I borked my Tag F1!

I borked my Tag F1!

Author
Discussion

QuattroDave

Original Poster:

1,576 posts

135 months

Friday 28th June
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Morning all,

I did a stoopid (on top of a stoopid!)

I was out paddleboarding with my wife and daughter (back in 2019 - you know when we had summers that were hot and sunny!) and my wife casually mentioned my watch wasn't showing the right time. So I did the natural thing, I adjusted the time and got on with my day in the water.

The next morning I'm wondering why the hell my dial was steaming up! Yup, I'd left the crown undone and seawater had gotten into the watch.

Being an extra numpty I put it in the window in the sun and when the water evaporated I did up the crown and continued to use the watch as normal until my Breitling premier B01 Bentley edition arrived when the tag was shoved in a drawer.

Fast forward to 2024 and I stumble across the watch again. Suffice to say the watch doesn't work, the mechanisms are cheap enough (as it's a 'cheap' watch) and a battery is fairly cheap too so I thought I'd get it recomissioned relatively cheaply. Only the seawater has rusted the dial and the bright orange dial has now got green rust/corrosion splotches all over it. For reference it's the CAH1113

Tag won't supply a replacement dial to the independent I took it to and Tag want £500 to service it plus the cost of the dial (another £100-200). Given on a good day it's only worth £850 in good condition what would you do? I'd love to find another dial and get it fixed as I feel I need to make amends for my stupid choices but not at any cost! I'm tempted to buy a different dial from the same range (there's some on ebay for £50) and get the mechanism and battery to match, or should I stick it back in the drawer for another 5 years!




Gastons_Revenge

275 posts

11 months

Friday 28th June
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A little DIY would be fun, you could make yourself a great frankenTag biggrin

QuattroDave

Original Poster:

1,576 posts

135 months

Friday 28th June
quotequote all
Gastons_Revenge said:
A little DIY would be fun, you could make yourself a great frankenTag biggrin
Haha, frankentag, Now wouldn't it be something if I got that etched onto the replacement dial!

dudleybloke

20,474 posts

193 months

Friday 28th June
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Keep the rust and tell everyone its a special edition unique naturally formed patina that is a homage to ocean racing.

Edited by dudleybloke on Friday 28th June 13:06

BrokenSkunk

4,711 posts

257 months

Monday 1st July
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Scour ebay for a broken F1 from which you can harvest the dial.

Mr_C

2,445 posts

236 months

Monday 1st July
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Keep the rust. It’s part of its story. And if people ask, you’ve got a story to tell.

I’ve got a Seiko 5 that’s got a very dented bezel, where I fell out of rickshaw after rather too many shandies. I like the dents, they remind me of my own stupidity.