When I dropped off my watch in December of 2001, I could not expect that it would take five months for the work to be completed and for me to have my watch again. It does sound like quite a long time, doesn’t it? I am very glad that the wait is over.
I explained the story of the watch a tiny bit about a month ago. You do not need to click...
I had given my good old black ORIS alarm to Juvelier Pletsch in Frankfurt in December of 2001r. There was nothing wrong with the watch, it is simply a mechanical piece that needs lubrication every two years or so, just like a car needs a change of oil. My Oris alarm had not been opened since 1996, so the oil change was long overdue. My daily interaction with the watch was slowly leaving marks. The winder was almost stripped of chrome, and there seemed to be some resistance whenever the alarm needed to be set. (It is a wrist alarm, a minimal mechanical PDA.) My ORIS wrist alarm will be 10 years old soon, but only on the outside. The reason why I had bought the watch in the first place was its strange age discrepancy between the watch and its inside. The mechanism that runs the watch was built in 1969 by A.Schild , the same year when I was born (the design was from 1930, I think). ORIS bought the last contingent of these alarm mechanisms and repackaged them in 1988. Giving the watch in to Pletsch, I had a s feeling that there would be some sort of complication. This particular ORIS watch is a pretty limited item with a very limited amount of spare parts available to the dealers. (When I dropped off the watch it was one of those moments when the entire store staff comes together to take a look at the thing I brought). Even though there was nothing really wrong with the watch, the Watchmakers concluded that the ORIS needs to be sent home to Biel in Switzerland to get a new glass and a new electroplating on the entire housing. The Chrome had microscopic faults in it by now, which were caused by all the temperature changes over time and my really bad abuse of the watch in the first years. The tiny cracks destroyed the left sleeves of almost all of my shirts and even several sweaters.
I agreed that now was the time for the watch to go onto this serious adventure, to travel back to Switzerland and to get a new lease on life. Pletsch called the Manufacturer in Switzerland just to find out that there were no housings that could be used as replacement, so the entire watch needed to be taken apart, stripped to the brass and re-chromed. Everything. The winders the lugs, all of it. Then the new glass... Then the regular lubrication process, and the simple resealing.
The entire procedure, including shipping took five months. I have the watch back. I have the feeling that the glass was not replaced, but this probably means that there are no replacement glasses for this watch anymore. The chrome looked truly fantastic for the first half hour or so, but there is some sort of a small bubble on the left hand side, which might mean that there will be more trouble. I have a one year guarantee on the work and will probably wait and see what will happen.
I know that I sound really obsessed about this watch, but it has shown me so many good times as bad times. In order to run, it needs my attention, as I have to wind it at the same time every day. It is my alarm and reminder, and by now I almost have the feeling that it is a unique piece. I know it is not, but it seems impossible to find even a picture of a black ORIS wrist alarm online. I knew about the part shortage for quite a while now and have been checking eBay for this particular model for several years now. Not once have I seen this watch. (Other versions of it, maybe, but never this most modest one, a black ORIS wrist alarm.)
Mine has the serial number 420-7387 B (for black) 5520.
I will post a scan tomorrow... (Am I strangely obsessed with the wrong things?)
