Beste horlogeliefhebbers,
Een tijdje terug startte ik hier een topic over een oude Zenith El Primero die ik hersteld heb (linkje: http://www.horlogeforum.nl/read.php?8,230834 ).
Helaas was de originele wijzerplaat beschadigd evenals de wijzers. Ook was ik niet in staat een datumring in de juiste kleur te bemachtigen. Naar aanleiding daarvan heb ik een paar weken terug onderstaande brief geschreven aan de CEO van Zenith, Jean-Frédéric Dufour:
[b]Straatnaam huis nr.
Postcode Venray
The Netherlands
January 3, 2011
Mr Jean-Frédéric Dufour
Zenith International SA
Rue des Billodes 34
CH-2400 Le Locle
Switzerland
Dear Mr Dufour,
A little while ago I was at a watchmaker who is an acquaintance of my father. While I was there I saw an El Primero movement in one of his drawers. The movement was rusty and it was obviously that it had water damage in the past and that it had been neglected for a long time. I asked the watchmaker about the watch, but he didn’t knew anything about the El Primero movement. Frankly enough he didn’t even knew the brand Zenith. I told him about the movement and how special it is. The first automatic chronograph in production, the high beat rate of 36.000 oscillations per hour and even today it still has a leap on many other movements. He was amazed by what I told to him and he took a better look at it. It was the first time he took a better look at the movement and he was impressed by the technical beauty of the movement. The case and dial that belonged to it were also in terrible state, but he could see the robust quality of the case.
Since he didn’t want to do all the effort that was necessary to refurbish the watch himself, he asked me if I was interested in buying the old movement including case, dial, hands etc. Since I’m only eighteen years old (at that time seventeen years old) and a big fan of Zenith watches this sounded like a one of a kind opportunity to buy a legendary Zenith El Primero which until then seemed unachievable at my age. We agreed about the price and I bought the watch.
Watches and watchmaking are a huge passion of mine and about a year ago I started doing watchmaking myself as a hobby. Since then I have spent a lot of time and effort in developing my knowledge and skills. I was lucky that I got a lot of tools and a whole workbench from an uncle of my dad who used to be a watchmaker. Since I started watchmaking I have made a huge leap forward in both skills and knowledge and I was sure that I would be able to refurbish the watch.
The movement was, as I said already, in very bad shape and was in great need of a refurbishment. Also, the rest of the watch was in terrible shape; the glass was broken, there was rust inside the watchcase, the bracelet had damaged links, the once polished bezel was heavily scratched, the crown was missing and everything was very, very filthy.
After having a good look at the movement I decided to have a go at it. I started disassembling the movement and carefully checked every single part. Quite some parts had to be replaced: the balance wheel, the escape wheel, the winding stem, the reverser connecting wheel for the automatic, the hour wheel and the date ring. I managed to find a supplier for the parts I needed and ordered them. In the meanwhile I cleaned every single part by hand using primarily a fiberglass scratch brush before putting it in the cleaning machine.
When I received the parts I ordered I started reassembling the watch. I placed every single part back into the movement taking care of the oil where needed and little by little the movement transformed back into the beautiful movement it once was. I placed the balance wheel together with the balance cock onto the movement, wound the watch and for the first time since a very long time the watch became alive, finally. It was really satisfactory to hear the beautiful and fast ticking sound of the watch for the first time.
The case was still in terrible state and by then it was time to refurbish the case along with the bracelet that belongs to it. The first thing I did, was to remove the broken glass, the pushers and the polished bezel. I polished the bezel and cleaned it together with the case, pushers and bracelet. Since I am unable to make watch glasses myself I sent the case to a specialist for that.
The bracelet had two links with uneven spaces between each other, so I had to take apart those links. That was quite a challenge, because the links were pressed in each other, so there wasn’t an easy way to take them apart. In order to take the bracelet apart I broke the junctions of the links and then drilled holes in the lugs. On the lathe I made small sticks with bulged ends and at the jewelry shop where my father works I was given the opportunity to spot weld them in the holes using a device called PUK. I finished the sides of the bracelet, so that you can’t see that I did anything to it. The bracelet was now straight again. Once I did the final finishing I reassembled al the parts of the case and it looked stunning.
Before I could reassemble the watch I had to do something about the hands, because the hands lost their original layer of paint/chrome and were brass colored. I painted the non-chromed hands white, as they were original, but I was unable to re-chrome the hour and minute hands.
By then I did everything I could to save and refurbish every separate part of the watch, so it was time to assemble everything together to make it a complete watch. Once I did that the result was an absolutely beautiful watch, ready to be preserved for many and many generations while reflecting the history, philosophy and quality of a genuine Zenith watch. Saved from a slow and lonely death.
I’m really proud of my self-refurbished vintage Zenith watch. A watch from a great brand with a great history which every real watch enthusiast knows about and I am very glad to see that the current collection is coming back to its roots and is inspired by the vintage Zenith watches which mine is one of. Although I think it is great to design and make new watches I think it is also important to respect, protect and preserve the heritage of Zenith which is exactly what Zenith is doing with its current collection.
Everything so far so good, but I ran onto a few problems considering the face of the watch. The dial that once was blue lost its color while the indices are still in place. Another problem I ran up to was the date ring, because the original was black with white numbers, while I was only able to get a white one with black numbers on it. Of course I could let a specialist refinish the original dial, but I consider that not done, because a refinished dial isn’t original anymore and I really appreciate the authenticity of the watch. Therefore I would like to ask you if you are able to get me an original dial and possibly even the date ring and hands.
I hope you enjoyed reading my letter. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Mick Mooren
Enclosures (7)[/b]
Bij deze brief heb ik 7 pagina’s uitgeprint met daarop foto’s van voor, tijdens en na de restauratie.
Toen ik vandaag thuis kwam, lag er een briefje op tafel dat ik mijn vader moest bellen als ik thuis was. Ik belde hem en hij zei dat hij eraan zou komen, want hij had iets voor me. Terwijl ik op school aan het zwoegen was voor mijn schoolexamen Engels, is de Fedex bezorger langsgeweest met een pakje voor mij. Mijn vader kwam thuis en overhandigde mij het pakje. Ik keek naar de afzender… Zwitserland… Le Locle… Zenith ::o Het was best een zwaar pakje en ik wist niet hoe gauw ik het pakje open maken moest. Op het pakje trof ik een handgeschreven brief aan namens Zenith. Ik opende de enveloppe en las de brief. Ik was blij verrast met de inhoud van de brief (zie foto) en ging gauw verder met het openen van het pakje.
Binnenin de doos trof ik een klein doosje aan… En ja hoor, in het doosje trof ik een NOS wijzerplaat, datumring en een set wijzers aan! En alsof dat nog niet genoeg was, stuurde ze me er ook nog een mooie catalogus/mooi boek bij. Op een tijdlijn in het boek staat ook een foto van mijn horloge, 1973, meer dan twee keer zo oud als dat ik ben.
Ik haastte me naar mijn werkbank en haalde mijn Zenith weer uit elkaar om de ontvangen onderdelen erin te zetten. Zorgvuldig zette ik alles in elkaar en controleerde ik alles voor de zekerheid nog even. Eenmaal in elkaar gezet, leek het wel of ik ineens een totaal ander horloge had, WAUW! ::o Wat een verandering en wat is het ineens een prachtig horloge, ik kan m’n ogen er gewoon niet meer vanaf houden!
Na 38 jaar ziet het horloge er weer als nieuw uit en is het weer klaar voor een nieuwe generatie, ik vindt het nog steeds heel bijzonder en ben dolgelukkig! Ik voel me vereerd met het ontvangen pakje.
Genoeg tekst, tijd voor wat foto’s! Een foto zegt tenslotte meer dan duizend woorden!
Het pakketje met de brief
De handgeschreven brief
Na het lezen van de brief, opende ik gauw het pakje
En wat trof ik daar aan!
Ook nog een mooi boek erbij! (het witte vlak heb ik onzichtbaar gemaakt, daar staat namelijk mijn ontwerp op >X)
Ook mijn horloge staat erin:
Meteen ben ik aan de slag gegaan met het monteren van het nieuwe “gezicht” van het horloge
En zie hier het prachtige resultaat!
Ik hoop dat jullie dit topic de moeite waard vinden. Hartelijk dank voor het lezen! :)-D
