New Favre-Leuba owner

[Christen]

Hello there,

This is my first time posting here, so, I'd just like to say hi to everyone :)

I just purchased two sea-kings today (white and yellow dials respectively) I'll post pictures as soon as I receive them !

These will be my first Favre-Leuba watches and I'm very much looking forward to wearing them. They are in mint condition and I'd like to keep them that way. Generally I use a small polishing cloth to keep my other watches clean. I've only recently taken an interest in timepieces and I find them fascinating. Is there any cleaning product that you would recommend that I use on the steel casing to really bring out the shine ? and what would be best for the acrylic crystal case ?

And on a side note perhaps - to other Sea-King owners:

1) What makes this watch an excellent one to own ?

2) Have you had your sea-king cleaned up inside / overhauled ? If so, how much did you pay and was it worth it ?

Any answers would be appreciated.

Best regards, Chris.

[crazyfingers]

Hi, Chris, welcome to the forum :)

I bought my Sea King after I heard my dad talk about himself wearing one during his college days. I immediately started looking around for one. Fortunately for me, the one I found had already had its movement cleaned. Its beautiful really. I dont have any tools to open the case back, but the guy who sold it to me sent me a few pics of the movement and I just fell in love with it. Here in India, its not expensive (maybe $20 max) to have a watchmaker look at your watch and clean/repair it for you, but I am guessing it wont be so cheap for you in your country.

Looking forward to those pictures:-!

Regards,
Arjun.

[Joe Giannone]

Hi Chris, and congratulations on your new F-L's! This is what I use for cleaning/polishing my acrylic watch crystals, and it seems to work well to shine up the cases also:

http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=1320548531&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336121778&toolid=10001 http://www.amazon.com/POLYWATCH-PLASTIC-REMOVER-REMOVES-SCRATCHES-ACRYLIC-TUBE/dp/B0014R9V9O (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPOLYWATCH-PLASTIC-REMOVER-REMOVES-SCRATCHES-ACRYLIC-TUBE%2Fdp%2FB0014R9V9O&tag=5336121778-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)

I don't know where you're located, but I've managed to find a fantastic watch maker here in the Sacramento, CA area who will do a complete service for $80 to $120 depending on the watch and condition.

[zero1234]

Chris

you can also use a normal steel polisher, such as autosol, which is sold in the UK.

just google for 'cleaning watch crystals' and you'll see a wide variety of things used, or search on the vintage or watch-making watchuseek forums.

Zero

[kiwidj]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your purchases. Looking forward to seeing your pics.

[Christen]

Thanks for the help so far. I'm actually based in Scotland, so I'll have to give Zeros suggestion a try :)

I'll probably have to wait another week or so for them, they are in Yokohama, Japan as we currently speak :p

Don't think I have ever been so excited about getting a watch as I have with these ! Just hope i'm not dissapointed.

I also noticed that a lot of the yellow faced sea-kings tend to have been re-painted / re-marked - is this due to water damage ?

[zero1234]

Christen, just to respond to your earlier questions:

a) what makes it an excellent watch to own:
If you like it then it is a good watch. I have quite a few Favres - all original bar one which was a redial. I do find the Sea King a bit small, whereas the Sea Chief is a good size. They tended to use existing movements (ebauche) but their own calibre 25x is a real gem - accurate, long lasting and easily serviced.

b) Yes - I have had all of my watches serviced. They ranged in expense depending on what was required, but the normal going rate is about £60.

c) Colour of dials / redials - No, I don't think it is water damage - just that the sellers are trying to re-create something to sell it on Ebay. But frequently they mess up - if you have a look at a genuine FL dial, you will see the printing is very fine, the acute symbol exists in the word Geneve and so on. Generally they are not valuable enough for people to do a proper redial on them.

That's my 20p worth... congrats on your purchase - I have never had any problems with my FL, apart from duomatic movements, so yours should be very long lived!

Zero.

[Beau8]

Welcome~cheers! ;-)