Bike storage advice
 

Just putting the track bike away tonight until spring after the brands do last night - anything in particular you'd do before laying a track bike up (or indeed any bike) for that length of time ??

Cheers
Nat

give it to me, I'll look after it ! keep it running !!

Waiting to get shot down here, I am a watchmaker and a fussy fecker at that, so could be talking too much in the Bo****ks dept.


I'd stick it on an Optimate at least once a month.
Keep the tank full (stops rust I was told, was even told to put some sort of treatment stuff in with the fuel).
Keep an eye on tire pressures and give them a spin round if resting on them.
Fire up engine for a while, just to keep oil in all the right places.

My Ducati watch has stopped working :o

Could be worn rockers :o

Spoke to someone in the big red D once, told me something I already knew Briel are Sh**e and are nothing but trouble.

No makers name on it, just Ducati

It just needs a service, or a new battery :lol:

Stick on the optimate, if not use a hammer to remove it from your life and then move on.

I quite like it, but dont wear it much, use the mobile,

it`s the future you know :lol:

A bit off topic for the thread, but, what would you go for in the way of watches ?

I know which way I'd go financially, just wondered what would be your recommendation ?

The gosple according to me!
Quartz watches are S**t.
Gold plated anything is like throwing your money away.
In years to come, steel or gold or platinum, even if it is only 9ct gold is best.
Mechanical watches are where it's at. It's not about accuracy to the zillionth of a second, want the best bike, is a Duke it? it about personal choice.
Most decent modern stuff is going to cost £1500-2000.
You can buy the same gear in auction (like most things be careful what you buy here as it can be a graveyard to offload the unfixable) then send it back to manufacturer for refurb, to like new and should save money, prime example is Rolex.
If you still want new and have £4-5000 to burn, look at Lange, German, weeeeesssss all over modern Patek Philippe (swiss).
My personal favourites are pre 60's 70's watches, I think they have more style and character. In general the materials are made to a better standard in as much as the parts do not seem to wear and need replacing as often, problem with modern ones is when the parts run out as they consume more, how do you fix them? Some companies have a very poor attitude to long term supply of materials. Down side to older watches, is may not be waterproof and cannot really beat the cr*p out of them like say a modern Rolex.
Treat like a classic car, treat it with a bit of love and respect and you'll be a happy boy with something that is more stylish and understated.
Of the earlier period Patek were the Dogs Bollo***, but they dropped the ball and Herman the German picked it up.

As long as you do not become a train spotter and consume loads of my precious time I need so much of it at present, so I can destroy my reputation on this site, send me a PM if you need more. I do have contacts in Switzerland that can sometimes get me deals on stuff.

I work on them all day, well when I'm not on here!
I don't own one, use my phone. Have a Radio controlled one for acurracy in the workshop, it uses Rugby time signal, got a clock in the car, one on my bike and a stranger in the street is bound to have a watch if I'm stuck.

Mmmmm interetsing comments.

I agree with your comments on the whole stainless and mechanical way to go. Also agree with the older watch being better.

At the moment, I wear a new ish (18 month old) sea dweller for every day wear, not as many around as the submariner and less obvious as it does not have the cyclops eye. Like em or hate em it's like having money in the bank. I bought it new with a discount :lol: and now that list prices have gone up I know I could get all my money back on it if I decided to sell it.

For best, I wear an Omega wind up moon watch, unfortunatley it's only around 4 year old. Will not hold the same value as a Rolex, but, love the history and build quality of the watch.

Now if you could track me down a good quality moon watch from around 1969 ..... that would be interesting.

I wear Nixon !
fashion victim me

Is that like Watergate?
Got me there.

Now if you could find a late 1980's tag divers watch on a rubber strap .... that would be cool.

NO! if it is Quartz.
Like all technology it moves on an some earlier stuff is obsolete therefore you cannot fix it when it brakes and you've thrown your money away.

Dont mind going of topic for this ! Love watches.

Bought a rolex GMT 2 about 5 years ago, but if im honest, I just get tired of half wits saying 'thats not a real one'- - yeah like I bought it to impress you, you t**t !

Much prefer my Panerai as no ****** knows what it is !

Got some other stuff too..but if I was going to buy new now it would be a IWC for me...

Big respec' for the job jeff - i'd love to do that for a living !!!

Oh a question Jeff. As my dad and I have had our rolexes for about 5 years, do they really need a service..? And if they do, is it worth paying rolex (the frankly stupid) dealer prices ?

I've got a really good local independent jewellers whos quoted me about half for a similar amount of work...I know hes good coz ive used him for other stuff.

Cheers
Nat

I've bought a mixture of nice watches from my local jeweller. Got to know him quite well, he's admitted to me that he uses a local guy in Derby who's as good as most of the manufacturers for about half the price. The only negative point is if you use your watch for diving, seems that the jeweller will only guarantee the water proof ness of the watch if it's been back to rolex or similar.

I'd be happy to use a local specialist.

I know what they are :lol: and yes they are nice. Similar reason why I have a sea dweller. Stainless with black face, black bezel and no cyclops eye. Not an obvious rolex, I like that.

Put my name dowm on the waiting list for a stainless Daytona, due in about 3 years now :( not as bad as some, local goldsmiths have a 10 year waiting list and have stopped taking names.

Not sure if I will keep it or just turn it over for a profit.

You guys obviously have too much money.;)

I just buy a new ' gold ' plated from argos every year £ 25.00 max, then it doesn't matter if I lose/break it.:D

Ok fashion item, insides cost £5 if your lucky.
Once worked for Cartier 15 years ago, they sold a huge gold lump called The Pasha £5-7000, mechanical, the mechanism was the same style and quality standard that went into a plastic swatch that retailed for £25, I had a swatch and put them back to back. The steel Pasha retailed for £2-2500 had a better mechansim than the gold.
Don't expect any of these companies to give you what you think your getting, they will all rip you off and sell you cr*p.
As long as the hands go around and the timekeeping is somewhere near thats all that matters. All the time and money goes into the look of the outside.
At the time I worked at Cartier they had a movement exchange policy, so when a watch came in it was not serviced, the mechanism was sent back to switzerland and broken down, cleaned by monkeys and re-assembled, if any parts were faulty they were not changed as the monkey did not know what it was looking for.
So your nice new watch then got someones old mechanism inside, sometimes they had several lives before they got into your watch, any authenticity and history was effectively lost there and then! But what did they care as long as the hands went round and you did not know.
They are not so bad today, but it still may go on.

Without sounding harsh, if you cannot afford to pay dealer prices you cannot afford to own it.
Would you let mickey mouse work on you Ducati?
I now they charge more but if you get a good watchmaker at Rolex do it they change all parts that are worn free as part of service, Joe Bloggs down the road won't he probably won't have access to materials if he had to anyway.
I'm anti Rolex as I worked there, but if I was you and I had one I'd send it there, not your local jewellers to do it, back to Rolex in Bexley.

If he was Rolex trained he would have to have all waterproofing equipment, they would not supply any watch material if he could not do the same job as they would.
All independant watchmakers complain about access for watch parts, but a lot of them are cowboys. Your watch, your choice.
Back to Rolex every time and pay the bill when it comes, any complaints send it back and give them a hard time, but a least you've got a worldwide guarentee on your service, joe bloggs up the road give you that?

bought many watches
nothing expensive £60-100
none of them have lasted more than a year or two till now£3.95 aldi watch is well in to it's third year!!

If you add up all the cash you spend in a life time, and loose, on normal dress watches for around £60 to £100 ... you'd be better off buying a rolex or similar that will always be worth what you paid for it, or even worth more if you buy the right model and look after it.

Thats a bit harsh Jeff - lol !! My attitude is in someway linked to the complete bunch of noces who run my local dealer - Theyve got ther heads right up there harrises !!!

So - how often should you service them..? I wear mine intermittently - on average about 2-3 days a week.

Carbon........aint life too short to worry about this sorta thing ?

Naaaa .... boys and toys.:lol:

With sealed waterproof style cases like Rolex, this helps stop the olis from drying out so therefore a 5 year stretch is ok.
Because of the strength of a mainspring, they will keep going when the olis have dried up and then just grinds the watch into submission, causing more damage.
When getting wounded watch serviced, if your not charged for more additional parts to fix the watch then what do you care.
But 5 years is ok.

Nat,

Back on topic. Strip it to the bones during October and start a complete rebuild in feb. You'll know it's perfect when you roll it out for your first spring track day.

Tee hee,

Rob

Jeff

I have a swiss Tasser watch which has been fantastic & accurate as well as being ultra bright at night but also have a Breitling Aerospace watch in titanium which i think is a beautiful looking timepiece that is very plane and understated..........what do you think about them?

Nice looking bike mate!
Oh sorry yes, Tasser?
Modern watches are cr*p, as long as you can accept they are fashion statement and lifestyle product, you buy them because you like the look and not because the salesman tells you how fantastic the insides are.
Like a lot of stuff, technology is an amazing thing, we can make intricate stuff today, but sadly a lot of it is bent bits of metal not solid made levers, poor design that won't stand the test of time like the old stuff has.
Sadly Breitling have a bad reputation as regards spare parts, Rolex have a policy of having material for a mechanism that will last for at least 25 years after last date of production, now if that watch is made for 15 years before being upgraded to a new design, it's owner will be able to keep it as new for 40 years or more, since I'm fixing these watches that were made back to the 20's I think they got there designs right.
Breitling at a certain period thought a 10 year production of a watch was fine and if no parts were available anymore, buy a new one. On an expensive watch thats a rubbish customer care policy. Like a lot of these companies some of this bad practice is coming back to haunt them and they are now changing their ideas.

Long live Timex!

Sorry to jump in here.

Got a genuine Tag Heuer for sale. model wn1112.ba0332 rrp £750

few marks on bracelet, Glass perfect.

£350

It really sounds like you know your stuff, Jeff. I'm impressed!

I'm not really into watches but my father's got a Swiss IWC that he cares about.

Are they any good or should I start teasing him about wearing a piece of junk around his wrist? :)

Older IWC are really well made and solid, new ones not so sure about.
Mk 10 manual is good 50's - 60's manual.
Mk 11 fantastic automatic 60's - 70's.
Without checking my dates don't fully quote me.
Made some good military watches very collectable and valuable.
I know my stuff very well.
I used to assemble minute repeating mechanisms for a swiss co. used to retail for £100k - £150k, now I restore old wrist and pocket watches.

Jeff you must have "time on your hands".:roll:

I've always got time to give you lot some abuse.
:D :D