Well, now that I have a few days off, I think I’ll get some rest and then do some sightseeing and visit with a couple friends.

Stanley signing off.

Stanley's work bench

Click here to work this as a puzzle 

Click here to work this as a puzzle 

Stauer Limited Series Wood Inlaid Watch Case

Click here to work this as a puzzle 

Stauer Limited Series Skull Watch Case

Click here to work this as a puzzle 

Stauer Limited Series Wood and Skull Watch Case

The Stanley Guess™

Limited

Series Watch Cases

for the Stauer Skeleton Timepiece

Wood Inlaid Case & Links

The Itch

Several years ago I began looking for a watch that I really liked. It had to meet all my criteria as far as engineering, craftsmanship, size, shape, uniqueness, beauty and desirability, because I had an itch to create a limited series of watch cases with a watch that I believed my customers would find delightful. I finally found it, which you can read about below, and after much careful consideration, determined the styles of the watch cases that I would create to show it off. These watch cases are not available for any other watch. It is a Limited Series.

Wood Inlaid & Skull Case & Band

What Makes It So Special?

I have always hand-crafted each watch case I make. The owners of all those Chrome Hearts watch cases that I made more than a decade ago are lucky, because Chrome Hearts does not have the ability to hand-craft their watch cases to fit a customer’s particular watch. Moving on, the watch cases in the Limited Series are wider than the average watch case I make, requiring additional work and materials to manufacture and additional time for me to create each wax model. With a wider case than normal, I determined that I could use a link that I don’t often get to use, which is the long & narrow link, thereby eliminating the additional expense of designing a new link for the band, which is a savings we pass on to our customers!

[This is Ferne, recommending that you watch the short video of my dad working on one of the cases in wax (we had to leave out the parts that demonstrate his secret methods, which is most of it, but this is the first time he’s ever allowed anyone to video him working on a wax  model!). Then watch the video of the casting process - it’s a little boring at first, but then it’s pretty cool - not terribly exciting, unless something goes wrong and molten silver or gold goes flying everywhere!]

Skull Case & Links

How “Limited” is the Series?

This Limited Series will probably sell out quickly, because ONLY FIFTY (50) will ever be made! They are available ONLY in our on-line store and, for a very limited time, at a few select retailers in Japan [see the list of authorized dealers in the “Links” section of our main website]. You know you want one (or you know someone who does). Don’t wait until they’re all gone! Read what my wife wrote about the watch that I know you will find just as intriguing and delightful as I do!

Stauer Skeleton Timepiece Reproduction

The Stauer Authentic
1779 Skeleton Timepiece Reproduction:

Stauer takes us back to the past (more than 225 years back) with intriguing Old World geometry in the 1779 Skeleton. A trip to an antique book store led them to one of the earliest of the skeleton timepiece designs.

Beauty is not only skin deep on this watch, which sports a gold-fused stainless steel case and gold Roman numerals; the engineering required $31,000,000 worth of precise Swiss built machinery to create the intricate levers and gears. The historians are delighted by the authenticity of the reproduction, which is inspired by a rare museum piece dating back to 1779, while the engineers find the technical performance equally impressive.

The see-through face and exhibition back create an unparalleled view of the internal workings of the timepiece, allowing you to observe many of the 17 rubies, the gold-fused mainspring, gears, levers and balance wheel as they work harmoniously. First-rate accuracy is achieved by 21,600  oscillations of the balance wheel per hour.

Detail of See-through Back

Noted historian and watch restorer George Thomas had an opportunity to dissect the vintage movement’s 110 parts and gave the Stauer 1779  Skeleton reproduction top reviews. “It is possible to build it better than the original, and your new skeleton requires so little maintenance,” he  remarked. Stunned by the price of the timepiece, George said that no other luxury skeleton can be had for under $1000.

The watch’s main features include:

* Water Resistant Up to 5 ATM

* Self-winding

* Illuminating Hands

* Roman Numerals 3, 6, 9, 12 are in Gold

* Gold Fused Stainless Steel Case

* 17 Jewel Movement (you can actually see many of the rubies)

VISIT www.stanleyguess.com to reserve yours today!

SGW-215LTD-A

 

SGW-215LTD-C

SGW-215LTD-B

SGW-215LTD-A

SGW-215LTD-B

Showing watch inside case

SGW-215LTD-B

SGW-215LTD-A

Stanley appears on the cover of Japanese magazine in 2007

Hello, everybody!

I have the best customers anyone could ask for.  Mostly they’re in Japan, but they’re here in America, too.  More than a decade ago my business had a store on the main drag through the foothill communities of L.A. and I catered to my customers and performed a public service that was not available anywhere else in those communities – I had a pawnbroker’s license and I bought gold and silver.  When my business started doing a lot of manufacturing and designing for Chrome Hearts, I leased the building next door and hired workers until there were five or six guys helping me.  Even so, I couldn’t keep up with my other customers’ business, which I insisted on taking care of personally in order to maintain the integrity of my business, and I finally had to stop serving the public and concentrate solely on the increasing business from Chrome Hearts.  My children were very young then, required a lot of attention, and were a great source of fun and joy in my life.  We can’t have everything we want, so we have to choose the best and let the rest go, even though I really missed interacting with my old customers every day.  A few still came by for coffee and conversation, which I really enjoyed.

A few years later my wife and I found the house we live in now and decided to buy it because it has this huge workshop on the back half of the lot that is just perfect for my business and zoning that allows me to operate my business here.   So by the end of 1997 I had moved my business completely away from the public eye and very few people (only family, close friends and business associates) knew where I was or what I was doing.  But you know what?  Some of my old customers found me anyway!  I didn’t really try to hide – my name and number are in the phone book and I still visit that part of town from time to time and see old customers once in a while.  It’s the ones who took the time to hunt me down that impress me the most.

And not only from my own town!  Get this!  One morning a few years ago my wife was working in her vegetable garden behind my workshop when she hears a female voice calling “hello!”  She turns to find three people who are looking for me.  Two of them, a woman and her son, have come from Japan and the third is a gentleman who is taking them where they want to go.  The woman had gotten my address somehow and came to visit unannounced!  Now that really surprised me!  Of course I spent a little time with them, but only my friends and family are really allowed to make surprise visits.

So what makes these people and the rest of my fans so great?  They know me.  They know my reputation for quality work, honesty and fair play.  When I closed my doors and they had to start doing business with the other jewelers in town they discovered the difference.  The other jewelers didn’t offer personal attention and personal interaction, nor did they have the customer’s best interests at heart.  Customers didn’t leave with a warm and fuzzy feeling; they left with anxiety in their hearts.  And they paid too much for the services they received.  This is what I hear from everyone who came back to me.

Last week my wife and I were visiting with a couple who used to come to my store often.  For years they wondered where I’d gone but were too busy to track me down.  Recently, the wife started working at my doctor’s office and was quite surprised when I walked through the door for an appointment.  So she and her husband came to visit and ask me to fix her wedding ring (which I had made more than 20 years ago).  She couldn’t stop talking about how glad she was that she’d “found” me because she wouldn’t let anyone else even try to fix her ring.  I smiled and chuckled, of course, as I started working on it, and I related an incident that she reminded me of that had occurred a long time ago.  Mary (that’s my wife) said I should put the story in my blog and preserve it for history, so here goes.

One day a woman came into my store on her way home and asked me to clean and check her diamond ring.  So I looked at the ring and told her I’d clean it and check it, but that the stone wasn’t a diamond.  She started to get a bit upset because she thought I was lying to her.  So I asked her if she’d had it cleaned or repaired somewhere else recently and she said that she’d had it cleaned at another local jewelry store.  I told her to go back to that place and TELL them – don’t ask – to give her diamond back to her and to also tell them that I told her to go get it back.  She got her diamond back, then she came back to me and was a very happy woman and a good customer after that.  I do rather enjoy being able to help people avoid getting ripped off when I can.

Well, that’s all for now.  Stay tuned for more later.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Stanley

http://www.stanleyguess.com

]]> http://stanleyguess.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/stanley-guess-compliments-to-my-customers-and-fans/feed/ 0 Stanley Stanley-on-the-Cover