RWG Technical

I understand completely where you are coming from, both from your perspective and as a person who offers a service. If you or anyone who has a watch with a modder, has waited a reasonable amount of time, had broken promises and missed delivery dates, and you get no response from the modder, then you owe it to the forum to report this. Not in an accusatory way, but to simply state what has happened to you. Everyone seems to put and attach emotion to these topics, it's not an emotional discussions, never should be one. You paid for a service, you were promised a delivery date, that date has gone by for weeks, you haven't gotten any answers, so post about it. Problem I have seen in the past, especially with RBJ, is that he did exactly as you suggested, held people's watches hostage. BUT the bigger problem was that everyone was SCARED to post or say anything, and people kept sending him watches, and more watches, at one point he had over 150 watches, most still in the shipping boxes at his house... If no one says anything, people keep on shipping and shipping, and what may have been a small problem, becomes a huge one. We need to stop being scared and speak out about mods and what is really going on, or this is going to keep on taking place, it been like this for 4 years that I have been here... RG

I don't recommend cutting it, because the metal is very hard, and when you cut it the shock and force needed can either damage and crack a jewel (if you cut in with the movement assembled) or if you remove the wheel you risk bending the pivot. The other problem with those who cut them is that it leaves a burr, or a piece of metal sticking out that jams in the jewel when you try to remove the gear. I know this because I have seen cut ones in the shop that the gear can't be removed from the mainplate...we have to consider what happens when you cut a hardened piece of metal. My suggestion on how to do this if you don't have the watchmaking skills to take the gear out (removing the gear is the best way) is like this: Remove the dial and remove the hour wheel. Get some blue or green low tack painters masking tape, place a piece of masking tape over the complete dial side of the movement, and where the seconds pin sticks out, press the pin through the tape and have it sticking out. Take a Dremel with a grinding stone on it, the ones that look like a pencil. Slowly and carefully grind the pin down until you are BELOW the mainplate. Don't touch the jewel with the grinding stone. Then take your blower and blow all the metal fillings off of the tape, take some rodico and remove any fillings in the hole where you did the grinding, then carefully remove the tape from the movement, re-assemble and voila, all done, no risk of fillings of metal into the movement, no risk of damage to the movement by shocking the pivot by cutting it, and because you ground it down you don't have the problem of removing the gear for servicing, it won't have a sharp edge on it as it does by cutting it. I have done this and it works perfect everytime, you just need to take your time and be careful and make sure the movement dial side is taped up so no metal fillings get inside. Work with the movement on a flat table with a loupe and good light. RG

Great story. It reminds me of my days working in Koh Samui and spending an overnight in BKK coming and going... RG

How long can someone grieve a personal loss? We have all had losses in our lives, in my job I get 3 days brevement leave and then I am expected to return to work. It takes but a few minutes of your day, to either go to the post office and return people's property, or even better, post a status update on where everyone's watches stands. Thousands of supposed emails don't have to be answered, that is the advantage of the forum, one post will inform everyone. However none of this answer's or gives me a good feeling when members have had watches gone missing for months, all before the death in the family. For me it's deja vu all over again, RBJ, Finepics, TWP, Navigateur, and the rest of those that have gone down this road. Same story, same excuses, same response overall, and the ending has never been good for the members. It should never get to this stage, if members were posting about thier experiences with modders well before months went by with no watch and no answer's. I am not very tolerant of this behaviour, not when your providing a service for money. Be professional or dont' do the work. I hope everyone gets thier property back. RG

Problems? Those aren't problems but opportunities to learn and expand my knowledge RG

Looks great. RG

Then my guess would be that it takes a standard El Primero hour wheel... Jules Borel or Ofrei should have it, if not, let me know on email and I'll see what I can find. RG

Actually I thought of posting some pics of our handiwork, but though "Nah, no one wants to see home renovations..." I'll get something together, reno's and bikes, and put them up later this week. No lume in France this time, this is purely a vacation and time to be with my gal RG

Amazing work, well done. RG

Is the movement a Rolex one, or a Zenith one? I ask because I am not sure if there is a difference in parts between the two. If it's marked as Zenith PH3019 (if my memory is correct) then you should be able to order a wheel for it from any supply shop. If you can identify the movement it would help, I can probably source one from my supplier. RG

Finally we (GF and I) seem to be getting at the end of the house renovations. So far we have gutted and re-done one bathroom, ripped out flooring in 2 bedrooms and the hallway and stairs and replaced it all with new flooring and carpet. Installed 2 outside doors, with one more to go, painted a room, had a big garage sale, and done some spring cleaning and donation runs to the charity shop. In spite of all of this, we have also made time to get out on our motorcycles and get some riding in. Of course I did get some time to work on a few watches as well... October is coming fast, and with it our trip to France. Getting ready always seems to take much longer than coming home and unpacking everything in 10 minutes, not sure why this is... So my time lately for forum stuff has been limited, as have my visits to RWG. I have finished a number of interesting watch projects during the past few months, and I hope to be able to post some pics of the end results, before I leave for vacation. And as most of you already know, my appointment book has effectivly been closed to new members due to the large number of deadbeats this year. It goes without saying that those who I have worked with already, and who haven't stood me up, have no concerns about future work or appointments. New Capabilities list Jan 2009 I have also revamped my capabilities list for January 2009, no price increases for servicing or repairs. I have however increased my lume prices and brought them in line with Everest Watchworks prices. Some of the price increases are to account for the extra quantity of lume needed on a sandwich dial for example, or the extra time for GMT or Subdial Hands on a Chrono, and to account for the increased cost of Super Lume from RC Tritec. The other idea I took from Kent, is a non-refundable deposit of $50 to book an appointment (any appointment, not only lume work). At least if we get stood up, we get some compensation for the time and effort already put in. Seems Kent is getting stood up as well... That about sums it up, if you want a new capabilities list, send in an email and J will send it out. I hope to post some new projects later this week or over the weekend, and I am really looking forward to our vacation, it's been a long time coming. I will be away for all of October. I think that's all for now, I'll be lurking until I leave. RG

Who did the installation of the ETA 7750? This should have been picked up during the testing after installation, my suggestion is to send it back and have them correct the problem. It's an easy fix most of the time, any competent watchsmith should be able to figure out the problem. RG

Sorry about that, better stick around this week since I plan on posting a couple more custom lume jobs... And whatever you do, don't do the same thing I did to my eye, it hurts RG

What else can I say, thanks everyone for stepping in and commenting on my behalf. Yes indeed, building a relationship is important for me. Unfortunatly, during the past 6 months the ratio of new members who have stood me up and wasted a lot of my time has become unaceptable. Which is why I only work with existing customers or new customers who are recommended through existing ones. As already mentioned watchsmithing is a hobby for me, and part time one at that. So you can find me, it's just not a matter of sending me a message and expecting me to open the door... RG

I did a few of the california dial models in blue that I painted on myself, then lumed them. They looked really nice, so blue is certainly a nice option. Silver is not my favorite on a white dial, too close in colour. RG

Well done FGD, can't wait to see them in person. Don't let the clowns who are misinformed get to you, we know the difference. RG

Well done and well documented. It would have been nice to reduce your efforts and have the correct parts all at once so you didn't have to keep taking it apart, but I guess that is the life of reps and doing upgrades. Thanks for sharing. RG

Wow, I love round engines, amazing sound, imagine 1000 of these going over during WW2, it must have been quite a site. RG

Actually that is best directed at JoJo not me. All I did was assemble the parts, he's the real expert at not only documenting and researching each and every watch he has assembled, but more than that, JoJo is able to find the correct parts for these projects. That's where the real expertise comes in, all I do is put the parts together at the end of it all. So the reality is that he's Holmes and I am Watson RG

I have to disagree, I don't agree that this is the best review ever, as far as I am concerned, this is the best post I have ever read, on any forum. Amazing work and detail, well done to say the least. The snobs from Time Zone can only wish that someone someday will do up a post that even comes close to this one in quality, detail, cross reference, etc... Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share this with the members here, including me, who also owns one of these babies, with a Tudor 7750 for power. This is what makes RWG the best of the best, and this is what separates us from the snobs, quality and excellence. RG

Looks good, really good. As with any of these projects, a few bumps and unforseen issues to deal with and overcome, but in the end it's all good. Enjoy. RG

Great find, thanks for this. RG

Very nice work, well done, but we need more close up pictures please... RG

Now, that's what I like to see and what I find beautiful...I think you need a clear caseback on those puppies...shame to hide that engineering marvel. RG

Thanks so much for the feedback, wasn't sure if I got it right, really appreciate the comments. RG