Challenge to our trusted Dealers re: 7750 super reps

[EuroTimez]

Well I'm asian (50/50) but I didn't really get offended I just needed to laugh at the saying of SLAY, but I can see that it might offend people. Hopefully and I assume he didn't intended that, slip of the thong.

Well, I read this http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...=7750&st=20 whole thread.

About having an actual realiable watchsmith in Asia is hard to close impossible to have. And I altho I agree for the most part what TTK stated,

""It can't be done......I've been thru about 7-8 Asian "watchsmiths".......and they are NOT reliable......you can give him an Asian 7750 and he'll do a full service.....he'll do that until you place your trust in him.......the next one you give him....might have nothing done to it at all.....they will LIE.......and then they will LIE.......the will buzzsaw thru' corners.......swish and dip is a FULL service compared to what Asian watchsmiths will do.......they are not all bad....I have about 3x good ones......but they are slow....and you defo can't hit them with tens of watches per week....unless you bring him on board specifically to handle your output....and that means higher prices to you guys.......!""

This is alot of times true. BUT I DO NOT AGREE that it "CANNOT BE DONE".

I have it done! I know my postcount may not have any creditility but nonetheless what I'm saying doesn't mean it ain't so until proven otherwise, and I wouldn't mind being put to the test by The Zigmeister or other respected members.

The problem is that you need to find a needle in a haystack. Even most asian aren't that reliable and in some ways slack. This isn't always the case, there are highly qualified chinese/asian workmanship, I mean just look at your REPS! Just look at the beautiful (re) creation these guys can make. If you been to Shenzhen they copyied part of the WORLD -Window of the world- it is called, including the Eiffeltower on a 1;3 scale.

Of course there are alot of Shiitty asian reps out there, if not mainly (1000 to 1) but that doesn't mean that all asian quality is louzy, as that is what comes to mind in alot of close-minded people when you tell them its made in CHina. It is because the asscosiate china with cheap / louzy items (which is for most part true, alot of cheap low quality stuff come from china), but they should think deeper coz at the same time, 90% of all top-grade-electronics also comes from China/Asia think of APPLE IPHONE, LCD SCREENS, FLAT SCREENS, COMPUTER PARTS etc etc and Top-grade RePS!

Again it is just you need to search and you need to know who to deal with, and test them and see if they do a good job. I had a "so-called" realiable watchmaker in Netherland, which ended up braking 2 BCE and installing a simple crown which took him a few months which cost me 300 euro's. I had the same done Servicing 7750 not only in shorter time, less money, but he got the job done.

Well I must say I'm kinda lucky coz I got a chinese Gf and she stays in Guangzhou (where I go regulary) and her dad own's several gens, her dad has a highly qualitified watchmaker who normally does only original brands and who had serviced one of her dad's broken Gen. (YES EVEN IN CHINA YOU CAN BUY GEN' WATCHES, and logically they need to be repaired by qualified ppl not somebody from the side of the street).

According to my GF the watchmaker got a whole "mini lab" and several people working for him, a some sort of dust-free/vacuum room, she described. He very proffesional and he's not one of the cheapest either. He is also centered in a up-scale shopping area, not a side on the street like I see in thailand for instance.

Of course I didn't trusted him straight away, my gf test the watches before-hand and sees if stuff run well etc (otherwise give it back to the factory/supplier no need to service) and there was a Santos 100 chrono that didn't reset well, some probs with the chrono function.

She gave it to the guy, after a few week the watchmaker had it all done and said the Santos 100 chrono had problems and was because of some faulty part which he replaced, and everything worked flawlessly after that. So it's not like he just looks and does nothing on it.

So I let him service all my watches, my rep watches, inluding 7750 watches, they get regulated, cleaned/oiled/supersonic cleaning/put on the testing machine etc/ my GF brings the watches personally to him and he does the job! I even asked him to freeze a few Daytona @ 6 clock for me, because I just love that watch but want a realiable movement. He does it all!

The 7750 to my experience is 50/50 unserviced, but serviced it runs great, I traded a 7750 pre-serviced watch to a friend of mine (after he bought 2x 7750 watches non serviced and ended up failing or keeping bad time) he said that after a week it was 30 sec in the plus -for the whole 7 days so average +6 sec to fast per day- (running to fast) he asked me if this was ok? I said it was excellent!

So stating it cannot be done, i think is a huge overstatement...

AGAIN this is not BS or just talk, if any reputable member wish to put it to the test and grade this watchmaker and his skills I'm open for it! Perhaps The Zigmeister?

[KB]

@Eurowatch you bumped a 9 Month old thread just to let everyone know you sell watches?

I mean you answered nothing here, is he a cheaper alternative to what we already have? Can/will he take on the the vast amount of servicing that would arise from the boards business? Are the people working for him as trustworthy as himself?

Why don't you just do the right thing and contact our Admin about a dealers position?

Ken

[esdee]

i had a talk some time ago with my dealer (hes not a member of any of the forums)

he told me if he desided to offer his services on the forums he could also offer movement servicing, he lives in Thailand (he is not asian tho) and he has a full time watchsmith.

Because he get many watch in parts he has some full time guys to assemble service anything he gets

if you guys want i can ask him how much a service of a specific movement costs and make contact directly with him

After doing business with him for over a year i see him now more as a friend and his services have always been excellent

/edit a holly resurection, and i replied ... lol

Edited February 11, 2008 by esdee

[Coeuss]

Here's an option for all the folks in the U.S. here's an option http://www.watchdoctor.biz/ . I've worked with this guy before and he's really good. He really doesn't care if it's a rep and his prices are reasonable.

[Jawo]

I have had about half a dozen watches serviced by The Zigmeister. I trust no one else to do the work. It may seem steep to dish out a couple hundred bucks everytime I get it done, but I only do it for my most cherished reps. Does it run better? Damn right it does!! Since The Zigmeister serviced my HBB the rotor spins more freely and the accuracy is to +5 seconds a day. Not to shabby.

[zenpang]

yup would definately be interested in a wtchsmith from asia, as I am living in asia myself impossible to find a good one!

[KB]

I have had about half a dozen watches serviced by Ziggy. I trust no one else to do the work. It may seem steep to dish out a couple hundred bucks everytime I get it done, but I only do it for my most cherished reps. Does it run better? Damn right it does!! Since Ziggy serviced my HBB the rotor spins more freely and the accuracy is to +5 seconds a day. Not to shabby.

This is the post of the thread.......Ziggy is the guy if you want peace of mind!

Ken

[EuroTimez]

@Eurowatch you bumped a 9 Month old thread just to let everyone know you sell watches?

I mean you answered nothing here, is he a cheaper alternative to what we already have? Can/will he take on the the vast amount of servicing that would arise from the boards business? Are the people working for him as trustworthy as himself?

Why don't you just do the right thing and contact our Admin about a dealers position?

Ken

Hi Ken,

Oh, I didn't check the date, but I posted somewhere else in a fresher thread, which was kinda linked to this one, so I just read it.

I thought it would be a nice service to offer in the nearby future.

I contacted the admin already, and i'm waiting to pay the fees asap the admin ask me to pay which is no problem at all. But I cannot handle the quanity at the moment since chinese year isn't finished yet. So I can't offer too watches at the moment, since I ship from Europe. But I i was reading the "fresher" thread elsewhere, and I couldn't help but respond, coz everybody says it cannot be Done, but I've been doing so for several months.

Sorry if I did anything I shouldn't have. In my post however I didn't try to make mention of selling any watches, but I wanted to see if there was any interest so I could offer this service well maybe as soon as I pay the fees to RWG. I really don't mind that as you can see I'm also a supporter (like many others btw) because I just love it here!

Kind regards,

[EuroTimez]

This is the post of the thread.......The Zigmeister is the guy if you want peace of mind!

Ken

Hi Ken,

Altho we all know this to be an accurate fact, with all due respect to The Zigmeister, we for starters may not live in USA or Canada. Some of us life in ASIA or EUROPE where the prices and contacts of watchsmiths are much harder to get, The Zigmeister is rightfully quite busy (coz he's damn good) and it will take a very long time to get it done (again i mean no ill intent) he states it himself. But what we're discussing is that there are others who can do the same job (i mean The Zigmeister is damn good, but that doesn't mean that there aren't qualified watchsmiths, in asia or elsewhere), besides wouldn't it be better to get your watch pre-serviced from the start? I mean you buy a rep pre-serviced?! Or else you would.....

1. Order the watch.....wait 2-4 weeks (depending on the dealer)

2. Once received, past tru customs etc etc etc, you wanna wear it 24/7 DAMMIT.

3. Then you gotta worry about the movement not holding it together.

4. So you gotta send it to watchsmith (pref local), which you need to find bla bla bla (if not living USA/CANADA).

5. Cannot find one, so you need to send it to The Zigmeister, -make appointment, takes 2-4 weeks- sending it risking it getting stolen/lost/confiscated and wait another 4 weeks for The Zigmeister to finish it, wait another 1 week for sending it back with the risk of getting it stolen/lost/confiscated etc.

6. once it arrives, you can finally wear it with pride.

7. The Zigmeister is rightfully not the cheapest but also think about the sending cost that involves etc.

We just open some posibilities.

Hope you don't mind, I gotta run. If I missed anyhting or didn't stated something well enough, let me know. Please note that I have no ill intent mentioning The Zigmeister but he's like practically all we got (at the moment).

Chris

[Guest TTK]

Sevicing is cheap in Thailand.....unfortunately the one thing that isn't cheap is time.....and if any dealer can afford the time to sit andensure that the watchsmithh is doing the job he says he will.....then he shouldn't be selling fake watches....!

[TeeJay]

I think it's certainly an issue which it can only be helpful to discuss. I don't think anyone is intending or trying to take customers away from Ziggy, just to give people more options which might be closer to home. I think R11co's post is also incredibly relevent to the view people might be wise to consider.

I personally would rather source my own watch repairs locally, which I have done, rather than add credence to a system that will give our dealers an excuse to push the price of our watches up with little or no way for us to verify that we have actually received anything for the extra cash.

For what it's worth, I've never had any problems with my Asian movements which I didn't cause myself. I found a local jewelers, who took watch repairs, and, I had them work on a few watches (just regulation and waterproofing) It turns out, that they sent the watches away to an independant watchsmith, rather than being carried out 'in house'. Those watches came back okay, so, when the back of my 111h got broken (by me) I took the watch in for servicing. This is where things started getting bad. When the watch was first returned, it stopped at precicely the same time every 12 hours, so I took it back. When it was returned the second time, there was dust on the dial and back of the crystal, and, the lower movement retaining clip had not been put in, so the movement was loose. To add insult to injury, the smith had put the screw back in place, but not the retaining clip

To make matters worse, while the watch was being serviced, I was contacted by the jewellers to let me know that the watchsmith would be retiring at the end of the year. Wouldn't've been an issue if the watch had been returned okay, but, returned with such rudimentary flaws, really irritating, made more so by the knowledge that, even if I'd said something to the staff in the jewellers, they simply couldn't do anything about it. Oh well. Back on topic...

Depending on one's budget, it might be better to source simple movement repairs locally, and keep the big bucks for sending watches away to have modifications (re-lume etc) done... Of course, finding a good local watchsmith is the hard part

[EuroTimez]

Sevicing is cheap in Thailand.....unfortunately the one thing that isn't cheap is time.....and if any dealer can afford the time to sit andensure that the watchsmithh is doing the job he says he will.....then he shouldn't be selling fake watches....!

True, True, I got a simple watchsmith in Thailand, TTK prob knows these kinda guys, they have a shop on the side of the road. I let him do simple stuff, changing bezels, cleaning ETA movements, adjusting straps, fixing minor issues, and I watch him do it (which is quite educative at times, at times a pain in the ass), depending on the job and quanity. Or I go for a bite somewhere and walk back, but living on a Tropical Island instead of in the busy city of BKK it is less stressing.

But def, takes alot of time even for just 5 watches, it may take up to half a day. Not to mention drive 40 min just too see this watchsmith coz his the best in the area (and he's by far not as good as The Zigmeister or the other watchsmith I have in China). But TTK puts it straight in Thailand people tend to have a slack/layedback mentality, they have a saying "mai phen rai", or they always say "tomollow tomollow" (not trying to be offensive but that's how they actually say it, as they cannot prenounce the "R").

Oww I also checked out the MARK SIRIANNI WATCH REPAIR, but he states that he prefferes not doing Chronograph's and that;s the whole complex thing. Most Watchsmith can service the non-chrono movements, but the 7750 is going to be a pain, besides he doesn't have the ASIAN 7750 spareparts etc like The Zigmeister has.

Also I noticed on his website he had a picture of his working space, but it seems lil (for all the experience he has) how to say it?!! Looks like he just fix watches on his desk?! Maybe just me....

Regards,

[crystalcranium]

Does anyone have any information on what looks like a new generation of Asian 7750's out there and if they have improved reliability??? The newer reps have 7750's with blued screws, cleaner looking movements, lights out accurate engraved rotors that are often impressively decorated, and machined bridges with very good cloud patterns. I wonder if this is all window dressing but if the mechanical basics of an Asian 7750 are sound and cleanliness and oiling are all that separate them from being excellent performers, then maybe beauty isn't just skin deep on these new arrivals. I know my 7750 in my Navitimer is cosmetically very impressive...much more so than 7750 powered chrono movements I bought 2 years ago.

[luisik]

There are many highly qualified watchsmiths in China... and their average salary is about US$250/300 a month.

A not highly qualified watchsmith but experienced one earns about US$200 per month.

In one working day a HQ watchsmith can do easily 7 to 8 basic services (cleaning, oiling, replacing the gaskets and checking water-resistance). Controlling the watch

[EuroTimez]

There are many highly qualified watchsmiths in China... and their average salary is about US$250/300 a month.

A not highly qualified watchsmith but experienced one earns about US$200 per month.

In one working day a HQ watchsmith can do easily 7 to 8 basic services (cleaning, oiling, replacing the gaskets and checking water-resistance). Controlling the watch