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Old 12 April 2019, 02:09 PM   #1
Vicc
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Is there any love for AP restoration?

If you like these I will post more.











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Old 12 April 2019, 02:11 PM   #2
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Very nice work. Where are you located?


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Old 12 April 2019, 02:42 PM   #3
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Very nice work on that perpetual! It's difficult to polish these watches right.
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Old 12 April 2019, 02:44 PM   #4
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Thank you for sharing, top work! That elephant had a good life Wouldn’t mind seeing more, do you have any good bracelet restoration pics?
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Old 12 April 2019, 03:23 PM   #5
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Beautiful...but in it's own right it's a good thing to see these watches used, battered, beat up, and worn in too

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Old 12 April 2019, 03:38 PM   #6
Vicc
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomas Eriksson View Post
Thank you for sharing, top work! That elephant had a good life Wouldn’t mind seeing more, do you have any good bracelet restoration pics?
I don't usually take pictures of the bracelet but I could take a few tomorrow, though I don't think we have any with outstanding damage right now. Now I wish I had taken pictures of an AP where the bracelet was entirely broken off in two places. According to the customer he fell off a horse.
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Old 12 April 2019, 05:39 PM   #7
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Outstanding skill and look amazing


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Old 12 April 2019, 05:42 PM   #8
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Very nice work! Thanks for sharing. I like what you did with the Montauk.
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Old 12 April 2019, 06:09 PM   #9
Tomas Eriksson
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicc View Post
I don't usually take pictures of the bracelet but I could take a few tomorrow, though I don't think we have any with outstanding damage right now. Now I wish I had taken pictures of an AP where the bracelet was entirely broken off in two places. According to the customer he fell off a horse.
We have seen stranger things here on the forums, there was a thread about a guy who had his 15400 ran over by a car:


https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=641029

Btw, how well equiped us the shop (if you can disclose...)? Do you do laser welding? Is all refinish done by lapping machine?
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Old 12 April 2019, 06:49 PM   #10
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Hi Viktor,


Very nice.....

Do you then recommend AP ROO Chrono to be polished? I wouldn't mind mine to be done by you......:))

Regards,
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Old 12 April 2019, 08:00 PM   #11
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Awesome work! Any pics of restoration on a gold or RG piece?
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Old 13 April 2019, 12:29 AM   #12
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Thanks for sharing. keep them coming.
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Old 13 April 2019, 03:20 AM   #13
Vicc
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomas Eriksson View Post
We have seen stranger things here on the forums, there was a thread about a guy who had his 15400 ran over by a car:


https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=641029

Btw, how well equiped us the shop (if you can disclose...)? Do you do laser welding? Is all refinish done by lapping machine?
The watch brought to us was just as bad. I thought it was thrown under a car as a bet or something and the horse riding was a made up story.

We have the equipment that the Swiss factories use. We outsource lasering to a jeweler just because he's a professional when it comes to these things.

Later on I will post some rose pieces as requested.
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Old 13 April 2019, 04:35 AM   #14
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They are some very well loved examples ! Great to see them with plenty of mileage on the bezels.

More pics would be excellent.

Would be especially interesting to see more photos inside the case to show the layered construction with the rubber gaskets.

Are you an authorised repair centre for AP or fully 3rd party ?

Thank you for sharing these !
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Old 13 April 2019, 04:38 AM   #15
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That's some pretty nice work! Would love to see close-ups of case bevels.
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Old 13 April 2019, 04:43 AM   #16
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Nice work but looks like an ad to me.
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Old 13 April 2019, 04:43 AM   #17
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great work, would love to see more.
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Old 13 April 2019, 05:24 AM   #18
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Good work, that Elephant literally looks like a beat up boxer rather than a watch.
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Old 14 April 2019, 12:32 AM   #19
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More before and after pics please - great job


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Old 14 April 2019, 01:46 AM   #20
Vicc
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Quote:
Originally Posted by syahriltaher View Post
Hi Viktor,
Very nice.....
Do you then recommend AP ROO Chrono to be polished? I wouldn't mind mine to be done by you......:))

Regards,
That is entirely up to you and it depends on the extent of wear. I wouldn't recommend refinishing a watch that only has superficial scratches (unless you're selling it) because it will be scratched up in to time again.
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Old 14 April 2019, 02:17 AM   #21
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Thanks a lot for the info Viktor.....

Glad to have you here.....


One question, do you really think that AP case can only be polished up to 4x maximum...and after that, it will loose its geometry?


I really believe that if done properly by a competent polisher, it can be done more than that....


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Old 14 April 2019, 03:13 AM   #22
Vicc
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gigaton Punch View Post
Awesome work! Any pics of restoration on a gold or RG piece?
I couldn't find the before pictures for these


Converting rubber bezel to gold (by stripping the rubber).


Quote:
Originally Posted by masterserg View Post
That's some pretty nice work! Would love to see close-ups of case bevels.
Not really a close-up but it's the closest thing I have right now. You can see the bevels and the lines on the bezel and case pretty clearly.



Quote:
Originally Posted by syahriltaher View Post
Thanks a lot for the info Viktor.....

Glad to have you here.....

One question, do you really think that AP case can only be polished up to 4x maximum...and after that, it will loose its geometry?

I really believe that if done properly by a competent polisher, it can be done more than that....

Regards,
That's correct. We often get watches that have been over-polished or polished incorrectly on a brush. We laser back as much metal as we can to restore the polished off corners and bevels.
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Old 14 April 2019, 03:41 AM   #23
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It seems some amazing watches go through your hands and the refinishing standard very high indeed. I assume to get these pieces you must surely be AP affiliated?
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Old 14 April 2019, 04:19 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicc View Post
I couldn't find the before pictures for these

Converting rubber bezel to gold (by stripping the rubber).



Not really a close-up but it's the closest thing I have right now. You can see the bevels and the lines on the bezel and case pretty clearly.




That's correct. We often get watches that have been over-polished or polished incorrectly on a brush. We laser back as much metal as we can to restore the polished off corners and bevels.
Does using laser apply to RG? I guess it would be adding more gold to the case via laser? But how do you match the hue of AP's rose gold?
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Old 14 April 2019, 12:16 PM   #25
HK Islandboy
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Great work. It’s also a treat to see some wonderful legacy collection pieces looking like new
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Old 16 April 2019, 03:52 AM   #26
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great looking work
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Old 16 April 2019, 08:20 AM   #27
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Very nice work, loved the before and after pics. I'm not one of those that feel a beat up bezel gives a watch character.
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Old 16 April 2019, 12:38 PM   #28
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Very cool keep em coming!
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Old 16 April 2019, 01:00 PM   #29
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Wow, thats some very good work!
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Old 17 April 2019, 07:33 AM   #30
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Very nice work!
Quite impressed with the level of skill that you demonstrate.
I'm sure I'm not the only Forum member who would love a continuing thread of
Before - After images from your shop.
If you have some before/ after threads for other brands, in other locations, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I'd love to see those links.
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