I ordered a set lever spring for a Rolex on watchpart.co.uk a month ago, and the part never arrived. Now that I try to contact the company, TWGC.com, there is no response. I have tried their on-line enquiry form and their phone number.
Good old PayPal lets me of course reclaim my money, and I have started that process, but I just thought I’d warn others before they order there.
Whoever sent me this very badly made fake Patek without a note or return address, please stand up.
If you let me have a fiver, I’ll send it back to you, otherwise, it will go in the bin.
Time to fork out some serious money. Even though my trusted Perl Sona watch cleaner has served me well, it was time to get an automatic cleaner, as the manual one is quite time consuming. So the old one is on eBay, and I picked up a used Elma RM-90 from a retiring fellow watchmaker. I’ve had it for a day, and already love it! Continue reading
When I restored a Zenith Respirator for Rob a couple of months ago, I didn’t know that this would lead to an article in watchpro.com! Not that I mind at all…
My name is Fergus Riche, and I am an engineering student at the University of Cambridge, as well as a watchmaker in training. I have written this article on how a balance keeps time for those of you with a reasonably solid knowledge of physics, but I have tried to include intuitive analogies wherever possible in order to keep the ideas accessible to the lay person. Continue reading
With a solid 400 visits per day, this blog has a very regular following, and I’m very grateful that you have stuck with me so far.
I would like to open this blog once a month (or more often if there is enough material) for all of you. Rather than me pontificating about my work, it would be interesting to hear what you are up to. There are lots of you that have sizeable collections, and most of you know more about one particular brand that you collect than I do.
We would all profit from a little exchange of ideas, and that’s just what I would like to do. If you are interested in writing an article for this blog, just post a reply with what you would like to write about, and I will set you up an account so that you can write your own post.
I’m very much looking forward to see what interesting stuff you will come up with!
Christian
Not what I normally post here, but I think it might be a good idea to put this information somewhere where it can be found!
Since around 19/2/2013, this cat came to our house, and just wouldn’t move. We didn’t give it any food or drink for a day, as we wanted to encourage it to go back to its owner, but no luck with that. The cat was firmly planted in front of our door, and begging for food. After a day, we gave in, as the cat also looked quite thin (the fur is deceiving).
We have taken it to the vet to check if it’s chipped, but it’s not, so no luck there.
If you have lost a cat anywhere in the Amberly – South Woodchester – North Woodchester – King’s Stanley – Leonard Stanley – Selsley – Stroud area, please contact me (see “Contact” on the top menu).
Easy peasy – if you want your Omega serviced or fixed, there is nobody I can recommend more than Al from Archerwatches – go to his web site and take it from there. He is super nice, and, as all good watchmakers, he’s got a bit of a waiting list, but it’s well worthwhile.
For all other watches, pick a BHI certificed watchmaker from this list and off you go. I don’t know of anyone crazy enough to take on replicas, so just bin them in the meantime 😉
Thank you everyone for all the kind words, it is very much appreciated indeed.
Life is a pretty random affair … there you are trundling along, and suddenly life throws something at you from the sidelines that you didn’t even think about.
I had a great time building up my watch business in 2012, and, most of all, I have enjoyed the contact with clients, watch enthusiasts and colleagues from all over the world. It’s been a fantastic ride, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Unfortunately, my wife has been diagnosed with cancer last Thursday, and it looks as though it’s advanced. This means a year of chemotherapy, operations, and radiotherapy.
My financial mainstay is my software business, which provides most of the income for our family. As these new circumstances will change our family life considerably, I will have to scale back the watch business during 2013.
That means that I won’t take on any new work until we have settled back to some sort of normality again, and we know what my wife can and wants to take on. I will certainly have to take on more childcare, and general work in the household. So cooking healthy food for my wife to see her through all this is one of my new priorities, and my frequency of changing nappies will also go up. Less watches, though.
I will of course deal with all the watches in my workshop, and provide the same level of service to all of you that have watches with me, so not to worry. It might just take a bit longer, and I know you will all understand.
The good part is that we are financially in a stable enough position to see all of this through, so all we really need is your thoughts and good wishes for us. We are also in the excellent hands of the oncology unit of the NHS in Cheltenham, and everyone working there has been fantastic, and I can’t thank them enough.
My wife has been incredibly brave so far, and she is determined to put up a good fight. On a positive note, our relationship has grown a lot stronger over all this, and we will be each other’s rock during the difficult times that lie ahead.
A little update – my wife has almost finished her therapy, and we are two weeks away from the end of her radiotherapy. I have started to take on work over the last months, so please feel free to contact me again.
Thank you for all the messages of support!
I went out to do the Christmas food shopping this morning, and, coming back, I find the workshop decorated with purple tinsel and a light-up reindeer… You can’t argue with taste!
As the end of the first year of this blog draws to an end, here are the stats: 181 posts, 753 comments, and 350 unique visitors per day. Not a bad start for a blog …