dovo1695

I'm also really interested in a 4th gen PO; 45 mm is just too big for my wrists:(. Trusty Time advertises the following about the bracelet on their 4th gen PO: "SS Bracelet has "PLANET OCEAN" Markings (BEST Edition ever made!)" Anybody bought this watch from TT recently? Has there been any upgrade in bracelet quality since the initial reviews?

Demonslayer, I've only ever seen the BCE offered with an Asian 7750 or a ETA 7750. Where have you seen it offered with a quartz movement?

Wow! That watch is drop dead gorgeous. I've been trying to resist the impulse to buy a BCE but after seeing this post I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to hold out. Great pics BTW. I can't tell if it's just a question of picture quality but this is the nicest blue dial that I've seen; the concentric scrolling really stands out. Is it different from the dials available from the collectors on this site?

szvwj, Really nice work! Thanks for posting this for the benefit of the rest of us; I bet there will be quite a few people who tackle this project in the future. I pretty sure I'm not alone in anticipating the pictures of the final product.

Wow! That looks really sharp. I wasn't really considering the Two Tone until I saw these picks from you. That baby is gorgeous. Well done.

I think its a great idea, there's probably quite a few people out there that would benefit from such a "wiki". It sounds like you've already done quite a bit of homework; if you pulled together and posted the links that have been the most informative you'd probably have a pretty "wiki" already.

That looks really slick. I can definitely see myself picking one of those up.

The purpose of this thread is to create a list of U.S. based watchmakers with whom we have had positive experiences. There are many members out there who have considerable difficulty finding someone to service their watches. If you are an RWG member who has experience with a U.S. based watchmaker for either repair or service, please help out your fellow members by posting a review of that watchmaker below edit (after confirming with that watchmaker wants his contact info posted!). I know there are many of us who would really appreciate and benefit from it. (If you offer watch repair services, there are other venues for solicitation; the intent of this post is for impartial member reviews[The Zigmeister excluded of course, whose thoughts are always welcome anywhere in this forum]). If you think this thread is worthwhile and you're in a position to "bump" it to give it visibility; please feel free to do so. I hope that I won't get a lot of backlash for posting this thread because of my noob status; I did quite a bit of searching within the forums (2hrs) and came up with only 1 U.S. based watchmaker. Also, I realize that there is a specific "watch repair" forum where I could have posted this. I gave considerable thought to where to post this and ultimately decided that the general discussion area would be the most useful place to post this thread. My reasoning is that the members who are most able to make positive contributions to this thread are the least likely to see it in the "watch repair" section; after all, they have a great local watchmaker that keeps their watches in fine working order and therefore have no reason to look into the watch repair section in the first place! It's my hope that they will come across this posting and let us know who they use and what they think of the service. I also intend absolutely no offense or disrespect to The Zigmeister. In my time on this forum I have only heard great things about his services and abilities; he is typically referred to by those who know a hell of a lot more about watches than I do as the "Maestro". In fact it is precisely because he is so good that I am adding this post; his services are so in demand that his backlog is always considerable. As a result, I'm pretty confident that demand for his services will always vastly outstrip his available time; there are simply thousands of us out there getting watches in on a monthly basis. edit Here's a template for future posts rating the services of your local watchmaker: (As other members have pointed out; make sure you check with your watchmaker to ensure that it's O.K. that you post his name on this forum. This is a stupid mistake that I made when first posting this thread and other members pointed out my error. I have edited this post to remove the watchmakers contact info until I confirm that he wants to have his name posted here.) Watchmaker Service: Name of Watchmaking Service Contact Name: Name of Contact Location: Address Website: Website link if available Phone: Contact phone # Email: Email if available Brands serviced: Brands that are service by this watchmaker Services Performed: A detailed description of Services Performed Watch Serviced: A detailed description of watch services performed Date of Service: I included this field just to give an indication of how long the watch went without problems. If the review is posted a day after return, this gives less of an indication than if it's been 2 years since the service was performed. Turn Around Time: Length of time from time sent out to time received Satisfaction: Indicate level of satisfaction with services Price for Service: Obviously there are very few of us that are using price as a primary criteria for selecting a watch repair service, most of us would rather pay more for the best. That said, I think most of us would want to know whether a service is $100 vs $400. Once again, The Zigmeister is the master and the man, but he can't possibly service every watch the thousands of members of this forum buy each year. And don't kid yourself that sparkling, brand new SFSO with the asian movement can go right on your wrist unserviced without problems down the road. Imagine how great it would be to have a list of 50 or so watchmakers in the U.S. who have been vetted by multiple members, don't turn their noses down at reps, do quality work, and send back the watch in a timely fashion! Let's see how many we can come up with!

I'm really curious to know how this worked out for you guys; how would you rate you're experiences with the "watch doctor". If he's good I might consider his services. Thanks.

Holy Cow!!! When I saw this topic I assumed I was going to see carnage and a cautionary tale as to why it only seems like a good idea to make make major mods yourself in the basement! I agree with the other posters that this came out extremely well. I fear you've emboldened cadre of eggheads such as myself with with you're remarkable dremel artistry. I've been toying with the idea of a self-service relume myself, despite having read the discussions elsewhere on this forum advising that it be left to pro's like The Zigmeister. I haven't seen many pics of re-lume jobs gone wrong though. Any chance that you would post a pic of the dial that you made the attempt on? Additionally, you wrote "I've had a bit of a fart about with the pearl, relumed it and relumed the hands." Does this mean that you re-lumed the pearl and hands yourself? If so its an incredibly nice job.

Great review Pix! I was already having difficulty choosing between the BCE and the Blackbird. I had all but decided on the BCE until I read this post and saw you're gorgeous pics. Now I guess I'm just going to have buy both!

This watch is gorgeous on leather, even better on a black Nato, and heart stopping with an SS bracelet. Has anyone gotten in the SS bracelet for this watch yet? I'm keen to hear how the quality is, and would love to see some close up pics.

Thanks for setting me straight guys. TA8088 you were right on the money; the other rep watches that I have been looking at with a Swiss movement were 28xx. After I did some searching in the forum I found a few posts discussing the cost of the gen swiss 7750; I had no idea how expensive it was!!! Ironically, I had promised myself that I wouldn't post until I had spent at least 40 or so hours poring through the existing threads and could ask a decent question. I guess I've proven that I still have a long way to go before I graduate from "noob" status Thanks for taking the time to answer my question; this is an amazing community!

I'm a little perplexed by the price differential between the asian 7750 version of the "ultimate" version of the BCE. Can anyone explain why the ETA version from our dealers is triple the price of asian version ($300 vs $900)? For most watches that I've seen the price difference is only $150 to $200 difference between asian and ETA versions. Both the ETA and the asian version have: Double AR mark after the 10 on the top sub dial It seems like I could buy the "ultimate" asian version, send it to The Zigmeister to be lumed and serviced, and still come out a few hundred dollars ahead. Can anybody shed some light on this? I love this watch and want to buy one. Thanks in advance...

The April 2008 issue of "Watch Time" magazine has a full page write up on the Mark XVI with some gorgeous pictures (lume shot included!). I would buy one of these watches in a second if they decide to rep it.