not specified yet) 41. zhoon1129(201/A non-matching) 42. trans_lux (201/A matching) 43. trans_lux (202/A non-matching) 44. Watchmeister (201/A non-matching) 45. Watchmeister (202/A non-matching) 46. Grimlocktime (201/A non-matching) 47. blizzard (202/A non-matching) 48. blizzard (201/A matching) 49. Nix (201/A non-matching) 50. ismaelmv (201/A matching) 51. mellons (which ever avaliable) 52. znb666 (202/A matching?) 53. znb666 (201/A non-matching) 54. raywj (201/A non-matching) 55. prevendom (201/A non-matching) 56. prevendom (202/A non-matching) color code black: batch no.1, blue: batch no 2, green: batch 3

'Bones' who's based in Scotland is a great guy, or Alex Walker who's a trained watchsmith and does work on reps Cheers DH

@flyr: I love your watch! My favourite gone watch was SOH 46 with a genuine dial. I miss the dial the most, impossible to find any more and it was only around $200! At the moment my favourite is IWC 5002 with a genuine dial, DW and strap.

The Speedmaster, by a whisker. Aero_Dave: Love that huge T-Graph!

Nasomatto Black Afgano. Just incredible!