I have owned my Headwind for a few years now. It's been a learning experience, learning where the s/n should be, or should have been
, and learning how the original finish on the case and bezel was supposed to be (now restored). Then, there was the matter of bands/bracelets. Mine came on a Bob strap, shark with white stitching, which isn't bad, but clearly not the real thing. It also came on an aftermarket bracelet, which looked pretty close to the faceted bracelet but made no attempt to integrate to the case at the end links. It also came with a beat up, externally, Breitling croc band. The Inner lining was actually in good shape but for some reason the gloss was mostly worn off, and the croc grain seemed a little worn. I knew the bracelets were all mutts at the time, and I probably would have returned it and made an ebay fuss if I had understood the buff-off of the serial numbers, though even in that condition it would still have been tough to do. I had been looking for months for one of these
Anyway, the refurbishment process has gone on for a little while. I serviced it and had the proper polish/brush surfacing done last year. Now, it's time to take the next step with the Headwind. I looked around but something stopped me from buying a new or lightly-used Breitling band. I read more than once the stories of refurbishment or re-shading of Breitling bands by a number of the more industrious members on the blog. I made an attempt a few months ago, decided to black-out the stitching and restore the luster to the band. Blacking out the stitching was easy enough, but this band was too far gone for me to restore much of anything to the band. Twenty bucks and a bunch of supplies later, it was a little better but barely acceptable. I put the whole thing aside, I had my new IWC anyway, and then life got very, very busy.
The latest birthday came around, and I decided that was a good enough excuse to pick up a different bracelet. It's on the way, we'll see if it's any better. Concerning the band, I had a pair of shoes re-soled this week and asked the guy whether he had ever worked on anything like a watch band. He said no, but bring it by, he'd give it a shot. I did (Tony's at Park Central, Shark) and the guy told me to come back in an hour, he thought he could do something with it. I went to see my longtime independent watch guy who is down the street (like that blue-dial Yachtmaster, a lot) and then came back. I hope the pics can give some indication of this, but the full gloss was returned, more than I could have hoped for. How much? Five bucks, he said.
Reason 57,293 why I should stick to my day job.
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