I recently bought this watch at Bonhams auction house, London-England.
The watch looked desperate, to put it mildly, but I had read of a guy called Rocco, who runs a firm called Watchworks. I have seen a couple of watches that he had revived from the dead on another forum, so I got in contact with him and asked if he could wave his wand over my watch. Only in conjunction with a full service was his reply, but the amount he was asking for a full service, including case and bracelet refurbishment, was so that I couldn't say no!!!

Rocco used to work for one of the watch-giants before starting his own firm, he now is one of the worlds best for the big brands, qualified and authorized...He receives invitations from them to participate in learning new technologies and techniques.

Well, to cut a long story short, I had my watch sent directly from Bonhams to Rocco, and today I got my finished watch back...

Here the photo's before refurbishment, which were taken by Rocco











Here the finished watch











My deepest gratitude to Rocco.

To me, the man's a magician...

good to know wher to go, great looking Omega.

That is a really great looking Omega, if it were mine I'd post it in the"Why wear a chronograph" section.
Gary

That's a beauty, Werner...fantastic job! Wish I still had mine

Stunning watch, and excellent work.
Collector heaven.

Abrasives, both coarse and fine, are the watchmaker's friend! Beautiful work!

William

Thanks for the pleasant replies,

quote:

Abrasives, both coarse and fine, are the watchmaker's friend! Beautiful work!

William


info@whitescrystals.com

William, I have seen pictures how he does this, and it's nothing just short of magic. The deep gouges and dinks are first built up with a laser welder and after that the watch is ground and polished using a lapping machine. Anyone can buy one, it's using it correctly that not everyone can do
He had a lapping machine, but also bought a new one made to his specifications...

Here a few Photo's of the process:

original lapping machine


New lapping machine



Some random before/after pictures of some of his work



I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I did when I first saw them!

very impressive, with right equipment and skills
he is craftsman with good eye and hands coordination not many left out there.

Such a nice work, impressive.

I am in awe, this man is a god to me!
Such great precision work, makes my own fumblings with file and abrasives look less than amateur.
I will never moan about costs of repair again.
Thanks for posting such in-depth pics, great thread.

Werner; If he doesn't mind, maybe some contact info/email so if someone wants to utilize him they might?

Wow, the restoration of the flightmaster case is nothing short of art. Looks like a new old stock watch, thanks for sharing it with us

I'm impressed!!! Just look at how nicely that Constellation came out! Although not pictured, I'm sure he must have a belt setup too. This is a great post and the excellent images are very revealing both in terms of the equipment used and the finished results. Thank you Werner!

William

quote:

Werner; If he doesn't mind, maybe some contact info/email so if someone wants to utilize him they might?


Tom Dunn... TIME MACHINE

No problem Tom, I'm quite sure Rocco would be delighted...

His site;
http://www.watchworks.co.uk/

Mail address;
watchworksuk@hotmail.com
watchworksuk@gmail.com

Contact
Tel:
+44 117 9759752

Address:
Rocco Manfredi
Watchworks
101 Ashley Down Road
Bristol
United Kingdom
BS7 9JT