Repair of a copy watch
Discussion
My son, being young and silly, bought a copy watch in Egypt. It lasted 5 days before the minute hand fell off. My question is, is it realistic to have this repaired (and what would it cost) or should he throw it away and put it down to experience? I think I may know the answer to this already!
Whilst glueing the hand back on is probably easy enough, you might need specialist case back opening tools to open it up. I doubt any reputable watch repairer would do it and obviously approved repair centres are A) Too expensive and B) Not going to do it either.
As the watch is worth very little and heading towards its next failure anyway, why not try opening and repairing it yourselves as a father son 'bonding' experience.
As the watch is worth very little and heading towards its next failure anyway, why not try opening and repairing it yourselves as a father son 'bonding' experience.
Just tell everyone it's a Patek one handed watch. A truly rare example of horological excellence.
As for the minute hand floating about, it's an artistic statement of how we really do not need to worry about the precise time when we're rich enough to be able to afford a one-off Patek.
As for the minute hand floating about, it's an artistic statement of how we really do not need to worry about the precise time when we're rich enough to be able to afford a one-off Patek.
Hoofy said:
Just tell everyone it's a Patek one handed watch. A truly rare example of horological excellence.
As for the minute hand floating about, it's an artistic statement of how we really do not need to worry about the precise time when we're rich enough to be able to afford a one-off Patek.
I rather like this idea........but as I find fakes totally abhorrent, my suggestion is you tell him to work his ass off until he can afford to buy the real thing and put the nasty piece of crap in the bin As for the minute hand floating about, it's an artistic statement of how we really do not need to worry about the precise time when we're rich enough to be able to afford a one-off Patek.
Dicky Knee said:
My son, being young and silly, bought a copy watch in Egypt. It lasted 5 days before the minute hand fell off. My question is, is it realistic to have this repaired (and what would it cost) or should he throw it away and put it down to experience? I think I may know the answer to this already!
Shouldn't be a problem. For something that quick and easy we'd normally ask for 10 minutes and a coin in the British Legion jar on the counter, but we're nice like that el stovey said:
Whilst glueing the hand back on is probably easy enough, you might need specialist case back opening tools to open it up.
The hand will be press-fit, the back will either be press-fit (use a blunt knife to protect fingers and caseback) or a simple screw-fit that any EBay case opener will doel stovey said:
I doubt any reputable watch repairer would do it
Whyever not? We're watchmakers, not Trademark Police. There's no law against owning them and there's certainly no law against repairing them.Edited by Variomatic on Monday 28th April 19:40
tickious said:
Most things are doable, but could well be throwing good money after bad. If it's fallen off once, it will probably fall off again.
Not necessarily. The copy "makers" will be buying in the hands and movements from companies that make 10s of millions of them. Both will be accurately sized. It's far more likely to have fallen off from being misfitted in the first place than any inherent problem with the fit.GC8 said:
This has reminded me Joe: will you be able to build me a frankenwatch? Im looking to put an ETA movement into a case that it isnt usually found in. I can probably supply a ring but Id like to keep the original dial which will need its feet locating.
Possibly, but it depends a little on details like the height of the winding stem from the front-plate and the height of the case-pipe from the dial seat. If they're not the same then at best you get nasty winding / hand-set and a leaky crown, at worst you're snapping stems every 5 minutes! (actually, at worst the stem simply won't fit but that's obvious as soon as you try so not really a problem)Gassing Station | Watches | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff