5513 refurbished by Rik Dietel

[HERITAGE82]

Amazing looking watch and I love that you were able to get it back to its old glory!

Rik is great to work with.

[SAAS]

Congrats on finding Rik and getting the watch to a point where it can be enjoyed by you and future generations

[PaulMiami]

I felt it was important to defend this guy’s work, although as I understand, he’s got quite the backlog.

There are probably very few craftsmen that can do this work, most I would think are close to retiring. It’s a shame their work is shunned on this forum. Only way I see broader acceptance is if Rolex offered the service themselves as part of their luxury vintage watch service.

This is why Patek is Patek as they take full responsibility to restore every watch they made since 1839. They have records of everything they made and they will make whatever parts they need.

https://www.patek.com/en/retail-serv...es/restoration

Vacheron goes back to 1755, btw.

[MrChamfers]

Originally Posted by PaulMiami

I felt it was important to defend this guy’s work, although as I understand, he’s got quite the backlog.

There are probably very few craftsmen that can do this work, most I would think are close to retiring. It’s a shame their work is shunned on this forum. Only way I see broader acceptance is if Rolex offered the service themselves as part of their luxury vintage watch service.

This is why Patek is Patek as they take full responsibility to restore every watch they made since 1839. They have records of everything they made and they will make whatever parts they need.

https://www.patek.com/en/retail-serv...es/restoration

Vacheron goes back to 1755, btw.

There are quite a few "Collectors" on the forum. A lot of them have strong disdain for any dial work, including reluming of hour plots.
So watches in original, good condition command a premium.

However, from what I've read, many collectors bought their pristine examples before prices for watches and dials rose dramatically. So they don't really need to deal with the difficulty of restoring a damaged dial or paying through the nose for replacements.

[one80]

I think what PaulMiami has done with his watch is commendable, and I completely get where he's coming from.

There are many reasons that people would want (or need) a refinished dial - from having something that's period correct, to replacing something that's worn beyond use, or simply just wanting a different dial completely. All valid reasons.

There are people who swap their bezels to aftermarket for similar reasons too, or for a different/unique look, and I'm fine with this also.

Same goes for laser welding and refinishing. I often can't understand why people are against a craftsman restoring a watch to it's original condition.

Where I draw the line, is where a watch is represented as something that it's not, particularly for sale - e.g. a refinished and laser welded item being sold as NOS etc.
And PaulMiami has been completely open and transparent with his watch, so certainly does not fit in the above category.

It really is a lovely timepiece - wear in good health, and enjoy the work that has been put into it.

[baumare]

Congratulations to the OP for having restored his heirloom and to the watchmaker for the craftsmanship.
Personally, would I ever buy a watch refurbished by Rick, or Patek or Vacheron for that matter? Absolutely no!
Would I have done the restoration if the watch belonged to my grandfather?
Honestly I don’t know, I would have to see the condition of the dial before responding to this question.
Obviously nothing against the OP that genuinely promote this kind of intervention, but in a section of the RF where expert collector have been studying and discussing originality for years, I think is normal to see different opinions.

[PaulMiami]

Not everyone on this forum is a collector. Many of us are folks just like me; someone that now has a family heirloom they inherited or somehow came across. Often these watches are in disrepair and their new owner is asking for advice.

Almost always the advice is essentially to service the mechanism, maybe replace the crystal, don’t polish it, maybe refurbish the band if it’s original, but if not, put it on a NATO band.

This is fine and perhaps it’s the best advice for collectors, particularly those looking to maximize the value of the watch, net of repair costs. But this is not helpful if you have a watch that looks horrible, not at all like how it left the factory, and needs some intensive TLC.

Some of us may have an attachment to the watch that is personal and is coming from a different place than a collector. A collector is often looking at many watches and deciding which ones to acquire based on various criteria. But those of us that suddenly have a family heirloom don’t have this choice. The choice we have is what do I do with this one watch.

It’s very difficult to find information on the forum if your goal is to get this one watch back to its original glory, while also respecting its age. And there are lots of scammers out there selling horrible replacement parts, some at absurd prices.

My goal with this post has been to help folks that find themselves in a similar position, giving them an option that may be better than having a really bad looking watch, putting in a service dial that has little resemblance to what the watch came with, or playing Russian roulette with dials on eBay.

[some.idiot]

Paul, I think you have a wonderful watch and I hope you wear it in good health with good memories.

[Tom in Athens]

That restoration looks fantastic! Rik just finished up a 1988 16800 for me. He is a great guy to work with!
Best,
Tom