Shelbow

New Mehlis auction is now up. (GER) Mehlis - August 26th - 28th (2021) - Musical Instruments - https://www.mehlis.eu/de/catalogs/10321/102/

If it has sentimental value to the OP then displaying it or keeping it safe sounds like a good idea. As a few experienced members have already mentioned, unfortunately it is not really cost effective to repair at this time, but that doesn't mean it can't still be loved.

Final warning - If you all can't leave it be and move on to the original topic it will be locked.

Dear All, I have just deleted the last couple of messages. Please leave the arguments behind and return to the original topic of discussion.

Dear All (MOD HAT ON) As much as I do love a good bit of geography, this thread has moved very quickly in the wrong direction, please stay on topic going forward. Jeffrey has already asked every to move on and keep to the original discussion. Many thanks.

@PaganiniGuitarThere is an ignore user function, look in your user control panel.

I'd be interested to see pictures of the Tecchler violin and J hill cello.

Dear All, I have now removed the shop name from the post. In case anyone is in any doubt, this forum is not a platform to be used to name and shame individuals or businesses. If you have a grievance over a service provided to you then you are of course welcome to seek advice from the knowledgeable members on here, but please do not post personal or business details of those involved. Where possible always try to resolve issues in an amicable way with all the parties involved. Failing that you could seek advice from professional service bodies / watchdogs that may oversee that sector.

Very beautiful looks amazing

Well at the higher end there are a lot of investment driven sales, but I guess this probably isn't related to new making.

I don't want to talk too much about the watch market but here is the Deloitte report from 2020 on the swiss watch market https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ch/Documents/consumer-business/deloitte-ch-en-swiss-watch-industry-study-2020.pdf

This information just supports that a high quality / high end and low production (exclusive) based business is still sustainable. You can't be competing with the mass producers anymore that just won't work.

Yeah but you need to compare like for like, high end mechanical watches against other high end mechanical watches, not a digital watch that is multifunctional. Not many people really use a Swiss watch for anything apart from a status symbol / accessory, most probably don't even use it to tell the time. Fine watches are somewhat of a collectors field these days like art, this is not the case with an Apple watch which is just another device that will become redundant as soon as the next generation is out. The issue for the Swiss watch companies is that they missed the boat on the wearable tech market and failed to diversify their business when they had opportunity to. Ever since the smart phone watches as time keeping devices have been on the down turn anyway.

Rubner are a great company. I have experience only with their guitar tuners, but they are very good quality at a reasonable price. For some reason I was sure that they (or a sister company) also made gun parts, but I can't find any evidence about that anymore so I was probably mistaken.

Cremona has history on its side, but IMO it's important that the quality of making remains exceptionally high and the production output low. China is a different scale of making for the most part (some exceptions) and clearly they can also produce very fine instruments but I think it might take a while before they have a historically important centre of making like Cremona. But definitely important to monitor the situation, perhaps in the future China will have a Cremona, Mirecout or Markneukirchen type area that has international regard. As stated in the videos there is value in instruments made by a sole maker or indeed a combination of known makers. I think this will always have a value over faceless production. The Swiss watch industry is an example of how to weather the storm of international competition and come out on top.