Homage Forum

Emilio wrote: ↑September 5th, 2019, 6:58 pm Some people say that the A1 sauce fiasco can't be blamed on VDB but on a third-party who thought using BBQ sauce was a good idea for ageing a watch and then blamed the company.

VDB had done some subjectively egregious things in their builds that I can personally verify though...supergluing dials directly to the top of expensive movements, and custom multi-piece 3646 Cali case-sets with very poor finish work (like casebacks and bezels that wouldn't screw in all the way due to burrs and badly cut threads) are things that I personally experienced, and I heard similar stories from other people. There was also the debacle of VDB censoring legitimate posts on RG when the admins made the mistake of giving them moderator access.

Anyway, prior to VDB, you had users like Enzo on the original RWG (circa-2005) doing a 6152/1 build using (IIRC) an RXW case and Angelus SF240, and sellers like Watchmaster Kenzo offering very neat, but very dimensionally incorrect fixed-lug 3646 style watches. There were some other guys on the old forums from that era doing some other interesting one-off builds, but those are the only ones I can remember by name. It was a long time ago.

I know the guys around here really liked that Meisterwurk Machinen guy ...

I came to the Vintage side and HF later on ... I did see thread about VBD and a bit of controversy, I noticed some of Gordon's work posted on RG!! I didn't have the funds to commission a 240 back then, and honestly didn't know how tell between a 240 and a 190, or whatever was in those clocks ... and Gordon's waiting list was probably a mile long. Instead I was able to snatch up a couple of 6154 builds from Nejad ... which I still have.

Back in those years ... the frenzy was the same on RG ... the snapping up of case sets, crystals, movement rings, crown guards, 6497 movements, etc etc. On the other side we had builds from EL, Phong, Jimmy Fu ... $150 LH Crown Guards!!!!! ... Insanity!!! DSN and The Cartel ... then came H-factory and Noob Factory to really put out real good quality products, and that killed all the little guys.

I think the vintage niche will always have it's little guys ... it's the nature of these watches.

TimemiT wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 4:10 pm I know the guys around here really liked that Meisterwurk Machinen guy

Puhahaha!

Yoda wrote:

TimemiT wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 4:10 pm I know the guys around here really liked that Meisterwurk Machinen guy

Puhahaha!

What Yoda said!

His name wasn't Meisterwurk Machinen. It was MEISTERWURK MACHINEN.

The guy I mentioned before was named Kevin Rogers; he apparently offered a 1:1 3646 case for $5k and sold a few, took orders for a few more, and fled to Thailand before delivering them. He then had a business making custom straps. I googled him and see that he passed away not that long ago.

[mention]TotesLegit[/mention] Indeed! Even the newcomers know that it's better to use stickers instead of glue on a dial

I don't usually bring the point about pricing since that was a different era and all the sellers are entitled to decide their prices but ... Yeah, those were too expensive.

I would prefer a gen RXW than any of their "original" builds any day of the week.

[mention]Sandwich[/mention] [mention]TimemiT[/mention] yes, and then he took his wife's family name... because it had pedigree or to start a new scam, I mean, life...

Sandwich wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 5:07 pm The guy I mentioned before was named Kevin Rogers; he apparently offered a 1:1 3646 case for $5k and sold a few, took orders for a few more, and fled to Thailand before delivering them. He then had a business making custom straps. I googled him and see that he passed away not that long ago.

I think he eventually managed to deliver about half of the case sets, to my knowledge. I ended up with one, and it was pretty great, but I stopped paying attention to the saga after I got mine, and that was just before his move.

There were pics circulating many moons ago of the whole run of them, including a couple of titanium sets (one of these was famously sold on eBay as a complete watch). Not sure what his problem was...all he needed to do was get the rest of them boxed up and shipped.

Kevin Rogers = VDB? ... he passed away?

the MM guy is Mitchell Button ... that everyone loves (even over on RG, they don't hold him in high regards)

Sandwich wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 5:07 pm His name wasn't Meisterwurk Machinen. It was MEISTERWURK MACHINEN.

The guy I mentioned before was named Kevin Rogers; he apparently offered a 1:1 3646 case for $5k and sold a few, took orders for a few more, and fled to Thailand before delivering them. He then had a business making custom straps. I googled him and see that he passed away not that long ago.

Yes, this is an obituary I found online:

https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/b ... /188777854

Oh ... I wasn't aware that was the same ADEEOS strap maker dude

Sandwich wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 6:31 pm Yes, this is an obituary I found online:

https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/b ... /188777854