freeamfva: AFTER-MARKET CUSTOMIZED WATCHES: BLASPHEMY OR ART?

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Followers of rappers, musicians, artists and even athletes are paying a lot of attention to what the celebs are wearing on their wrists. Often it is an iced-out, three-dimensional sculpted watch that can’t help but have people talking. Sometimes the watch is part of a brand’s collection, other times it is a spectacular custom-made piece. In fact, the idea of customizing a watch is more prevalent in the world of luxury today than one would think. But if you’re looking to do some after-market watch customization, be prepared to be berated.To get more news about custom watch, you can visit koalaprint.com official website.

Buy a car and add a pinstripe or a scoop and people will ooh and ahh over it, but buy a watch and add diamonds or make other changes, and you may as well have stepped into hell, according to fine watch collectors. After-market customization is blasphemy — or so the purists would say. In fact, it is an age-old problem that has two diametrically opposed schools of thought and evokes some pretty emotional responses among watch devotees.

To die-hard fanatical watch collectors, touching a timepiece after market is like taking a piece of legendary art from a museum and adding graffiti to it. For those who collect true haute horology brands such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, A. Lange & Söhne, and others, after-market customization is sacrilege. These collectors are happy to lock their watches — most retailing for $20,000 to $120,000 and up — in the safe and wear them only on special occasions. They put their luxury timepieces on pedestals, and the idea of marring the watch is horrifying. Not only have you destroyed art, but also you have ruined its lasting inherent value (not to mention voiding a warranty).

Keep in mind, we’re not talking about the age-old tradition of hand-painting a special-order dial; we are talking about seriously altering the entire watch case, dial, and sometimes the bracelet. Because just a handful of brands will customize a watch in today’s day and age — it takes away from their serial production work — celebrities, royalty, and other people in high society around the world are forced to turn to after-market customizers in order to get exactly what they want: a unique timepiece.

Sometimes that uniqueness comes in the form of adding mega diamonds or gemstones, elaborate engravings, or colorful PVD coatings. No matter the vehicle used to achieve the end result — a truly personal watch — to the person who dreams of individuality, the finished timepiece is a more valuable work of art and emotion than the original. Today, buyers can get almost anything they want. There are companies that will take apart an entire watch movement and refinish components, replace hands, bezels, and dials, and return a totally foreign-looking but individualized piece to the owner. There are other companies that will resurface cases and bezels, changing the colors or finishes. Then there are those who add diamonds, gemstones, or even ornate engravings.

Somehow the thought of digging an engraving tool into a $10,000 or $20,000 watch and etching away the case metal almost, at first thought, seems like defacing property. But done right, these watches often become incredible works of art. In fact, the after-market engraving work done by New York City-based Fin Des Temps is top quality, highly intriguing, and incredibly in demand.

While Christopher Ser, CEO and master engraver, started his company just five years ago, he has 15 years of experience in the jewelry engraving field. He spent years training other engravers — some hand-picked from the gun-engraving industry — before allowing them to touch a single timepiece.