Simon Freese

MtV
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Ogion Ogion
I have to say this thread has left me a little worried. My Grandfathers Ck2077 left with him in October 2022 with huge significance. Over this time I have chased and he has said that it will be “only a few weeks more” and in another “ it will be done by the end of the year (2023)”. I have been very understanding as I do know he is busy and the parts needed aren’t easy to come by, however there is very little communication. My last chase he said he was in London sourcing the parts ( around the same time as his new watch debut). I am very worried of the Frankenstein and dodgy dial post on here!… He has offered me to get my watch while he sources the parts and has assured me he has nothing but the best of intentions for me and the watch, however I think that will just be me accepting it will never get done. It will be frustrating after waiting all this time along with driving 3 hours there to pick it up without any work done.

I have also seen that he has had a trying few years for which I am full of sympathy. I was of mind to give him the benefit of the doubt and continue to wait but I don’t want to be like that guy waiting 5 years as it has already been 2 1/2.
A mere sidenote, but there simply aren’t any 2577 movement parts that are hard to source. Those were produced in the millions.
 
Davidt
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Ogion Ogion
I have to say this thread has left me a little worried. My Grandfathers Ck2077 left with him in October 2022 with huge significance. Over this time I have chased and he has said that it will be “only a few weeks more” and in another “ it will be done by the end of the year (2023)”. I have been very understanding as I do know he is busy and the parts needed aren’t easy to come by, however there is very little communication. My last chase he said he was in London sourcing the parts ( around the same time as his new watch debut). I am very worried of the Frankenstein and dodgy dial post on here!… He has offered me to get my watch while he sources the parts and has assured me he has nothing but the best of intentions for me and the watch, however I think that will just be me accepting it will never get done. It will be frustrating after waiting all this time along with driving 3 hours there to pick it up without any work done.

I have also seen that he has had a trying few years for which I am full of sympathy. I was of mind to give him the benefit of the doubt and continue to wait but I don’t want to be like that guy waiting 5 years as it has already been 2 1/2.

Just get it back. Current form suggests there's a very realistic chance it simply won't get done, or will get done but will have issues. Get it back and send it to another watchmaker.
 
Ogion
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MtV MtV
A mere sidenote, but there simply aren’t any 2577 movement parts that are hard to source. Those were produced in the millions.
Thank you. You are suggesting that this is not something that should take 2 1/2 years? I was told 4 months ago there were compatibility issues with some parts he tried and he is in touch with a man in London to source more? I have emailed for a further update about two weeks ago and have not had a reply.

I fear given this thread I am at the point of contacting them and driving to pick it up. I wanted to be understanding and patient but this response has caused concern given the watches significance to my family.
 
cristos71
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A mere sidenote, but there simply aren’t any 2577 movement parts that are hard to source. Those were produced in the millions.
CK2077 is a cal. 33.3 and some of these parts are pretty tricky to find
 
Ogion
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cristos71 cristos71
CK2077 is a cal. 33.3
Yes I understood the parts are hard to come by and assumed a misunderstanding. I do want to give the benefit of the doubt here. It is just hard given the lack of comms and the significance of the watch.
 
MtV
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CK2077 is a cal. 33.3 and some of these parts are pretty tricky to find
My bad, must’ve read that wrong.
 
Mouse_at_Large
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I have no skin in the game, and indeed have had positive dealings with Simon Freese when he was at Swiss Time Services/STS. Whatever problems he has both in business and his personal life I hope he manages to deal with them. There ample evidence of inconvenience, frustration and deficient service in this thread and perhaps some explanations (not excuses).

I wish Simon well, both for his sake and for the members who need well respected and competent watchmakers to keep their treasured timepieces ticking. However, there comes a point where optimism and good wishes meet reality. I hope Simon will recover and his reputation will be rebuilt.
 
mac_omega
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I hope Simon will recover and his reputation will be rebuilt.
Once reputation is ruined it will be very difficult to rebuild it...
Did anyone here watch Simon on insta?
He frequently posts promotional "stories" of new releases of the watches he creates - the work on his custom watches might keep him so occupied that he does not have time to do repairs/services?
 
JimInOz
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mac_omega mac_omega
Once reputation is ruined it will be very difficult to rebuild it...
Did anyone here watch Simon on insta?
He frequently posts promotional "stories" of new releases of the watches he creates - the work on his custom watches might keep him so occupied that he does not have time to do repairs/services?
I did.
I think he needs to make a choice.
Devote his time to being a "Watchmaker", or devote it to being a watch technician (what is generically known as a watchmaker).
I don't think the two professions can exist in harmony.

Edit: Unless the person running two operations is very time skilled and has no significant distractions. I know of another watchmaker who did both, but I don't think he spent much time on promotional tours/appearnces.
Edited:
 
watchyouwant
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Thank you. You are suggesting that this is not something that should take 2 1/2 years? I was told 4 months ago there were compatibility issues with some parts he tried and he is in touch with a man in London to source more? I have emailed for a further update about two weeks ago and have not had a reply.

I fear given this thread I am at the point of contacting them and driving to pick it up. I wanted to be understanding and patient but this response has caused concern given the watches significance to my family.

We do it within 4 weeks here in Australia. With Warranty.
 
ErichKeane
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This is all really sad. I showed up here from another thread, but this seems to be a pattern of slowly degrading service from watchmakers as they get good and get recommendations.

IMO, even single watchmakers (no helpers!) need to invest almost immediately in some sort of CRM tracking software that they update and allow customers to check on progress.

I think there would be way fewer time complaints if you had a site that listed how many people were in front of you at any one time, and some sort of fine grained status that you could see. Would make for much better set expectations, and be very minimal work (perhaps even less work once setup based on the current tracking mechanism!).
 
Fallout Boy
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ErichKeane ErichKeane
I think there would be way fewer time complaints if you had a site that listed how many people were in front of you at any one time, and some sort of fine grained status that you could see. Would make for much better set expectations, and be very minimal work (perhaps even less work once setup based on the current tracking mechanism!).
You can ask friendly before. I always recommend in Europe: www.rio-uhren.de

( also Omega-certified)
 
ErichKeane
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Fallout Boy Fallout Boy
You can ask friendly before. I always recommend in Europe: www.rio-uhren.de

( also Omega-certified)
Ah, I'm in the US, and not in need of a watchmaker at the moment.

But I was just generally lamenting that a lot of the complaints watchmakers tend to get due to delays probably go away if they did better communicating, and communication is way easier when automated like that.
 
B
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ErichKeane ErichKeane
This is all really sad. I showed up here from another thread, but this seems to be a pattern of slowly degrading service from watchmakers as they get good and get recommendations.

IMO, even single watchmakers (no helpers!) need to invest almost immediately in some sort of CRM tracking software that they update and allow customers to check on progress.

I think there would be way fewer time complaints if you had a site that listed how many people were in front of you at any one time, and some sort of fine grained status that you could see. Would make for much better set expectations, and be very minimal work (perhaps even less work once setup based on the current tracking mechanism!).
I used the Christian Dannemann (watchguy.co.uk). He has a queuing system which you join and then he lets you know when he's ready so no need to send him the watch months ahead and turnaround time was 2 or 3 weeks. Uniquely, he photographs the entire dismantling process so you can see that he has actually worked on the watch. I will use him again.
 
M'Bob
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My sense is that a lot of this is simple economics: supply and demand.

My watchmaker, who I’ve used for 35 years now, still takes FOREVER to complete a job and rarely does so without prompting. Most of the recommended watchmakers I’ve also tried behave in the identical manner- don’t return emails, are never on time with project completion, and, not infrequently, with problems that necessitate a return.

Why? Because they have more business than they can handle. If there were reams of watchmakers out there and they were all busting their asses to satisfy customers in order to pay their bills, I’m sure the situation would be vastly different.
 
Archer
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B bikeman
Uniquely, he photographs the entire dismantling process so you can see that he has actually worked on the watch.
Not exactly unique - I've been doing so for nearly 20 years...
 
pdxleaf
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Archer Archer
Not exactly unique - I've been doing so for nearly 20 years...
...and they come on a USB stick
::psy::
 
Archer
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
...and they come on a USB stick
::psy::
Well, it used to be on a CD or DVD I would burn until people stopped having disk drives on their computers!
 
watchyouwant
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Well, it used to be on a CD or DVD I would burn until people stopped having disk drives on their computers!
But you could include a CD with your favourite Music ...
 
dsio
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M'Bob M'Bob
My sense is that a lot of this is simple economics: supply and demand.

My watchmaker, who I’ve used for 35 years now, still takes FOREVER to complete a job and rarely does so without prompting. Most of the recommended watchmakers I’ve also tried behave in the identical manner- don’t return emails, are never on time with project completion, and, not infrequently, with problems that necessitate a return.

Why? Because they have more business than they can handle. If there were reams of watchmakers out there and they were all busting their asses to satisfy customers in order to pay their bills, I’m sure the situation would be vastly different.
Yea it’s super common. Independent watchmakers are getting more scarce in general, really talented ones are an even smaller percentage.

Then most aren’t Omega certified due to the expense of achieving that and at best have some indirect access to genuine parts through a previous employer or friend with an account.

Then more significantly, a big part of running an actual business as a watchmaker is logistics, communications, accounting, parts ordering and keeping inventory, scheduling workload etc.

Out of few that are good, a smaller subset still are good at these other things and capable of running a business. Some get lucky and marry someone that can run the business for them so they can do the part they’re good at, most do their best which isn’t that great.

Then when they get behind enough or start cutting corners to catch up, it all goes south rather fast and they have the equivalent of a “bank run” among customers. It’s happened many times.
 
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