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Audemars Piguet restoration
The absolutely magical story embedded in our latest Watch & Chill Episode revolves around the unusual story of Eric Ku’s vintage Audemars Piguet chronograph restoration. To say the watch is rare is laughably inadequate. There are 307 vintage-era Audemars Piguet chronographs in existence. Every single one of them is a piece unique (more about that in the video, see below).
When Eric acquired one (his second, and yes, he is a lucky man) and decided to restore it to as close as possible to its former glory, he called Audemars Piguet. His brief to the team, including Michael Friedman, was sweet, sweet music to Michael’s ears.
“It’s very exciting to us when a collector so well known to us comes in with a pressure-free scenario. No deadline on time. No restrictions on budget. Take your time. Dive deep. Study the dial. Let’s work to get the best restored dial possible. That is everything a family business like ours wants to hear. Because it’s outside of the scope of the daily grind.”
As for the result, there’s a paragraph from Eric below, but in truth, the intention is just as interesting. “We wanted that dial to make people melt,” Michael says. “That was the idea. I said internally, take all of the energy we’d put into hand finishing a Royal Oak bracelet and put that same ethos into this dial.”
https://timeandtidewatches.com/eric-ku- ... storation/
https://timeandtidewatches.com/this-hou ... l-viewing/
When Eric acquired one (his second, and yes, he is a lucky man) and decided to restore it to as close as possible to its former glory, he called Audemars Piguet. His brief to the team, including Michael Friedman, was sweet, sweet music to Michael’s ears.
“It’s very exciting to us when a collector so well known to us comes in with a pressure-free scenario. No deadline on time. No restrictions on budget. Take your time. Dive deep. Study the dial. Let’s work to get the best restored dial possible. That is everything a family business like ours wants to hear. Because it’s outside of the scope of the daily grind.”
As for the result, there’s a paragraph from Eric below, but in truth, the intention is just as interesting. “We wanted that dial to make people melt,” Michael says. “That was the idea. I said internally, take all of the energy we’d put into hand finishing a Royal Oak bracelet and put that same ethos into this dial.”
https://timeandtidewatches.com/eric-ku- ... storation/
https://timeandtidewatches.com/this-hou ... l-viewing/

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