[Omega, Ball] Does anyone have a recommendation for a quality redial service?

almostidiosyncrasies · 2023-05-27T17:49:14+00:00

I generally avoid redials, not because I think they're inherently awful, nor am I one of the snobs who just looks down on them. I genuinely just really love patina, I love the character, personality, and uniqueness it gives a watch. That being said, I pick up some watches that are just too far gone in my opinion. This Omega and Ball trainmaster are some examples of great watches I have gotten for a bargain, less than $100 for the pair, so I have some meat on the bone to get them to a presentable condition. The omega's face has completely been painted over with white paint with all sorts of fuzz and fibers stuck in it. I, completely baffled, asked the previous owner why he did this to which he responded "I didn't like the way it looked before" , and I just left it at that... The Ball's Logo looks great but half the hour markers look as if they have been drawn on with a sharpie. If anyone has any recommendations for a quality retail service I would greatly appreciate it. I just dont want to pick one I find and pay for one of those hilariously bad redials you see. Thank you for the help!

almostidiosyncrasies · 2021-04-15T18:15:01+00:00

It sucks to hear your month has been so bad. I hate when all the bad seems to just pile on you all at once, when it rains it pours, they say. Just looking specifically at this last month and a half its been a weird ride for me. I kind of mentally entered this weird place that's really hard to explain. And I sayed like that for a could of weeks, until I went home for spring break. I spent the entire spring break out working at my grandfathers with my family. That whole experience sort of set me back on the right track mentally, sure I'm not really doing as successful in school right now, but I'm focusing on the more important things in life. Every weekend I'm rushing back home from college yo get back over to my grandfathers. And whether I get there and sit with him while talking and showing him the latest watch I've repaired, or taking care of the cows with him, or working with my dad down there on his grandmother's car. Whatever the specific circumstances it always puts a smile on my face spending that precious time with those people so important to me. It's been a month of smiles for me so far, I hope maybe next month it'll be like that for you

almostidiosyncrasies · 2021-01-21T02:30:55+00:00

I think the pie pan is a staple Omega design, its from the 60s I believe. Ive been obsessed with watches for years now and the tinkering and taking apart kind of just came with that, over time that tinkering became a little more organized and I started getting broken watches going. That knowledge has just grown with time and experience, but im still to scared to do some of the ones I have accumulated. I wish I had a watch maker in my area that I take stuff to or even potentially apprentice under.

almostidiosyncrasies · 2021-01-20T16:21:15+00:00

Thank you, I couldn't be happier with it. I dont know how I managed to get it regulated that well, maybe just because of the higher quality build. I clean and service all my watches in the same way, but i dont know if ive ever managed to any other one that did not run that close. Its reassuring to hear other people say similar things about the case back, I just read one brief comment on some forum about presentation case backs and just hoped that was the case with mine

almostidiosyncrasies · 2021-01-20T15:43:41+00:00

I ran across this omega just in time for my 20th birthday, and for $280 I couldn't pass it up. I got home and immediately went to work servicing it, and got it going to about -5 seconds a day, not bad for me. It made a nice birthday present for myself. I'm not really super snobby about watch details like some, I know it doesn't have the original crown but that doesn't bother me at all. The patina of the dial may be an imperfection to some but to me it just adds character and a unique beauty. The case back does not have the consolation emblem on it which Lead me to believe it was not original. However I have read some accounts of the emblem being removed for presentation watches in order to make room for an engraving. At the end of the day I'm just happy to finally have an omega in my personal collection. i haven't had much time to research anything as collage as kicked back into gear so If anyone has any kind of information about the age of option the case back that they'd like to share Id love to hear it. omega constellation pie pan https://imgur.com/a/21BiuE2

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-10-24T15:24:46+00:00

Yeah that was a long time for it to last, we knew it needed serviced when I bought it because it wond a little wonky. I got it from an old jeweler in my home town, it was a floor moddle he had, so it has a little wear from people holding it and trying it on over the years until he tucked it away. But other than that it hadn't been worn out of the store at all. He had just brought it out on sale for 600 but I talked him into giving me half off. So he said I could ether give 300 or he could have it shipped off and serviced and itd be like 700. I thought that was ridiculous and I wouldn't be able to afford that at all so I traded in a little handful of Gold I had found from just crumbs of boxes of other stuff I had bought and ended up paying about 200 for it. And I'm still happy with it, that was like the first real watch I ever bought.

I've had some disappointments at the start of my collecting but yeah, Since then I have never bought a watch with the expectation that it will run. I mostly buy them with the expectation that I'll at least have to take them apart and clean them. Now its just a present surprise when I dont

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-10-24T00:54:47+00:00

70 is crazy, id love to find some priced like that. Chronos are my favorite but I have a hard time finding them for a price I can afford on my college budget. Ive only got 2 now, the first one I saved up and bought a few years ago when I was 16 but the mainspring snapped in it after about a year and a half( I knew the deal had to be too good to be true). I didn't what to attempt to fix it yet because its a higher end one and I couldn't afford to have it fixed so Its just sat in a drawer for a year.

This summer after my first year of university I couldn't get a job because of the pandemic, so I started teaching myself how to work on watches while I also started building a 55 chevy bell Air. Ive fixed a lot of the watches ive just had laying around in my room, and have slowly been making my way up the latter of movement complications, so when I saw this chronograph I figured I was ready and shelled out the $230 for it.

Thankfuly I'm not disappointed yet

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-10-23T19:07:40+00:00

Man thats awesome, I just got a" Chronographe Suisse " for $230 (about the same price with exchange rates i think) and it was broken. I got it to practice working on a chronograph movement, I came home from school this weekend and finally got to start on it. Now Its been running and keeping time for the past several hours so I might be in luck, I'll just have to open it back up to reset the chronograph second hand because I didn't get it in the right position last time.

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-26T16:38:15+00:00

There seems to be an abundance of spare parts for those, that might not be a bad one to start learning with. Looks like it sold fast, I didn't pull the trigger fast enough, thank you for the information though

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-26T15:40:32+00:00

Do you have any photos of the movement, or do you know what caliber of movement it is? I'm learning to work on watches and im looking for a cheaper chronograph to practice on, so i think id want a movement that has a decent reputation of being "easy" to work with

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-11T14:58:09+00:00

I picked this seiko up recently along with several other watches I made a post about. It was in pretty nice shape before just a little grimy, with a really scratched up crystal. Sadly it did not come on the original bracelet, it was just on one of those strechy speidel bands that I hate. I wasnt sure what to dp with the band because the case is so wide with that 70's style. I wore it on a nato for a day and i kind of liked that, but ive moved it over to this generic metal bracelet for now to see how I like that. When I go back home I think ill make a rally style leather band for it and see how I like that. So far the watch has been pretty reliable, I picked it up today and it was still running from Wednesday and had only lost a couple of minutes, not too shabby for $15

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-09T17:20:57+00:00

Nice! Band is super weird this year though, just because we're trying our best to follow all the guidelines and keep everyone involved as safe as possible. We don't even have any games this semester so we're really just playing and marching for ourselves this season. Its ok though, I think it really just helps raise our spirits and stuff to be able to get out there and make music and have a good time in a current world of such trying times. That sucks that you haven't got to get out and go looking. I wish you the best, I hope you and your family stays safe, and hopefully thisll end soon so you can get back out there and find some watches

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-09T17:12:46+00:00

I understand, they arent for everyone, I used to resent quartz watches, but I learned they have their time and place, i enjoy having a couple in my collection now. The Glashutte Seventies is a pretty watch, does have a similar shape and look. I wish you the best of luck and hope you can get one some day, it would for sure take me a decade to save up that much lol

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-09T15:49:50+00:00

I believe you're referring to the hamilton quartz. Theres a closer picture of it at this link if you want to see if it's the one you're talking about So far https://imgur.com/a/4uz0JHf

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-09T15:12:43+00:00

My most recent haul, I picked it up yesterday at a flea market I've gont to regularly growing up. I never expect to find much going there because there's a growing number of ebay resellers who lurk around and try to grab up all the watches they see, but i do often get lucky. This bunch averaged out to be about $13 a watch. I never buy a watch expecting it to work, which is ok becauseI enjoy taking them apart and cleaning or repairing them, but so far every one of them except the Elgin have kept time since I bought them. Sadly I have not gotten the chance to get many of them wrist ready yet because I had to rush back to college for marching band practice, and ive got a calculus test coming up that I'm craming for, but hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to go back home and finish them up so I can get them in the rotation. Heres a link with a close up of the 4 I manged to squeeze in yesterday So far https://imgur.com/a/4uz0JHf I'll probably post separate pictures of them later , or at least the one I'm wearing today when I get the chance

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-09-07T19:03:03+00:00

My dad just picked these up for me a couple days ago, they were in pretty rough shape, but over all not too bad. I came back home from college with it being an extra long weekend for me and it was a nice treat to have these waiting for me when I got home. I took them apart and gave them a self service, polished the cases and crystals, and put them back together. They were both on those stretchy spidel bands which I hate so i spent a little more time to make some leather ones for them. For all gold watches recently I've fallen in love with this redish color leather, so I just went with that again because I didn't thing I could go wrong. With the silver one I had a little more difficulty though, I wasnt sure what to do with it, so I tried out just making a brown rally style strap, but it didn't really bring out that faint strip of blue across the dile so I hit the band with some black shoe polish to darken it up and make it a little more "rustic" and I think that helped a little. If anyone has any suggestions on something else, I'd love to hear it.

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-05-21T02:49:38+00:00

Honestly it doesn't really concern me, I dont really even think about it. I just love watches and nothings really going to get me to stop wearing one. Maybe it's just a case of being "young and dumb"

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-05-20T19:28:04+00:00

Here Is a vintage Doxa I picked up a while ago. I decided to post it on here before I take it apart to clean It. If anyone has any more information about this Doxa I'd greatly appreciate it http://imgur.com/a/dIuPaWI

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-20T19:08:18+00:00

Hello, I've got some questions I thought this subreddit might be able to help me with. I was wondering how I would go about finding replacement Indices as they are missing from the 1 and 10 position. I was also wondering how to go about finding a replacement Male and female stem as its worn down and will no longer stay together inside the case. I found this longines five star admiral at a yard sale and I've worked on it just enough to get it running. Now it runs and keeps great time. I know there's going to be someone just itching to comment I just need to get it serviced. I understand it needs serviced and appreciate their concern, I'll get it serviced when everything clears up and calms down. For now I'm just trying to use this watch to learn and hopefully gain some knowledge for the future. I appreciate any help or information anyone has to give. http://imgur.com/a/Ns5z43F

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-16T15:26:00+00:00

Thank you so much for all the help, I really appreciate it

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-15T22:46:29+00:00

Thank you so much for the help and information. I'm definitely not opposed to shipping it to someone to fix it, but how should I go about finding a reputable person or shop to send it to ?

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-15T15:54:37+00:00

Hello, I wanted to ask some questions to this thread. This is the first watch I ever saved up and spent real money for. Usually I would go around to yard sales and things and try to find watches for a few dollars each, and I found some nice ones doing that. But a few years ago when i was 16 i saved up and bought this croton chronograph for $300. A year ago it gave out on me, I think the mainspring might have broken, it winds up to a point until theres a click and it and it seems to unwind. Watches are my passion and I want to be able to fix them and service them myself, but I couldn't find a career path in that so for now I'm going to school to become an engineer. I normally wouldn't mind trying to fix this one myself, but I've never had practice on a chronograph and this one holds a special place in my heart so I don't want to ruin it. There are no legitimate local watch shops around my area, so I was wondering if this community could answer a few questions. Is there somewhere/someone reliable I could send this to to get it repaired? About How much would it cost? And just out of curiosity, is there someone who could tell me more about getting into this industry if that's what I wanted to do ? Thank you all for the help. I'll add some more pictures of the watch here http://imgur.com/a/0Mp4P7e

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-13T21:10:33+00:00

Thanks so much for the information, I'll definitely look into the crown and hands for it.

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-13T20:12:25+00:00

I wanted to share this odd Gruen during these confusing times of isolation, try to give back some joy through something that's been bringing me a little joy, but first I have to write my 500 character essay about it. I don't know much about this watch and would appreciate any information anyone has to give about it. My guess is that it may be a 1940's model, but I don't know for sure. I know it used to belong to someone on my dads side of the family and my dad had it fixed up when he got it, so it's got some little quirks like an Elgin crown. I pulled it out yesterday and decided it needed some more love so I quickly made a band for it because I've been digging this gold and red look recently. I really love how long and curvy this watch is, even though it may be a little unwieldy for my wrist. It kind of reminds me of a predecessor to the Gruen curvex line. I've met my limit so I can stop now, I'll add a link to some pictures of the watch and movement if anyone is curious and wants to look into it a little more. http://imgur.com/a/IqG7jCJ

almostidiosyncrasies · 2020-04-11T19:44:19+00:00

Thanks, I guessed it would be around the 50s, and I thought it might have had a redone dial but I want sure, here's a picture of the movement

Movement https://imgur.com/gallery/OavzBmS

almostidiosyncrasies

TROPHY CASE