Class act in Russia

[Alcan]

Some of you might remember that last year I was on a quest for parts for a Russian Zlatoust stopwatch. No significant retail value, but siginificant in that it was given to a member of my club when he was in eastern Europe several years ago. He gave it to me with a broken crystal and damaged balance staff, and I accessed several websites hunting for parts.

I eventually received a reply from a guy in S. Petersburg, Russia, saying that he might be able to find the parts. After several months and many emails, he shipped me 2 complete balances, 3 brand new crystals, and 2/3 of a similar watch for spare parts.

Now the problem. I owed him about $13.00 for the parts. Have any of you ever tried to send Canadian dollars to Russia, or credit someone's bank account there? The least expensive service I could find was going to cost me $60 in transaction fees.

He finally suggested that I just send him a t-shirt with a Canadian theme. Almost 3 months ago I shipped one to him, and I finally got an email from him today saying that it landed today and he'll be representing the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, Russia tomorrow. How cool is that?

By the way, after receiving the parts I Google'd his name. Turns out that he's Andrew Vorontsov, one of the most brilliant watch guys in Russia, and he took the time to dig up the parts for my cheapie Zlatoust. This guy is a major class act, check out his website:

http://andrewvorontsov.com/works.html