Apparently the last time the watch was serviced the Smaller register hands were not adjusted properly and rubbed against the dial which caused the black marking. Gallet was able to gently clean these black marks with mild detergent to remove them. Gallet is currently doing a full museum service. The case is 32mm without the crown.
Actually I think they also used Silver Dip. Which they first indicated was a risky procedure. I thought it was more important for the watch to have a decent dial due to the damage caused by the poor service in 2014. They took a digital photo of the dial before cleaning with the solvent and detergent in case they might need to reprint the dial as the silver solvent dip is a crap shoot at times with dials. They then cleaned the dial and used the silver cleaner and this was the result which was to me an exceptional outcome. The folks at Gallet Service have 7-8 of my Chrono's right now and I have to say they provide spectacular service backed up by years of Experience. They aren't cheap but they do a fantastic job. I sent in a Gallet Excel-O-Graph in pieces and they machined many parts, and restored a Chronograph that I thought could never be restored.
The folks at Gallet Service have 7-8 of my Chrono's right now and I have to say they provide spectacular service backed up by years of Experience. They aren't cheap but they do a fantastic job.
I'm glad you're happy, but this is the first time I've ever heard anything favorable about Gallet service. I don't believe they actually have very much experience. If you do your research, you'll find they only started back up about 5 years ago and the whole operation (sales and service) is very sketchy in my opinion. My experience was awful. Never again.
are you only sending them Gallet chronos?
Not my experience at all. I've had 3 chronos back from full service, two of them needing major restoration work. Chronos that were in serious disrepair either bought at auction for parts or repair or needing parts that other watchmakers told me they couldn't find. While some of their technicians might not have years of experience the lead watchmakers are real Chronograph specialists. I think I have 7 other Gallet Chronos with them now. My only complaint might be that they take about 6 months to get the job done. The guy who heads Gallet service (Larry) has spent hours on the phone with me discussing in detail the history of the company. So my experience has been pretty good!
Good luck, you sound like a real Gallet aficionado, so I can see why you might want to schmooze with the guy in charge. Especially if you like to restore junkers. As you probably know, despite what they sometimes try to imply, the current Gallet company has no historical connection to the previous company except for purchasing a big stock of parts and components.
I sent a watch to them because I wanted a crown that I knew they would have and also because I'm always looking to find viable places to have watches serviced. They took 14 months to return it. After the original estimated repair time, I started sending them regular requests for updates, maybe twice a month, totally polite. However, the guy in charge (I've succeeded at banishing his name from my memory) went completely dark on me for months at a time, and then he'd send me a terse email with a lame excuse. I also have a bizarre vague memory that he kept trying to get me to follow a Facebook group. When I finally received it, they had disregarded my explicit instructions regarding cosmetic issues (in a way that was irreversible), and it had a reset problem. Of course, the charges were exorbitant. When I tried to contact them about these issues, I got no response, even after a couple of tries. So I paid my watchmaker to fix it and just lived with the damage they had done.
Maybe things have improved, but after that experience, I'm never giving them a second chance.
