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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/05/2013 in all areas
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I found this introductory information on a website and thought it maybe of use to guyys here as a way of getting a feel for watches and terms etc. i am sure its been done before but in case in proves of any use to anyone here I thought it worth while to use the info and play about to get it in a readable formay here rather than just attaching a link HOROLOGICAL TERMS Case: Consisting of a watch's middle, bezel, and back, it protects and houses the movement inside. It can be made from different metals and in different shapes. The examples below illustrate common case shapes currently being produced. Crystal: The Crystal is a 'glass' covering the dial or 'face' of the watch, protecting it from dirt and water. There are three major types of crystals produced and used in watch making. Synthetic Sapphire: This transparent, lab grown element has exactly the same chemical composition as natural sapphire. Sapphire ranks a 9 on Mohs' hardness scale. It is the most expensive type of crystal and the majority of watches imported from Switzerland contain them. Mineral: Mineral crystals are made of glass. Mineral crystals are a 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness. They are inexpensive compared to sapphire crystals, usually costing less than one hundred dollars to replace if damaged. Acrylic: Acrylic is the most affordable type of crystal. It can be easily polished to remove light scuffs. Mohs Scale of Hardness: A scientific scale which measures the relative hardness of minerals. The scale ranges from 1 to 10, with 10 being the hardest; the higher the rank, the more scratch resistant the material. Dial: The dial is the face of the watch. There are many ways a dial can be marked. The examples below show some of the most popular dials. Subdial: A small dial set within the main dial, used to display an additional complication such as Chronograph readout, seconds, or date. Hour Marker: An hour indicator applied or painted on the dial of the watch. Hands: The hands on a watch indicate either the hour, minute, or second, along with other functions. Often taking their cues from the general aesthetic of the watch, the hands can vary in shape, size and style. "Blued Steel" hands are dark navy in color; a result of super heating steel until the color changes. This was first used by the famous watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet in the 19th century to help make the hands more legible. Rehaut: The [censored] or projection around the inner edge of the watch that typically holds the watch crystal up and reinforces it. The rehaut is typically referred to mostly on Rolex watches as they are inscribed for anti-counterfeiting measures. On most Breitling watches the rehaut is covered by an applied chapter ring. Crown: Connects to the internal movement of a watch through the case, the crown, which can vary from a simple gasket to an intricate system of screws, allows you to wind, hand-set, and employ special functions like date settings and time. Screw-down Crown: A crown which aids water resistance by sealing it against the case. The seal is achieved through gaskets and by matching the threaded pipe on the case with the crown's internal threads, while twisting the crown to lock it into place Pusher: Otherwise dubbed a 'push-piece' or a 'push-button', this handy mechanical element is mounted on a watch's case to control specific functions, such as timing functions in a chronograph. Bezel: The bezel is either snapped or screwed into the case and often holds the crystal, the protective covering of the watch, in place. Bezels can be functional for diving and timing or purely aesthetic, as with a diamond set bezel. Diving Bezel: Enables a diver to visually track his/her dive time using minute markers from 0 to 60 on a unidirectional rotating bezel. For safety reasons, unidirectional bezels only rotate in the counter-clockwise direction. If the bezel could move clockwise and was accidentally turned, the diver could think he/she had a greater air supply and may not surface in time. Timing Bezel: Similar to a Diving bezel but can move clockwise and counter clockwise. This type of bezel might be used for cooking, timing parking meters, etc. Strap: Whatever your favorite look-leather, alligator, canvas, or other-the strap is attached to the case and bound by a buckle, keeping your watch on tight. Bracelet: Usually made of metal or in combination with another material such as rubber, as with link watch bands, the bracelet keeps your timepiece securely attached and looking sharp. When there is no discontinuity between the bracelet and the case, this is called an 'integral' bracelet. Ardillon Buckle (Tang Buckle): A traditional buckle in which one end of the strap is slipped through a buckle with a pin used to secure the fit of your watch. Deployant Buckle: A deployant, or fold-over clasp, is an elegant flourish that allows for perfect strap closures through interlocking metal pieces, eliminating the need for strap holes. It is considered safer to wear than a regular Ardillon buckle. If the buckle should happen to open up, the watch is still attached to the wrist. Movement: The movement is the engine of the watch; it makes the watch work. The different types of movements and the importance of their functionality are explained in greater detail in the movements section below. Rotor: In automatically winding timepieces, the rotor's partial or complete revolutions work in conjunction with the movements of the human arm. The rotor turns freely in both directions to wind the mainspring, which stores and transmits the energy that powers your watch. Lug: A case attachment, the lug allows for a strap or bracelet to be attached to the watch case. Ensures that your ticker isn't going anywhere you don't want it to. Exhibition Case Back: A case back to show off movement finishing and craftsmanship. Ideal for anyone who appreciates the intricate inner-workings of a timepiece, an exhibition back displays the mechanical workings of a watch. Skeleton Movement: This watch does not contain a dial. It exposes the movement, etched and engraved to a high degree of craftsmanship, from the face of the watch. Chronometer: A watch with a particularly high level of precision. According to Swiss law, a watch may not be dubbed a chronometer until it has passed a series of grueling tests and measurements and been certified. Mechanical Watch Movements 'Manual movements' are the most traditional movements, usually found in very conservative, collectable, and luxury watches. It is the oldest type of watch movement in production, dating back to the sixteenth century. Sometimes referred to as a 'hand-wound movement', the manual watch needs to be wound in order to function. Depending on the power reserve, this could be daily, every two days, once a week, etc. Many people cherish the timeless tradition of manual movements and even enjoy the ritual of winding them. Components of the Manual Movement Watch: Crown: Wheel on the side of the watch used to set the time. On a mechanical movement, either manual or automatic, the Crown is usually turned to wind the watch. Mainspring: Power source of the movement. The kinetic energy from winding the Crown is transferred to the coil-shaped Mainspring, which stores the energy by gradually becoming tighter. Gear Train: Transmits the stored energy from the Mainspring to the Escapement through a series of minute gears. Escapement: Acts as a break. It takes the energy transmitted from the Mainspring through the Gear Train and meters the energy into equal, regular parts. Balance Wheel: Heart of the movement. It receives the energy to run from the Escapement. The Balance beats, or oscillates in a circular motion, five to ten times per second. A watchmaker can adjust the Balance to make the watch run faster or slower. Dial Train: Series of gears transmitting regulated, equally metered energy from the Balance Wheel to the hands of the watch, making them move. Jewels: Synthetic rubies set at points of high friction, similar to the center of a gear that is constantly in motion. The Jewels are used as bearings in the watch to reduce metal-to-metal friction and wear, thereby improving performance and accuracy. Rubies are used because they absorb heat well and are extremely hard. How a Manual Movement works: 1. Turning the Crown winds the Mainspring, causing it to store energy. 2. The Gear Train transfers the energy to the Escapement. 3. The Escapement meters out the energy into regulated parts. 4. The Balance Wheel uses this regulated energy to beat back and forth at a constant rate. 5. Every certain number of beats, the Dial Train transfers the energy to the hands of the watch. 6. The hands advance. An automatic, or self-winding, movement is a mechanical movement that winds itself while worn on the wrist. As it eliminates the need for daily hand winding, it is still necessary to wind an automatic watch if it has not been worn and has stopped. Prior to wearing an automatic watch, it will need to be wound. One may choose to purchase a winding box, which will keep an automatic watch fully wound when not being worn for extended periods of time. Components of the Automatic Movement Watch: An automatic movement has the same parts as a regular manual movement: Crown, Mainspring, Escapement, Gear Train, Balance Wheel, and a Dial Train. The Rotor is an additional component which allows the watch to wind itself while worn. Rotor: An oscillating (rotating) metal weight attached to the movement; allowed to swing freely in 360 degrees as the wrist moves. The Rotor is connected by a series of gears to the Mainspring. As the Rotor turns, it winds the Mainspring to give the watch energy. The Rotor is equipped with a clutch to disengage from winding when the Mainspring is fully wound. Hand winding gives the watch a full power reserve and the Rotor will keep rewinding the watch thereafter. Power reserve is a term used to indicate, in hours, the amount of energy stored in the movement. Thus, a watch with a 48 hour power reserve will run for approximately 48 hours before stopping. How an Automatic Movement works: 1. Movement of the wrist turns the Rotor which winds the Mainspring. Turning the Crown will also wind the Mainspring. 2. The Gear Train transfers the energy to the Escapement. 3. The Escapement meters out the energy into regulated parts. 4. The Balance Wheel uses this regulated energy to beat back and forth at a constant rate. 5. Every certain number of beats, the Dial Train transfers the energy to the hands of the watch. 6. The hands advance. Date Complications Date: The simplest complication on a watch is the date display. Date Window: This window is also referred to as an aperture. On some watches the color of the numbers alternate between red and black, this is called "Casino" date display. Big Date: This display allows a much larger view of the date and is significantly more legible than the traditional date window. The variation sometimes has two windows, the left one displaying 0-3, and the right window displaying 0-9. Date Wheel: A center hand with an arrow, or crescent, pointing to the date along the outside periphery, also known as a chapter of the dial. This is sometimes called a 'Bankers' date. Subsidiary Dial: Displays the date on a small sub-dial. Most often used in conjunction with other complications. Day-Date: This adds the day of the week to the date complication Classic Day-Date Dial Side by Side Day-Date Dial Triple Calendar: Also called a 'Complete Calendar', this calendar is a further elaboration of date display, adding the month of the year. Triple Calendar w/Aperture Windows and Date Wheel Triple Calendar w/Subsidiary Dials Perpetual Calendar: The Perpetual Calendar is the most complex type of calendar feature that exists on a watch. It accurately displays the date, day, month, and year, and even takes into account the leap year. It will need correction in 2100, however, when the leap year will be ignored. Perpetual Calendar w/Aperture Windows Perpetual Calendar w/Subsidiary Dials Chronograph Complications A chronograph watch has a stopwatch built into the movement. Types of Chronographs: Mono-Poussier (One-Button Chronograph): Originally, all chronographs were Mono-Poussiers; Breitling introduced the two-button chronograph in 1923. The difference between a one and two-button chronograph is that the one-button model cannot measure interrupted time spans. Retour-en-Vol (Flyback Chronograph): The Flyback chronograph is specially engineered so that when a second button is pushed, while the chronograph is running, all the counters reset and immediately start again from zero. This feature was originally designed for pilots where split second accuracy is necessary for precise navigation. Flybacks are the exception, not the rule. Rattrapante (Split-Second Chronograph): It's easy to tell if a chronograph watch is a Rattrapante; it will have three pushers on the case and two second-hands on the chronograph, one on top of the other. Dual Time Zone Complications This family of complications helps determine the time in other time zones. Dual Movement: While not technically a complication, the Dual Movement is a watch that contains two separate movements, each running from its own power source and each being set independently. Dual Time: For Dual Time watches, both displays are powered by the same movement. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time): Your watch displays two or more time zones. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) with Independent Hour Hand: This variety of GMT is a further development of the original. What makes it different is that the regular hour hand is set independently of the 24 hour hand. This changes the functionality of the watch completely. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) with Fixed Hour Hand: Introduced by Rolex in the 1950's, this GMT complication is considered a pilot's watch. Its unique additional hour hand makes one revolution around the dial per day; pointing to twelve indicates midnight and pointing to six indicates noon. World Time Zone: The World Time Zone feature has a rotating inner bezel with 24-hour display, part of the watch movement, and an outer bezel, listing the major cities in each of the 24 time zones. The outer bezel is set by the user. The inner bezel, marked to 24, makes one complete revolution per day. Tachymeter, Tourbillon and other complications Tachymeter (Tachometer) Complication: The Tachymeter feature can be used to measure the speed at which the wearer moves, over a given distance. Typically placed on the bezel and generally only found with chronographs, the Tachymeter measures units per hour. The Tourbillon: Invented by A.L. Breguet, the Tourbillon improves the balance of the watch, eliminating only timekeeping errors gravity and changing watch position cause. Though not strictly necessary for accuracy purposes today, is commonly appreciated as a feature of high-quality watches. The Tourbillon is extremely rare and requires an enormous amount of time and skill to construct. Moonphase Complication: A traditional and aesthetically pleasing feature, the Moonphase complication shows if it is a full, half, quarter, or new moon. Originally, it was primarily used by sailors to gauge tides. Power Reserve Indicator: The Power Reserve Indicator measures the amount of power remaining in the watch, by the tension of the mainspring and displays. Some watches have a power reserve of up to 10 days, in which the indicator displays days, not hours. This useful complication is found exclusively on mechanical watches. Jump Hour: The Jump Hour, a complication displaying the hour in an aperture, instantly changes every 60 minutes. Minute Repeater: A Minute Repeater is a movement that chimes out time when a lever on the side of the case is activated. It was a fairly common complication for pocket watches around the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now produced as a collectable, rather than a tool.2 points
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Please note - I am unable to provide this service to members. Last weekend, I may have come up with a possible band-aid (temporary fix) for secs at 6 7750s that die prematurely as a result of the drag & friction/wear caused by the additional gearing required to relocate the running seconds to the 6 o'clock subdial position. At least, those movements that do not have badly grooved pivots. For some time, I have been toying with the idea of using powered graphite (a dry lubricant used to lubricate locks, control cables, etc.) instead of the standard oils normally used in watches or clocks to lubricate the plate & pivots for the extra gears. As Ziggy pointed out in his excellent reviews of the Asian secs at 6 7750 (if you own or are considering a watch with one of these movements, these are MUST READS), these movements usually leave the factory without any oil being applied to the gearing used to relocate the running seconds from the 9 to 6 o'clock subdial position. This is likely done because the natural surface tension of a liquid (oil) adds a significant amount of drag even while it is lubricating. So the factory apparently chose to assemble this section of the movement completely 'dry', which of course leads to premature wear & breakdown of the movement, as many owners have reported. Ultimately, the only proper remedy, as Ziggy also suggested, is to jewel the pivots on which the gears run. But that is not a realistic option due to the amount of work & costs required to retrofit a movement this way. But for some time now, I have felt that an alternative workaround might be to use a dry lubricant, which would add little or no additional drag to tax the already overtaxed secs at 6 7750 engine. Powered graphite, being a dry lubricant & one that is often applied as a very thin (1 molecular layer deep) film, seemed just the ticket. The epiphany moment came when I recently read that Jaeger-LeCoultre engineers use powered graphite in the mainspring barrel of their new Master Compressor Extreme Lab, the world's first 'lubricant-free' watch. So I decided that if powered graphite is good enough to be used in this JLC, it is probably worth a try in our dry 7750s. Anyway, last weekend, I was asked to see what I could do with a friend's 3-month old Daytona rep that recently stopped running. To be sure the problem was related to the extra secs at 6 gearing & not something else, I removed the extra gearing for the running secs & the movement sprang to life. When I reinstalled them, it ran for a bit & then came to a sputtering stop. So it was pretty clear that the extra gears were the problem. Upon closer inspection, I found that some of the gears had actually ground grooves into the posts they are fitted onto. Of course, this is what happens when you have 2 dry metal parts grinding against each other over a period of time. So this watch already had additional problems beyond the inherent design shortcomings. But, still, since I had the thing disassembled & it was little more than a pretty door stop in its present condition, I thought it was time to test my premise about powdered graphite. So I removed all of the extra gears, cleaned the surface of the bridge with denatured alcohol & then applied a very light layer of powdered graphite to the areas highlighted in red, paying particular attention to the posts (marked with blue arrows), which is where most of the friction & wear occurs (note -- this stuff is EXTREMELY messy & VERY difficult to remove from anything it comes into contact with -- a curse & a blessing -- so be VERY careful when you apply it) Now, as anyone who has ever used this stuff knows, the trick with powdered graphite is that you only need a vapor thin layer to create a very slippery surface. So after I applied the graphite, I used a soft Viva paper towel to remove as much of it as I could. Are you getting the point here? The layer of graphite left on the metal is so thin that it will not 'bridge' between the plate & gears the way oil does, so there is no additional drag on the motor caused by the lubricant itself, as is the case with standard liquid oils. After reassembly, the watch ran. And, according to its (happy) owner, has been running without a problem for the entire week. Here are a couple of quick pics I just took of the graphite test watch next to mine just minutes before the happy owner left with his (still running) watch Of course, it is much too early to suggest that graphite is a permanent solution or one that will fix every dead 7750, since some of these movements will start to run for awhile after the plate & gears are cleaned. But I would definitely encourage others to try powdered (not liquid) graphite to see if they have the same results. ____________ By the way, those of you with black dial Daytonas, this black strap with white stitching looks quite fetching on this watch. It is the first (and, so far, only) strap I have seen that looks good on a 116520. I might have to pick one of these up myself.1 point
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Dear Friends , I know that i could search the forum , I did that allready ,but i still don't get the solution. I get the Daytona 7750 running at 6 watch . The watch is stoped all the time . I will take the watch tomorrow to watchsmith . Pls witch is the soloution to the problem ? What is the watchsmith going to do ? Pls i need some instructions . Clear and simple pls1 point
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I'd say just stop this and other threads regarding issues with md2020. He's obviously reading these threads and is virtually pissing at your legs...don't give him a laugh every hour. I don't have anything with him but I dealt many times with others that were in the same mood so to say...I used to be a car dealer many years ago... Always the best was to stop every communication, because these people just don't want to communicate...they want to provocate, escalate, laugh at you...they feel powerful the times you get angry at them, they don't think you are willing or even able to harm them in any way. So stop communication in every way, set up some legal action and wait... Most likely you won't get back your property but that's not different from the point you guys are right now. I sometimes got back my property once a lawyer wrote them or the police was in place...at this moment they don't feel powerful or big anymore...they are what they are...small, anxious, poor little manikin and sometimes they realize it...1 point
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Steve enjoy your holiday mate! Still waiting for a response of Mike/MD2020 in this topic. I know he's reading the full topic because he's online daily.. If you guys where talking about me like this, I would response and I would like to clear my name, as far as possible1 point
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I wake up with watches, I'm at the office and I'm looking at the forums, when I got home I turn on my pc and look at the forum. There is no way out! I just give in1 point
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Can any explain to me why '[censored]' is censored when I type it in a post ?????? ............( Word is .... F L A N G E) I cannot think why as an English word .... Or is it a slang?? Like.... [censored] Off... or you Mother flanger...or you Flanger..... Post Note .... See I cant [censored] off but I can be a Mother Flanger and a Flanger !!1 point
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