1675 Case restoration with Alex Bui (buiwatchco)

[fizz]

I promised on another thread recently that I would create a separate one about my experience with Alex Bui (buiwatchco) who worked on rebuilding the case of my 1675 earlier this year.

I won't go into the details of comparing him with other more established players in this field, particularly in the US, except to say that my choice of selecting him was based on a combination of many factors including:

1 - Repute (he seems to do work with a lot of the larger vintage watch dealers).
2 - Communication (he was very responsive when first approached and I like dealing with individuals, rather than companies).
3 - Price estimate (his initial quote was the most reasonable from the few enquiries I did in comparison to the usual suspects) and finally
4 - Recommendation (from another fellow member who first suggested him with very strong praise).

My reason for deciding to restore the case was that while I loved the watch overall, I felt the lugs were too soft (sort of like melted butter) and everytime I looked at it, I was reminded of this. Understandably, this is very subjective and for many, opting to do this is controversial in the first place, but my mind was made up so off it went to him (shipped from Dubai), once we had agreed on the specifics of time frame (I was told 6-8 weeks) and rough estimate of work performed and potential cost.

For comparison, I'm attaching a few pictures of the watch before, though I will warn you, I don't have a macro lens and these are pretty low quality, mediocre phone pics (except the wrist shot).

We agreed that post the restoration work being completed (which consisted of rebuilding 3 of the 4 lugs), he would also perform some artificial aging, in line with my bracelet and dial condition and what you see is the result after some "medium" aging. To say that I am pleased is an under statement. The turnaround was quicker than I thought (in all it took 6 weeks) and I now absolutely love the "new" look of the watch (the "after" pics of the lugs are courtesy Alex, who's done a great job capturing the outcome).

Let me know what you think.