The Breitling Watch Source Forums

How much does replating affect vintage value. Should you or shouldn't you?

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"A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure."

on highly collectible pieces it would affect value adversely, for most "average" pieces it will raise realistic market value, many people look for that "as new" restored vintage watch, if you send watches to JLC - and don't specifically ask for components to remain untouched - for restoration you'll get it back looking like it was manufactured yesterday.

"true collectors" that frown at refinished cases or "perfect" OEM replacement dials are a miniscule minority, sometimes taking themselves a bit to seriously.

I wouldn't replate, most serious collectors would find that unacceptable. But if it must be done to save a watch or is a heirloom, so be it!

qed

Depends really. The gold plating seems to wear pretty severely on plated Navitimer 806's and 809's. In some cases the value will increase having the plating redone. On the other hand, the watch would still, in my opinion, have less value than an unrestored plated version since, technically, it's not all original. I would never replate an 806 or 809 because I like the original honesty of a watch that shows wear for being around 50 years old. Plate it and you erase it's history. Gold plated models were generally designed as an upscale version of the comparable steel version so wearing one that's beat to death wouldn't give the appearance of being too upscale. You would have to look at each piece individually, and your plans for the future of the watch, to determine whether plating makes sense for you or not.

Sometimes replating is the only solution. Here is a watch I did over 10 years ago to show half of it restored. It became known as the "half fast" watch! I still have it.

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S. Craig Bergsma

And again...thats amazing work Craig!!!

Too bad you don't do plating work anymore Craig. I get why although you should have stopped years sooner but at least you did.

Wayne

Here's the Jardur that Craig had replated for me earlier this year. Really made a difference.

[quote="vintage"]Here's the Jardur that Craig had replated for me earlier this year. Really made a difference.




Looks great!

Paul very beautiful! Craig has a company that does a very fabulous job replating. I have had a couple of watches replated and they turned out phenomenal!!! Will post before and after pictures when I return from vacation. The reason I posted replating is I just picked up a Ref 181 looking terrible. When I received it it cleaned up very nice but has some minor pitting. I am on the fence about replating or not before I send it to Craig for service.

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"A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure."

Just a couple of notes about replating.....
I used to do all of it myself up until about 2 years ago. Then the company that I had bought plating supplies from for over 10 years went out of business and all the substitutes that I tried did not work as well. Also, these plating project take a lot of time and because of the increase in restoration projects I was receiving, I simply could not keep up. So I have been sending most all of my plating projects to a company in Canada called RePlateit. They do really nice work and are reasonable. The only catch is, they will not remove the movement or any other parts. They just want the pieces and will replate or refinish (polish/burnish) case, bezel, back, pushers and crown. Craig

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S. Craig Bergsma

Craig sharing trade secrets. Peter does really excellent work, the burnishing and edge sharpness is so good I could almost not tell the refinished case apart from a 1940s NOS case I have bought. And assembly/disassembly of a chronograph is something any sane person should leave to competent watchmaker anyway.