The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi, saw some pictures on other forums of vintage watches restored using laser welding and they are made to look amazingly like new. Rusted cases, bezels etc all restored to look like they were bought yesterday. A great technology if someone desperately needs to restore a watch in absolutely bad condition (like the guy in the other thread who posted his fathers watch going through a washer and dryer which would be a great candidate for laser welding) but also a technology that can be missued to restore watches in bad condition and sell them at a premium as NOS or unpolished stock. I was stunned looking at the results and I hope watch experts will be able to easily distinguish between a restored watch in mint/NOS condition and an unrestored watch in mint/NOS condition. For those in the know, any clues of how one can tell the difference?

Can you post pics?

_________________
End of Discussion.

Don't think I can post links to other forums here but just google "Laser welding restore your Rolex case parts" and you should see what am talking about:)

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=208240

great work , and something to keep in mind when being offered a 'NOS' piece
but also something to keep in mind when you have a badly damaged watchcase

double edged sword.. as always

but thanks for posting !

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Damn!! Those results are insane!!

_________________
Regards,

Peter

BREITLING for Bentley Motors T & Mark VI, Aerospace
ROLEX Submariner Ceramic116610LN
OMEGA Plantet Ocean 8500 42mm Orange arabics
OCEAN7 LM-3

Cheers Dracha!

Any clues from the experts here on how to tell if a case has been laser welded or not? I do know some very experienced watch experts can tell but I don't know how, any suggestions, theories welcome!

Also a technical article on laser welding
http://www.uslasercorp.com/envoy/welding.html

no clues yet, but from the pics you can see a slight discoloration

I would have to investigate more and prepare myself for a steep learning curve !

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

That's insane.

_________________
End of Discussion.

Impressive. I bet it costs though. Sort of like the quote I got on my car to fix an oil leak, $25 for the gaskets and $2k for the labor. Also this seems to be for stainless cases. Lots of older B's showing the worse wear are plated with either gold or chrome. If the base metal can be done this way then the plating will hide any evidence.