u/Archaedin

Hi all,

It's recently come to my attention - thank you /u/TheDameTimeWatch - that at least one person feels like the information surrounding building the vintage watches I post is not clear enough, and that perhaps people aren't clear on what it is that I do/offer, and what it is that you're actually buying.

Up until this point, this is not something that had occurred to me, and I'd like to address any concerns or questions any new or old members of this community might have.

This could relate to parts sources, price breakdowns, aging processes, shipping, whatever question you may have - big or small, AMA! I am here to help/answer.

However, when talking prices, I will only discuss that via DM. We are talking about REP watches here.

Call me overly cautious, but this account is 6.5 years old and means a lot to me, so I don't want to take chances with potentially getting banned or suspended.

I currently work full time. Building watches after I get home, posting about them, and chatting with you all is honestly one of the least stressful and most enjoyable things about my life. I want to make absolutely sure everyone here is having as positive of an experience as possible.

Here's a quick look into my side of the process:

My personal corner of the vintage watch building hobby is niche models that *do not claim to be super clones*, but are affordable and look cosmetically pleasing. To be honest, I treat this subreddit as a bit like a watch blog. Posting once a day, with a style of photo that I personally like. I do enjoy photography.

To this end, almost NONE of my watches use clone movements, I much prefer to work with Japanese NH35/38 movements.

I do feel like it's common knowledge that the current average for those is $71-76 PER UNIT.

Many of the parts I use have been made completely custom, in order to further these niche models. Here's a list of parts that I've had made over the years:

Dials:

Domino's Airking

UAE Airking champagne/silver

Honda Datejust

Blue Piano Submariner

Commando Explorer

Khanjar 1501

Lapiz Datejust silver/gold

Red Jasper Datejust silver/gold

Tiffany 16234 Datejust

Tropic 1680

Cartier 1680

Tiffany 16800

Handsets:

UAE Airking gold handsets

Extra slim vintage style Mercedes - silver, green lume

Extra slim vintage style Mercedes - gold, green lume

Vintage style Datejust - green lume

No lume Datejust - silver/gold

Cases:

White gold emulated Datejust cases (non drilled lugs)

Yellow gold emulated Datejust cases (non drilled lugs)

Bezels:

Matte grey bezels (best that currently exist for aging in budget builds)

Crystals:

Low dome acrylic - for Explorers/Airkings

Tophat acrylic - for Datejusts

All of these parts I've had made to make unique builds.

The rest of the sources for my parts are traditionally:

Rafflesdials - most commonly cases/bracelets/dials

Rafflestime - occasionally rare inserts and handsets

Yukiwatch - most commonly dials

Helenarou - frequently addons such as pips, bezels, and the occasional dials

Rubyswatch - occasionally cases

eBay/Chrono24 - when using genuine parts

Miscellaneous vendors - usually only when a specific part is requested, such as a dial that's available nowhere else

Timelines:

One of the concerns raised by the above tagged user is how long the builds actually take.

From the purchase of the parts to delivery to me, I've found that the average is 2-4 weeks. A fair amount of the time, packages have issues with postal delays, customs, missing pieces that need to be reordered, etc.

The actual assembly of the watch, when all parts are with me, is the shortest part of the process. When all parts are finished and laid out, ready to go, the simplest builds can take as little as 20 minutes. To be fair to me, I have done this many times, so the process is pretty streamlined at this point.

If it's a piece that requires a datewheel overlay, such as a Datejust, that can add a little time. If aging is required, that also adds time.

For instance, I frequently heat treat dials to get a bubbled lume effect, and that takes between 20 minutes to an hour depending on the dial and lume type.

If it's an acidic bath the dial requires, that can add a day.

If it's a standard aging process with darkened lume, I use a micro brush and apply saline pigments that I make myself - that usually takes about 20 minutes as well.

Typically I also either polish up or age the handsets too, depending on whether it's a NOS or aged looking piece.

If it's a totally custom piece like a Lapiz Datejust, that takes considerably more time. That would include assembling the midcase, bezel, crystal, and applying the datewheel overlay. The building process for one of those would typically be closer to an hour.

Then there's the packing up and booking a courier, but I'm not counting that.

I do also have a very, very strict customer satisfaction guarantee - if a piece arrives with a fault, I offer free fixes for up to a year from delivery. If it's lost in transit, that'll get replaced at no additional cost. Same with customs issues.

If you aren't satisfied, I can redo it until you are. Like I said before, I really want it to be a positive experience wherever possible.

That being said, if I could improve on one aspect of the process, it would be cutting down on response times to messages. Unfortunately, it does sometimes take me a day to get around to replying to everyone! On a slow day I might get 30 messages, and a busy day might be 100+. Any average in between.

However, I can always guarantee that I am here and I am on your side. Even if it takes a little time to get back to you, I'm here!

So, that's the basic outline of Arch&Co. Please feel free to AMA, if I didn't cover something here!

All the best.