Greetings from India.

[Roll1ex]

Hey guys!

I started my watch hobby with opening table clocks around my house in my pre teen years when my parents weren't around.

No surprises that I couldn't put them back.  But what was surprising for my parents was that their watchmaker would not charge anything for the repairs and give back the clock within the day stating that: nothing is broken the piece was partially taken apart, all the parts were there in the bag, and the child seems to have just left the process where he could not figure out how to open take it apart or his tools were not enough to get the job done.


Fast forward to 2 years ago, I found the love for watches again and started to get all the vintage pieces (Watches and clocks) in my household properly restored.

I am known for being impatient but thorough, so here I am introducing myself after already asking for help in a thread Its nice to meet you all and HMU if you know something about taming wobbly Rolex rotor.

[RichardHarris123]

Hello and welcome from Leeds, England. 

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

[Waggy]

10 hours ago, Roll1ex said:

I am known for being impatient

I'm also rather impatient, but when you have your head down and are in the zone 4 hours feels like 10 minutes, my wife often jokes that I have watches and clocks all around me, but no concept of time once I 'get in the zone'

[praezis]

Welcome! To which part of India will my greetings go?

Frank

[watchweasol]

Hello and welcome to the forum.    Enjoy

[Roll1ex]

On 5/14/2024 at 1:05 PM, Waggy said:

I'm also rather impatient, but when you have your head down and are in the zone 4 hours feels like 10 minutes, my wife often jokes that I have watches and clocks all around me, but no concept of time once I 'get in the zone'

Absolutely!

I started cleaning a dial today and did not realise when the sun set. This hobby is satisfying AF.

[Roll1ex]

On 5/14/2024 at 2:56 PM, praezis said:

Welcome! To which part of India will my greetings go?

Frank

Hey Frank!

 

Mumbai currently, but I am all over the place

[HectorLooi]

Hi @Roll1ex, welcome to WRT.

Is there a big second hand watch market in Mumbai? I seem to see a lot of used watches and clocks on eBay coming from Mumbai. 

I used to buy a watch every month from Mumbai on eBay. My mentor told me it was the best way to learn watch repair, by fixing everything that's not right. 

[Roll1ex]

@HectorLooi
Yes, I would say that Mumbai has the highest liquidity in terms used watches.

How was your experience with these used watches and what watch brands did you buy used?

I have always found the vintage luxury watch segment in India a bit shady. Quite a few are genuine watches with genuine matching parts but just not from the same one.

[HectorLooi]

4 hours ago, Roll1ex said:

How was your experience with these used watches and what watch brands did you buy used?

I've bought brands like Citizen, Seiko, Titoni, Tissot, Roamer.

Strange thing is many of them were using ST96 movements. I'm not sure if the ST96 is original to that model or whether it was a replacement movement. 

All the watches with nice looking dials were obviously refurbished, after-market dials. And all of them had over-polished watchcases.

Some of them had non-original hairsprings, rejewelled pallet forks, watch crystals that don't fit and glued in with a generous amount of glue. One of them was totally not working because the pallet jewel was loose to the point that it almost fell off.

But the sellers were very nice. The seller of the non-working watch gave me a complete refund. Some of them gave partial refunds.

I would say don't by luxury watches on the internet, regardless of the country the seller is from.

Don't believe the "serviced by master watchmaker" statement.

Have realistic expectations. ( Do expect the occasional complete junk.)

Do expect to do a complete overhaul and major repairs.

Otherwise, watches from Mumbai are great. For clocks.... I'm not so sure.

[Roll1ex]

Hey @HectorLooi

Yeah, that's most of Indian watchmaking. Most watchmakers run on 'Jugaad' (look it up)

Watchmakers have offered me to drop in a new movement instead of servicing, (both quartz and automatic) stating its cheap.

When you talk about finding ST96 movements in a lot of watches I might know the general area and shops, these watches are coming from.

Some watchmakers massacre the watch from the inside but to an unsuspecting onlooker its all tip-top.

 

On 5/19/2024 at 10:05 AM, HectorLooi said:

I would say don't by luxury watches on the internet, regardless of the country the seller is from.

Don't believe the "serviced by master watchmaker" statement.

Have realistic expectations. ( Do expect the occasional complete junk.)

Do expect to do a complete overhaul and major repairs.

Couldn't agree more with  everything you said.

Most dealers have a watchmaker who can make the watch "retail ready" for cheap, some polishing, a bit of swabbing and Rodico, topped up regulating.