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Couple of recent projects - Gruen and Seikoak


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Hi all, hope everyone is doing well.

Here are a couple watches I have finished up recently.

Before these I worked on an orient but that one is not quite done - I have my third crystal coming my way from the UK. The 1st from Perrin did not fit; I then found out I needed a specific crystal. A mishap with my crystal press put a big crack in the 1st shipment from Cousins, and hence the second order. Unfortunately I have now spent way more on the crystals/shipping than I did for the watch, but you have to pay to play, as they say. Learning experiences.

I don't believe I have anything specific to note from the Gruen, it was pleasant to work on.

Gruen.thumb.jpg.bfb27c9e9fe5e44d86e658cb5df897d0.jpgGruen1.thumb.jpg.c144984189becd66e9a0fd13b5f0d57c.jpg

I had been watching a lot of Roman Sharf's grey market on youtube. I was becoming numb to the values of the watches on there, every once in a while I would snap out of it and realize what they were dealing with cost more than my cars or my house. Inspired by the show though, I decided to put together my own 'Seikoak' homeage of an AP Royal Oak, using parts from ali express and ebay. There is an NH35a movement inside - my first time putting together a watch with this movement. It was running very well straight from ebay so just plopped it in. I have yet to service an automatic seiko, I am sure it will be a learning experience when I do.

I am very pleased with the final look. The Aliexpress parts overall are very nice, but hard a couple rough quirks. The seconds hand I found extremely difficult to fit. I am not sure this is just something to do with the NH35 movement or not. I eventually got it down a satisfactory amount. On the bracelet, I could not get one of the fastening pins/screws through as there was some slag inside the screw hole. I just ended up using a small drill bit on a hand vice to fix that issue to make it all work.

I see many of these Royal Oak Seiko's on etsy - it is amazing how much people are offering them for (expensive!). This one cost me about $49,900 (CDN) less than a real one.

I will find myself taking a break from watches for a bit now I think to get back to some other hobbies - I had planned on making myself a nice wooden watch box, so that is on the table. I also recently purchased a course on arduino/microcontrollers. I am hoping I can learn something here to improve my diy watch cleaning machine.

Take care all.

 

Seikoak1.thumb.jpg.c097261c41e5a61ee4939b6cd2aa81ae.jpgSeikoak3.thumb.jpg.de01c06f776d0a35f768b2061c3f8850.jpg

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    • Getting back to the issue which is us guys repairing or just enjoying horological exploits. The big worry now is how sound is Cousins as company going forward. The of cost if this 8 year legal battle will be astronomical. Cut backs will happen noticed already how the Cousins catalogue is half its size this year. The main supplier going out of business will hit the UK horological community in a big way.    On the Brexit issue it was about a sovereign country being able to make its own laws and trade with any country in the world. I cannot see what was wrong with this. For those who wish to re join the cost would be very high indeed.
    • Yes, it's the same (old) song and it's getting worse & worse;  
    • 🤔 leaving the EU meant that UK was no longer part of the convention and have already been turned down an independent reapplication. I'm pretty sure courts have to be held in Switzerland in this case. There will be a lot more watches stashed away in draws  tbh, folk wont be able to afford to maintain them. Cheap watches will be bought and top end watches by folk with plenty of cash that can pay for service and repair. The expensive once in a lifetime gifts and everything else inbetween will be at the forgotton when they stop working. I know i was being a numpty, get used to it 😄 Anybody that knows will boycott them, but besides repairers who will know. Nope will never buy one, i made that decision as soon as i learnt about this. 
    • although not in this case.  It was the Lugano Convention and its deficiencies that allowed a Swiss court decision in the first place.  This isnt really a Brexit issue at all.  A decision that affects both the EU and the UK should never have been heard in Switzerland. I bet the authorised service centres in the UK are pretty pleased.  It's a massive shame, though; I believe watch owners should be able to choose to have their watch serviced by whoever they trust.
    • Hi guys I think that old hippy is correct, it opens the gates for china to manufacture aftermarket spare parts. considering that they already do work on behalf of the Swiss I guess this decision gives the a little more legitimacy to tool up and I am sure they will take advantage of the situation either with or without the blessing of the Swiss watch industry  Having read about the protectionist machinations of the Swiss in the history of Europe they were the only ones to get fat at everybody else’s expense. I think the outcome could have been guessed at but ,  fair play to Cousins UK for standing up to them.  Now the question,  will everybody boycott Swiss watches and Swatch, no way they will still fill their coffers.  Me I stick with the Japanese once renowned for cheap shitty watches who came good through industrial effort and don’t for get the Russians that most dismiss as low grade crap. Wouldn’t buy a swatch product ever how about you all.? a
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