Band Restoration from Michael Young

[nyyankees]

Alan, on your oval link are you still able to add and remove links after he tightened it? I sent Michael all my links but think I'll probably need to remove at least one when I get it back. I want to make sure that this is still possible. Thanks

[bodybump]

Impressive!!!

[DoxaDavid]

Anyone know the answer, please chime in. So my father has a 24 year old YG DD with a Jubilee bracelet he wears as a daily watch and there is quite a bit of stretch as one one expect but I can see a few of the link pin holes have quite a bit of wear to the point of being oblong instead of round. Wonder how this can be repaired? I only see two alternatives. Replace the severly damaged links or fill the holes with YG and redrill. Just replacing the pins wont fix his problem so anyone else have a clue as to what can be done.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what it would cost to replace the bracelet? I assume there is someone out there who has an exchange service since the gold obviously has a value in trade.

Thanks.

[rmfnla]

Originally Posted by rkammer

Michael did my Tudor 7928 bracelet early last year and it was fantastic. The case was done by Jack at IWW. Both are real craftsmen.

Before:











After:

How did that case back get so messed up in the first place?!

[Cannop]

Incredible!

[BeeMee]

Michael Young "tightened" my 30 year old Bark finish President bracelet last year.

The first picture is the "before" picture, the second & third pictures are the "after" pictures.

All of the original pins were removed and replaced with new ones. There is still a very small amount of "stretch" due to slight wear in the holes of the hollow center links.

The price of gold has gone up considerably since Michael repaired my bracelet. If anyone is contemplating having a gold bracelet repaired, I strongly recommend contacting Michael to get a quote before sending the bracelet to him. However, I can say without any hesitation, the cost for Michael to repair an 18K bracelet is probably about 10-15% of the cost of a new one from Rolex.

I am thrilled with the work Michael did on my bracelet.

[DoxaDavid]

I have been emailing with Michael about repairing the bracelet on my dad's YG DD and he said it can be completely repaired. He raised his prices which his website does not reflect. He now charges $850 starting to repair a YG bracelet and $100-200 additional is possible depending on the amount of extra gold as well as time needed to fix based on how much repair is needed. Michael added with the price of gold up so high, he had to increase his prices which he hadn't in 5 years. My fathers has been worn daily for 25 years so I anticipate it will run $1000 to fix. He is also on vacation for a few week's and said it would be 10-12 weeks to get it done. Still, it sounds considerably cheaper than $5k plus for a replacement from say EBay.

I will let you know how good a job after it gets back.

[thepowerful]

Recently I sent my day/date 18k YG band to him, hoping he can work some magic. Rolex Canada quoted me over $7k for a band swap, and I am not interested in restoring the band at that price... I have sent several bands to him in the past, (touch wood) they have all turned out great!

The down side:

- Sometimes he polishes the bands too much wearing away the engraved numbers and the crown details on band.
- On several bands, links closet to the end-links (shoulder) remain loose
- Upon really close inspection you can see pry marks (sometimes)
- Website prices not updated

Up Side:
- Quality work
- Band does get tight
- Quick reply to emails
- Rolex techs do not 'balk' that the band has been restored. They still service the watch without insisting on purchasing a new band (in my experience)

I am a repeat customer!

[egzbuen]

Very interesting and informative thread.

[The Duke]

I have the SS oyster with noticeable wear and stretch in links. has anyone had a band with wear and stretch restored by michael? And how did it turn out? does he replace the damaged links.