Well 2016 is now behind us, thank goodness, it wasn’t a particularly good year on a personal level with accidents, deaths in the family and one thing and another. Unfortunately all this impacted quite severely on my ability to keep this blog updated on a regular basis. Having said that the work has been coming in thick and fast all year so I thought I’d show a little of what’s been across the bench to try and make up for the lack of updates.

I’ve seen quite a lot of vintage Seiko exotica on the bench last year including some early 6159-7000’s.

I’ve also seen a number of even earlier 6215-7000’s, this one had an incorrect bezel insert fitted as the original was properly decayed.

It looks a lot better with the correct insert fitted!

And a comparison shot with a 6159, something you don’t see every day.

Speaking of things you don’t see every day I had one chap send in 5 x 6159-7000/1’s all at once for servicing and luming!

As mentioned they all needed reluming….

….and servicing….

….and they all turned out beautifully when finished. The owner had been buying these steadily for years when he saw them at the right price – I wish I had that kind of foresight!

I’ve had a number of dial refinishes to do this year, I’m not a fan of refinishing for the sake of it but when faced with ones like the Omega Ladymatic below sometimes you don’t have a choice.

These Ladymatics are powered by some tiny calibres, this had the 455 inside.

I must admit this looked a whole lot better at the finish than it did at the start 🙂

There’s been plenty of Rolexes across the bench, not too many Explorer II’s though.

Back with the Seikos I’ve had some stunning divers in, this 6309-7040 being in particularly fine fettle.

And even finer when it was finished.

Some, like this Scubapro 450, needed nothing more than stripping, servicing and a new set of seals.

I had shed loads of 6138/6139’s on the bench last year, from unhealthy UFO’s….

….to broken bullheads….

….to early yellow pogues….

….to early blue pogues….

….to early JDM speedtimer pogues….

…. to resist pogues and so on and so on – you get the picture 🙂

I saw a fair amount of Heuers last year, quite a number being the quartz divers like this 980.013b

There were a fair few vintage pieces including this gorgeous Lemania Nero stopwatch which had a broken balance staff.

And of course plenty of the classic Seiko quartz chronographs like this 7A38-7000….

….and this 7A28-703A.

Although this is a fraction of the work that actually made its way across the bench last year it’s a nice sample of the type of watches I would have posted about if I hadn’t had all the additional time pressures that came along halfway through the year. Hopefully 2017 will continue to proceed on a better footing, this will mean I can then get back to posting about all these fantastic watches I have the privilege of working on a lot more frequently! 🙂