Pre-built configuration for Sea Fighter Type II day/date
The survey will only take a minute or two and will help decide the final configuration for one version of the pre-built Sea Fighters. There will be another survey featuring the OCN dial later on.
If you wish to leave an e-mail address you will be entered in a drawing for a free Mk II watch (any one that we have in stock at the time of the drawing)…. 
One entry per person 
Custom Stingray ordering resumes
Custom Stingray ordering is available again! We are able to resume taking orders for the custom Stingray after locating additional ETA 2824 movements. These movements will be featured on the watches ordered from this date onwards. The movements are of the same Elabore quality level as our standard movement but with standard decoration. The movements are nickel plated and have unsigned rotors whereas our standard movement is Rhodium plated with our trademark engraved on the rotor. The accuracy of the movements is the same since these movements are also Elabore grade movements with Incabloc shock protection.
One other change is that the acrylic insert option has been discontinued. We will finish the orders that we have on hand for the acrylic insert but are not taking additional orders. We have been finishing the inserts ourselves and have found the process to be very time consuming and the scrap rates hard to control. If we can find a method that will produce more consistent results or a company to manufacture the parts for us we will reinstate the option. However at this time there is no estimated date as to when this can take place if at all.
Web site update
Please pardon some of the glitches as we work through an update of our site. At the moment the menu bar on the left side of the page may not show up properly for IE 7 users. The texting is defaulting to black on a black background. The site does show up properly in Firefox. The changes we are currently making are informational and stylist in nature so the function of the site should not be impaired.
Vantage/Sea Fighter/Stingray updates
Vantage: Pre-built orders are shipping as quickly as the watches can be checked and regulated. I am taking the liberty of regulating all of the pre-order watches personally. The pre-order discount has been closed. When you receive your watches please let me know what you think!
Sea Fighter: The components for the BUND I Sea Fighter are now in Switzerland. I will confirm with the Swiss contractor next week about when the watches can be expected back. The first custom Sea Fighters will begin shipping next week. With regards to the day/date Sea Fighter I will be launching a contest in the next few days seeking input on the final look for the OCN and Type II dialed versions. The first prize will be a day/date Sea Fighter
Custom Stingray: Ordering will resume again next week. I was able to find about 100 more movements in the same quality grade that I currently use. The movements are all Elabore grade Swiss Made 2824s with Incabloc shock protection. The differences between these movements and ones I currently use are only cosmetic. These movements are Nickel plated rather than Rhodium plated and the rotors are unsigned. The performance will be the same as the ones that I am currently using. At the moment the movements are being checked out and cleaned by a Rolex authorized service center before being returned to me.
Lead times: For custom watches the lead time is currently 6 months. This is taking into account a planned break for 4 weeks in July. Depending upon the status of the GMT watch I may cancel this vacation and stay to work on the GMT project and watch orders. However 24 weeks is the more conservative estimate at this time.
Internet connection
Internet connection is back online again.
Status Update
I hope that everyone is having a pleasant holiday season. I scaled back my holiday plans in order to continue working on watch orders, which are currently behind schedule. In order to focus on watches orders placed this week will be scheduled and e-mail notifications sent out next week after the 1st.
I am replying to e-mails but those that I don’t get to by the evening of the 29th will be take care of after the 1st of January.
Vantage customers:
* The Swiss Made Vantages have been delivered. Half of the bracelets have been completed and I am currently waiting on a shipment date for the first half. I won’t hear from the manufacturer until after the 1st of January. In the mean time the watches are being checked. I still expect at this point to begin shipments of the pre-built and custom Vantages in January. The exact date will be determined by the delivery date of the bracelets which the large majority of the pre-orders requested.
Sea Fighter customers:
* The cases at last word were undergoing their final quality assurance review. All of the dials, movements, and other related components are in stock and being checked so that they can be sent to Switzerland for assembly as soon as the cases arrive. The 2836 movements were delivered at the end of November (almost 3 months late) but at least they are here. At this point I expect be able to begin shipments of custom Sea Fighters and to ship the components for the pre-built Sea Fighters to Switzerland for assembly by the beginning of February. An e-mail summary to the same effect will go out shortly.
Custom watch orders with delivery dates before December 31st
* I am currently working on these orders as well as a number of orders scheduled for January 5th. I expect to be able to ship most if not all of the watches scheduled for delivery prior to December 31st by this Saturday.
Please note that our office will not be closed from December 30th through January 1st. If there is anything urgent please call me at 484-683-1875
SSL Certificate errors
Our SSL certificate issue has been resolved. Sorry for the confusion and inconvenience. There was some miscommunication between myself and our hosting company. As a result the renewal of the SSL certificate was not completed before its expiration. All is back to normal.
Custom Stingray ordering to be suspended Dec 1st
Due to strong demand for custom Stingrays I have to temporarily suspend ordering for custom Stingrays beginning Dec 1st. The Swiss Made pre-built Stingrays are currently in stock and will remain available for ordering. This announcement only affects the custom Stingrays. At this point I am concerned that if I continue to take orders after Dec. 1st that we will have more orders than we can fill. In addition, since the Stingray shares the same movement as the upcoming Vantage and date only version of the Sea Fighter I have to make sure that there are a reasonable number of movements available for those watches when they launch. If there are enough movements remaining I will re-open ordering for custom Stingrays sometime in the first quarter of 2008.
Just to reiterate this suspension only affects custom Stingrays. The pre-built Stingrays currently in stock will remain available for sale.
Pre-built watches en-route
Albeit late the pre-built Blackwaters and Stingray watches are finally on their way out of Switzerland. They should be here, baring custom’s clearance delays, by Friday.
In other Mk II news:
- An acrylic insert option has been added to the custom Sea Fighter page although the preview function will not be updated for a few more days. Essentially the insert is a single luminous triangle that is split down the middle. The Split-T as its called was modified from a single triangle for two reasons 1) to distinguish these watches from the original and 2) to provide added support to the luminous section. In the vintage versions you will often see the luminous triangle cracked practically right down the middle. I believe that this is due to a lack of support for such a large luminous area. In order to get around that I have split the triangle down the middle (engraving two smaller triangles rather just one large one) to add support to where the triangle is weakest.
- Updates for Vantage deliveries will be e-mailed out later today. Unfortunately there is a delay. The Vantage is to be assembled after the Blackwater and Stingray watches and since completion of those two watches was delayed at the assembler the Vantage is just being started. Originally they were to be completed by now. With the holiday rush to deliver watches to retailers I am doubtful that the Swiss company will be able to complete the watches before the end of this month which will likely push delivery to me to sometime in December. December will have its own problems considering the Christmas rush and end of year holidays. As a result deliveries for the Vantage will be pushed back to the end of January 2008. Given that the watches are not likely to be shipping in time for Christmas delivery there seems to be little value in scheduling shipments before year end.
Status: Oct. 21st
Due to being hampered by a bad cold no orders were shipped last week. Orders will resume shipping this week and I will be re-scheduling orders on Monday as required.
I spent most of last week resting and taking care of some overdue site maintenance and paperwork. I also worked on prepping Vantage parts so that they can go off to Switzerland for assembly. This was about what I could handle given some pretty bad vertigo. There was little work done on watch orders currently outstanding.
At this point I am about 1 1/2 weeks behind schedule on custom watch orders. Before catching this bad cold I had reached a point where I was operating back on-schedule. Unfortunately I had pushed myself too hard to catch up and basically I am back where I started about 2 months ago when it comes to the current delay. So going forward I will take a less aggressive approach to making up time on the schedule so one can expect that this 1 1/2 delay will be gradually worked down over the next 3 months rather than weeks.