panerai153 Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Back in 2005, I got the Doxa fever pretty bad. I really wanted a nice example of a 300T professional (orange dial). I searched the sales forums and Ebay on daily basis. I finally found one that had a very interesting story. It was on Ebay, and the folks selling it were the son and daughter of the late owner. I won the watch, and when it arrived, the daughter sent a note with the history of the watch. It seems that her father was a commercial diver and was employed by the City of San Francisco as a diver. He did search and rescue, cleaned out water inlets, everything that needed to be done in a busy harbour. He bought the Doxa new, and wore it on a daily basis for years. After he passes away, his son and daughter were cleaning out all of his personal things and came across the Doxa. So , it's nice to own something that has a real history. I'm sure if the old watch could talk, It would have some real adventures to relate. I wore the watch for a couple of years, and then for some reason that I can't remember I decided to sell it. I sold it to a fellow in Spain who was into Doxas at the time. I told him when I sold it, if he ever decided to sell it to contact me and give me first refusal, which he did. So long story short, he emailed me a month or so back and offered the watch to me as he wanted a racing bicycle. I bought it, and it finally arrived yesterday. The only thing that was disappointing to me, and I doubt he had anything to do with was the deterioration in the lume on the hands. When I sold the watch, they were nice and bright, exactly matching the dial indices. now they are very dark and part of the lume is missing on the minute hand. Anyone have any ideas as to why the hand lume would deteriorate like this, the dial is still very much like it was when I sold the watch. I know it's the same watch, they serial numbers are the same! Here are some photos, the first are from 2005, the last from today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Cool story A. Nice to have her back int he stable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Boy what a story! Congratulations getting the old girl back again. You know by now it's in need of a good service, right? I recommend a trip to the spa up north for a lube and relume of the hands. He does good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted August 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 Boy what a story! Congratulations getting the old girl back again. You know by now it's in need of a good service, right? I recommend a trip to the spa up north for a lube and relume of the hands. He does good work. you are right, actually the previous owner had it serviced about 6 months ago, but It's definitely going north for a relume. i believe that i'm going to get him to do the vintage luminova lume to the dial and hands. Probably wouldn't affect the value of it much, but lots more useful. The Zigmeister has another one of my watches right now, he's done a bunch for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 Very cool story. Both the original owners and yours. Neat to have a piece in the collection with some history. Doesn't hurt that it is a cool watch too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 You know, I think this is one of those cases where that watch was just meant to be in your collection Great looking piece, though rather odd about the hands. I can't imagine any condition or cause that would explain the change in hands while leaving the dial largely unchanged. The only speculation I have is that the hands were exchanged when the watch was serviced by the fellow that sold the watch back to you. Maybe the ones that were originally on your watch were a better match for a watch he had in his collection so he swapped. None the less, a beautiful piece! Mrs. Ubi has this one on her wish list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted September 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 Sad update to the story. I did send the 300T to The Zigmeister, hopefully all he would need to do was relume the hands. UInfortunately, he sent me back a grocery list of things that were wrong, none of which were wrong when the watch was sold. ■excessive and unnecessary o'rings on case-back and difficult to open ■movement retention spring was not installed properly and is bent and damaged ■water ingress damage - rust on stem and case and possibly inside movement ■hands are not your old hands - suspect someone replaced them - back of hands have been scraped and the brass is showing ■the dial is not your dial - it is in awful condition - the paint is bubbling and lifting all over - there is a significant piece of paint ready to fall off between 7 and 8 position ■it is only a matter of time before the paint comes off of the dial completely movement is in poor condition - not sure if it is the same movement Rob worked on - noted some damage to screws and mismatched screws (interesting, because i sent the buyer a NOS 2472 movement with the watch, just in case the old movement failed.) So there you have it. My big problem, I bought the watch sight unseen, I assumed that it was in approximately the same shape it was when I sold it. I have emailed the seller who claims that his “watchmaker” who he has known for 30 years and is Rolex and Breitling certified would never do anything like that, and the idea that the hands were changed and all those problems could not have been the fault of the “watchmaker”!! Here is my speculation as to what happened, short of a dial and hand change. The "watchmaker" disassembled the watch, and left the parts lying around, not stored away in a sealed environment. This guy lives in either Gibraltar or right across the border in Spain. Right near the sea, in a semi tropical climate. Salt air, moisture, etc. over time (The seller claims the watch was at the watchmakers almost the entire time he owned it, from 2007 to 2012). Plenty of time for damages to occur. The other scenario, the owner got the watch wet, moisture got inside, waited a few days before taking it to this "watchmaker", , who didn’t disassemble it right away, and before you know it, damage done. OK, here is my dilemma, I paid for the watch using Moneygram, seller claimed he didn’t have a Paypal account, so getting my money back is going to be impossible.No offers to “return the watch and I’ll send your money back have been forthcoming, and I would if at all possible like to keep and restore the watch. Anyone know who is really, really good at dial restoration? I’m going to need some help with this one for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted September 16, 2012 Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 I just took a bullet for the team and went to WUS to search around for whatsisname the favorite Doxa repair guy over there. I couldn't find it but he's been mentioned in a lot of threads. Search for Rusty Shackleford, I think he talks about using his services. Barring that, try Kirk Rich dials. They have pads to print all kinds of vintage stuff. http://www.krdial.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted September 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 I just took a bullet for the team and went to WUS to search around for whatsisname the favorite Doxa repair guy over there. I couldn't find it but he's been mentioned in a lot of threads. Search for Rusty Shackleford, I think he talks about using his services. Barring that, try Kirk Rich dials. They have pads to print all kinds of vintage stuff. http://www.krdial.com/ What a coincidence, my daughter lives in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, the home of kirk Rich dials. Would the favorite guy be jack Alexyon at IWW (International watch works)? I'll browse around over there, actually I just posted a similar thread on the Doxa forum which might bring out some replys. Thank you sir for the research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted September 16, 2012 Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 Bingo! Jack it is. I bet he can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost Posted September 16, 2012 Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 That sucks dude. It's really disappointing to see that people just don't have the common decency to do the right thing. He'll get his comeuppance somewhere down the line. I know it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted September 16, 2012 Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 Sorry to hear this. My guess is the getting salt water in the watch and not fixing it for quite a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Sorry to hear this. My guess is the getting salt water in the watch and not fixing it for quite a long time. W, That's was my thoughts as well. I have another movement out of a donor watch, so it's definitely possible to fix it. I may have to have the dial refinished, All in all it's going to be a fairly expensive restoration which makes me angry, because it wasn't necrerssary to begin with. I told the buyer when I sold him the watch back in 2007 that it was and old vintage watch, and it had not been pressure tested, and to definitely not get it wet until he made sure it was water resistant. Obviously he ignored my warnings, or he was told by theis "watchmaker" that it was fine to swim with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Boy that sucks A. I guess, on the half full perspective, you can now rebuild it to your standards and get the satisfaction from having done so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Isn't it going to be cheaper to buy a new one. The Doxa's seem to all be a thousand or so (albeit I know nothing about Doxa's) and I would think refinishing a dial will easily be $500 plus and not with tritium. Not very romantic I know but it may be pragmatic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Isn't it going to be cheaper to buy a new one. The Doxa's seem to all be a thousand or so (albeit I know nothing about Doxa's) and I would think refinishing a dial will easily be $500 plus and not with tritium. Not very romantic I know but it may be pragmatic. I've had a bunch of new Doxas, they just don't sing to me like the old ones. I'm not sure what refinishing a dial would cost. i'm going to conmtact kirk Rich and see what their prices are like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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