browngo1 Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 Visiting Perth, here in Scotland, for the weekend. Saw a small watchmaker's and dropped in for a chat. Asked if he was willing to work on high-end replicas and he said he was. Guy seemed decent enough and said he would need to see what kind of movements we were talking about, in regards to sourcing parts etc., but did seem genuinely interested. I explained that I was a member of a rep forum and that if his work was up to scratch he could get quite a bit of business from all over Europe. I said that, obviously, I couldn't recommend him to any of you guys yet as I hadn't seen any of his work and he was absolutely fine.with that. I'll try and get another visit here and let him have a look at the reps I have before we go any further, but it does sound promising! We could certainly do with.another watchmaker here in Europe as well.as Dominico, so I'll keep you all posted when I have more news. He has a website which you can see at: www.thewatchmaker.uk.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobster Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 definitely keep us in the loop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 Looks promising [Edit to add] Lets hope this one proves reliable, and doesn't get swamped by unreasonable requests Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxman Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 Looks promising Indeed,good luck with this G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishJackal Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 There is a guy in Kirkintilloch that will do work on reps, google The Watchmaker. Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browngo1 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 There is a guy in Kirkintilloch that will do work on reps, google The Watchmaker. Good Luck Have you had any work done by this guy or do you know any more about him? This could be great too. The more the merrier, if these guys.are reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browngo1 Posted August 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 OK, took my reps to the watchmaker in Perth to let him have a look and give him an idea of some of the kind of items he may be asked to work on. He remarked on the quality of the pieces and asked a few questions about the movements. I explained that quite often the movements are second hand and not cleaned or lubricated before they are put in the cases and in some cases they look as if they have been sprayed with WD40, which really freaked him out! Anyway, he said that servicing would not be a problem and he confirmed that that would mean a complete strip down, clean, lube, reassemble and test. He covers all aspects of repair and I asked about re-lumes, but he said he wasn't that keen on doing re-lumes, although he does have the materials etc. to do it if specifically asked. He works on his own from his small shop in Perth and he is a smashing guy, really easy to talk to and very open and honest. I got some really good vibes from the first time I spoke to him! He is quite happy for me to let everyone here known his contact details and said that if anyone wants to ask any questions just give him a call. Unfortunately his computer is down at the moment, so he won't be able to reply to any emails, which is not ideal for anyone outside the UK, but I'm sure he have it sorted soon. If anyone wants to contact him by email let me know and I'll see if I can get him to get to sort his email issues a bit quicker. His name is Alastair Neaves and his website has his address and phone number if anyone wants to speak to him: www.thewatchmaker.uk.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilS_UK Posted August 30, 2011 Report Share Posted August 30, 2011 Look forward to hearing how it went for you. Thanks Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djscotie Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Really interested on how his work is. I too am from Scotland (Ayrshire) and one of my watches is in need of a service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 I'm interested too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browngo1 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Unfortunately, I sent one of my reps to Domenico just before I discovered Alastair, so I haven't had anything done by him personally, yet. However, I have spoken to him at some length and he seems to know his stuff, so I would have no hesitation in using him in the future. I explained to him that I wouldn't be able to recommend his work until I had seen it for myself and he said he fully understood. He currently has a gen Tissot, which belongs to one of my friends, which had stopped, but as I said, I have no experience of his rep work yet. As far as I know, he won't be able to reply to emails yet, but feel free to give him a call to discuss your needs. If you mention Gordon from Irvine he'll know that it's regarding reps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browngo1 Posted January 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Sorry guys, I meant to post this experience on the forum earlier, but never got round to it. My Graham Chronofighter Tech Seal had a subdial that didn't reset to zero and the Perth watchsmith said he could fix it. I asked him to do a full service at the same time, which he agreed to do, but said it might take a while. I wasn't in a hurry, so said ok. A few months later I called him and he said it was ready, but he'd lost my number. I went to collect it the following weekend. I asked him how much I owed him and he said £40!!! I asked him if it had been stripped down and serviced as well and he said yes. Alarm bells ringing loudly now!! I gave him the cash and he handed over the watch, which still had the subdial fault. I told him it still had the same fault as when I had taken it to him and he made some crap excuse about it having been alright when he had rebuilt it. He said if I left it with him for an hour he would sort it. I went back later and it was fixed-ish! It was resetting ALMOST to zero, but very slighly off. I'm a perfectionist so wasn't best pleased, but decided to cut and run rather than have him open it up again. I'm pretty sure he hadn't even opened the watch, let alone serviced it, but obviously I couldn't prove that. Unfortunatley, the outcome is obviously stay away, as I now don't believe he's up to the tasks we need here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooln Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Thanks for the follow up anyway, good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger35 Posted May 29, 2017 Report Share Posted May 29, 2017 On 1/10/2013 at 6:21 PM, browngo1 said: Sorry guys, I meant to post this experience on the forum earlier, but never got round to it. My Graham Chronofighter Tech Seal had a subdial that didn't reset to zero and the Perth watchsmith said he could fix it. I asked him to do a full service at the same time, which he agreed to do, but said it might take a while. I wasn't in a hurry, so said ok. A few months later I called him and he said it was ready, but he'd lost my number. I went to collect it the following weekend. I asked him how much I owed him and he said £40!!! I asked him if it had been stripped down and serviced as well and he said yes. Alarm bells ringing loudly now!! I gave him the cash and he handed over the watch, which still had the subdial fault. I told him it still had the same fault as when I had taken it to him and he made some crap excuse about it having been alright when he had rebuilt it. He said if I left it with him for an hour he would sort it. I went back later and it was fixed-ish! It was resetting ALMOST to zero, but very slighly off. I'm a perfectionist so wasn't best pleased, but decided to cut and run rather than have him open it up again. I'm pretty sure he hadn't even opened the watch, let alone serviced it, but obviously I couldn't prove that. Unfortunatley, the outcome is obviously stay away, as I now don't believe he's up to the tasks we need here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSTEEL Posted May 30, 2017 Report Share Posted May 30, 2017 Holy old post resurrection batman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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