Bezel Removal Tool Damage
 

Hello All,

Apologies for my OCD in advance, but just wanted some opinions. I recently acquired a 16710 that’s in fairly good condition. I went to my local watchmaker to get it “authenticated” and he made a gash on the side of the case between the lugs while removing the bezel. On both the 12 annd 6 o clock side. Unfortunately, I tried to discuss the damage with him and I have been ghosted.

Is this type of damage while removing the bezel a common occurrence? If not, can it happen to anyone/watchmaker? Thankfully I can’t see it unless I do a wrist roll, but man it is annoying to have a relatively large gash on the 12 and 6 o’clock side. I have the watch at a different watchmaker to get it regulated now so I don’t have pictures but any help to weather the storm would be great.

Thank you.

He didn’t need to remove the bezel to authenticate the watch, nor to authenticate the bezel. Did he also remove the dial and inspect its underside?

What you are describing is normal understandable concern. You’ll be pleased to know that you do not have OCD.

I'm not sure what's to be gained from removing the bezel for authentication. Was this an AD watchmaker? If so, there should be no opportunity of damage just removing the bezel on this model. I can guess blades or a knife was used to pry it off, which is not the procedure when one has the proper tools.

Tell your local watchmaker he’s about to get a really bad review unless he makes you happy

Can you post a picture of this large gash on both sides of the watch case.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the watch with me as it’s being regulated and waiting for the additional jubilee bracelet I ordered before picking it up. I’m probably just overreacting as it’s a new watch but I’ve just never seen any watches with this marking between the lugs. If this is something that can happen when taking the bezel off, I’m fine with it. I guess I’m just concerned that this is something that shouldn’t have happened with a seasoned, independent watchmaker.

When I have the watch, I can certainly add the photos to this thread. Probably should have taken them when I saw it but didn’t really think of it. However once I left the watch to be regulated, all these thoughts and concerns came rushing in….

I also would like to see pics of the damage. I'm trying to understand how it could get scratched between the lugs while popping the bezel off. I could understand a scratch ON the lug from it, but between them seems odd to me.

First off, there is no need to remove the bezel to authenticate the watch per se, but aftermarket GMT bezel rings do have coarser machining in the teeth that engage the click spring. And you can only see them by looking at the underside of the bezel.

Aside from that, authentication is done by a close examination of the movement. Obvious "tells" are the finish and balance, as the clone movements do not contain a free sprung balance. But it is possible to install a genuine balance into a clone movement, along with other genuine parts and create a very convincing "franken" that's hard to detect. If you have no box and papers, a teardown of the movement by someone who knows how to identify clone from genuine parts is your only option.

There are also aftermarket cases, casebacks, and bracelets made. It's a minefield out there.

Don't give your watch to people who know nothing and do not care about it for them to manhandle.

The guy should have been able to authenticate your watch by looking at it. I (and many others here) could authenticate your 16710 by looking at pictures of it.

Your local watchmaker is a hack.

I’ll share pictures when I get the watch back. I’m also baffled by how these marks were made but it unfortunately happened. Just to be clear, I gave this watch to a reputable, local watchmaker.

Don't feel bad. RSC Dallas banged my 3 week old Daytona up.

What are you basing this on?

There is nothing under the bezel to authenticate, and any knowledgable and carful person would not damage the case popping off the bezel.

My suggestion is to never use this person again, buy from a source that you know doesn't sell fakes, and educate yourself before you buy a watch to tell for yourself if it;s fake

Thank you all for your comments. I bought the seller as anyone should do. I just wanted to do my due diligence to make sure everything underneath the hood was okay. Either way, certainly an experience to learn from. I can post pictures when I have the watch back in hand.

I bought the seller so that wasn’t an issue. However, I still wanted to make sure that everything under the hood was fine. I guess I just wanted to do my due diligence but maybe didn’t need to since I bought from a very trusted source. Either way, certainly an experience to learn from. Thanks for everyone’s comments. I’ll be sure to post some pictures once the watch is back in my hands.

removing bezel to authenticate :thumbsdow
damaging the case whilst doing this :thumbsdow
once more damaging the case fitting it back :thumbsdow
ghosting his customer :thumbsdow

Doesn’t come much worse than this ‘watchmaker’ :cheers:

So you must of had this watch for a week or more to check the timing as you state its being regulated is this by the same watchmaker who damaged said watch and how much was it gaining or loosing in seconds a day,and cannot understand the scratches you stated between the lugs.

No way is bezel removal required to authenticate

For the damage, in the UK I would take him to a small claims court to refund the cost of the damage, which could be near to the cost of the watch for claims purposes

I have had damage from jewelers before.

Now I take photographs of all sides of the watch and bracelet before handing it in.

We’ve got to be over a thousand words by now …

Pictures would help:chuckle:

Well said, thank you.

They’ll be polished out gratis methinks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

It really sounds like you didn’t buy the seller if you felt compelled to take the watch to Rando Randy’s Watch Verification and Scratch Installation Service to check up on the seller.

And now my screen is full with coffee :chuckle:

It’s currently with a different watchmaker who works for an AD that is considered a RSC extension. I had the watch checked to see if it needed a service as the other watchmaker (the one that damaged the watch) said it needed a service asap. Unfortunately, that was also a lie as the current watchmaker said it’s running fine, just 7s/day fast. As a result, he offered to regulate it while waiting for the jubilee bracelet to come in. Im waiting for the jubilee to come in before picking it up as it’s a 1.5 hour drive from where I live.

I should have taken that picture before sending with the other watchmaker. I wasn’t so annoyed with it when it happened but seemingly am now without the watch. I’ll just have to live with the gashes as a reminder of my own stupid anxiety causing more problems when I should have just trusted the seller. I’ll post pictures next week when I have the watch.

Here are the photos. Probably not that bad since it’s not noticeable but I still don’t think this should happen…. I did read too many forums since making this post and things like this (much worse than this sometimes) happen so I really shouldn’t be too sore about this. Thanks again for your responses everyone. I’ll get over it.

Watch maker is a "hack" like mentioned previously. There are several different kind of tools to remove the bezel to avoid giving that damage and in the worse case scenario any watchmaker worth anything would have taped the area to avoid damaging it.

It's clear this "watchmaker" is worth avoiding at all costs. You are looking at a laser weld/repolish repair. I would highly suggest to try and get the repair cost covered by that individual. Is it the worse damage? No; Do you have to baby a watch? No; but how things stand you paid someone to damage your watch.

You know what's worse than damage done by a watchmaker? It's them not telling you about it, as if you're not going to notice.

The gouges are not too bad. I'd personally live with it, but I would ask for a refund of whatever you paid this hack of a watchmaker.

I guess I’m bias, but thank you for confirming I wasn’t being crazy. It certainly felt like that at times last weekend. The watch itself is fairly honest so I really don’t want to go searching for another honest example as they seem to tough to find unless I want to pay a massive premium.

I’ll need to try to get hold of the watchmaker again. Hopefully I can talk to him in person at the next watch event and discuss a plan/refund.