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RESCO Watch. An introduction.

25118 Views 65 Replies 42 Participants Last post by Mrcitzen, Nov 3, 2012

RESCO Instruments

Discussion Starter · Jan 31, 2010

Hello WUS Dive Watch forum. I guess I should have introduced myself PRIOR to having my banners posted up. I did not mean to have such a lag time between my banners and introduction. Here are a few things about myself and my company:

I was raised in Western Washington State and got into clocks and watches after my father gave me a Chelsea 24hr submarine clock, I was 10. It was broken and my father and I fixed it as a father son project. I was hooked ever since. I joined the US Navy at 18 and went to BUD/s thereafter. Spent years as a door kicker and then filled an instructor role. I will be going back to a Team soon after my first run of watches comes out and will have to deal with the logistical nightmare of shipping my watches while on assignment....Don't worry, I have a plan!

I had been interested in starting my own watch company for many years but had little time in my busy "non-watch related" schedule to do so. Enter Mike Kobold. I have known Mike for a long time. Every time we would hang out and or train for his Everest Expedition he would push me to get off my lazy butt and get going on my company, I finally folded. I had a small window of time and with a measure of Mike's mentorship, I was able to get this far somewhat on my own. I sold a portion of my sizable watch collection against my will and put some money into production. No outside investors.

The design is 100% RESCO. No off the shelf or stock cases. I worked closely with Chris Wiegand of Lum Tec watches in the design and manufacture of my cases. I toured his facility and was quite impressed with the quality of work his company was able to provide in regard to cases and dial lume. And Chris is a heck of a nice guy to boot.

I read some questions and concerns about the movement that I would like to address. YES, the movement is a Slava S-2427. Since, as some of you super sleuth smart guys have noticed, the dial is lacking the date feature that would normally be present on the 2427. I have chosen to have that part removed to simplify things. These movements are vintage NOS movements were chosen over an ETA-28XX after EXTENSIVE field testing in some pretty bumpy environments. I found that the only way I was able to stop the beat was to actually TRY and break the watch. In a nutshell, A RESCO Patriot prototype has been through every Phase of Navy SEAL training, to include Hellweek and came out ticking away. As we speak that same prototype is being vetted in the advanced training blocks at the Advanced Team level. It is scratched to hell but I'm not losing any sleep over the durability.....It'll be fine; the Patriot can take care of its self. I don't know of ANY OTHER company that can say this about their watches. But then again, I don't know of any other SEALs that design, build and test their products in an actual operational environment.

So, when you add up the cost to import, clean, assemble, modify and adjust an otherwise perfectly tough movement....I may as well opted for the ETA 28XX for a few dollars more (and I almost did!). But then I stepped back and looked at my objective. The S-2427 fit the bill. Not that I am saying my movement is far superior when it comes to beat, looks or sustained accuracy it has more of the attributes that I was requiring and held as a priority. Such as durability, dependability and longevity in regards to service intervals. As one of you pointed out, this little movement has tenacity and will function like an AK-47. I was not trying to be deceptive by calling it a RW-2427 when it was based S-2427......watch companies do it all the time when they modify ETAs. I will be changing my verbiage and adding more on why this movement was selected. The take away from this paragraph is that a great deal of thought and testing went into the movement selection. Hopefully that thought and testing will be reflected in the wearer's movement servicing bills down the road.

Yes... to some my watch will look like a Kobold Arctic Diver. And to others it will look A LOT like the AD. I have always been a huge fan of Mike's work and would be full of BS if I said I was not influenced by the designs of his watches. Just like Mike was influenced by Helmut Sinn and Helmut Sinn was influenced by the cockpit clocks in his aircraft. That aircraft clock designer was influenced by......bla.....bla....bla.....SUNDIAL....bla...bla...CAVEMAN STARING AT THE SUN.
Mike is fully aware of the status of my company (he was instrumental in helping me get started...). And I have even aided in the design of some of HIS upcoming models. I don't think he minds if my watch has subtle differences to his great design like: The bezel notches, the angled lugs the enlarged indices and triangle 12 0'clock marker. Let's not forget about the enlarged crown, crown lugs and substantial size difference. Oh wait....those are different. But I still managed to capture the essence of what I liked about Mike's design and made it fit my unique company's needs.

I hope I have answered some of your questions without pissing too many people off in the process. If I have offended anyone, please feel free to let me know. I have a tendency to get right to the root of an issue with the grace of a 800 lb water buffalo and I ALWAYS put my foot in my mouth and say the wrong thing to the wrong people at the wrong time...it's uncanny. On the flipside, I have VERY thick skin.

Take aways:

1.Bio.....................................Check!

2.Movement...........................Check!

3.Similar to the AD...................Check!

4.Testing and Vetting...............Check!

5.Thick Skin............................Check! X2

6.Enjoy talking about my watch and hearing your thoughts on my company..............................Check!

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

R.E. Smith
RESCO Instruments

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