craptacular

I've been searching for one myself, and came across this: Seiko Monster replacement crystal?

What the heck. I'd be in for two, if they were truly 1:1 including lume color/quality.

They certainly do. Thanks so much for the help, everyone. Looks like I've got some cleaning to do before my dial swap.

I was mainly concerned since I had never seen one with the applied logo lettering with the strikethrough before. I appreciate the info - thanks!

I can't seem to find any markings on the back of the dial. It's kind of an oxidized-black with an almost honeycomb shaped wear pattern and pockmarks where the posts for the hour markers and logo items attach through.

Purchased a used black SMP dial advertised as gen, with the dealer even speaking of sourcing it from Switzerland. It arrived, and... I'm not sure about this. My initial concerns: The "OMEGA" has a line through the center The hour markers are lined with metal like a PO dial (I thought these were just white ink lined) The lume spills a little over the metal hour marker edges in a couple of places So, is it a gen dial? If so, would it be acceptable to swap out with a new blue-dial SMP rep - as far as having a fairly accurate rep? I've got a black bezel ready to swap in as well. Any input would be appreciated - thanks!

That's what I'm getting the more I look into the ST24. Since I didn't buy it with resale in mind, I guess it's not that big of a deal. Thanks for all of the feedback, folks.

Bingo. It's the movement in that linked thread. I'll just proceed in the assume-all-movements-are-clones mindset from now on. You'd think that if the factories can churn out detailed clones like this, they'd be able to get a **** bezel insert pearl centered in a triangle. I'm starting to think that obvious flaws like that are intentional to avoid the full wrath of the gen companies - nobody wants to be the next "closed factory".

So now comes the hard part for me. I purchased this from a private seller and paid quite a bit more than I could have purchased a new ETA-clone for. Granted, it shipped fast, I didn't have the customs risk and it did come with both the SS bracelet as well as one of the rep rubber diver's straps I've been wanting... I don't blame the seller at all. He purchased it from Josh as a Swiss ETA, so I don't think he was trying to pull one over on me. So what's the right thing to do now?

Just bought my 2nd UPO (trying a black bezel this time) sold to me as a "swiss 2824-2", and when I received it I opened the caseback to check out the movement to find this decorated nickel movement: I sure wasn't expecting THAT. It's pretty, but it's lacking any kind of ETA stamp. I haven't seen a decorated movement on a UPO before, so... is it swiss or a clone?

I've been wanting to find a cheap alternative to doing the gen insert swap for some time now myself. The closest I've come across is to buy one of the aftermarket ones off ebay, remove the pearl from it and replace it with the one from the UPO. IIRC, the pearl on the UPO is glued to the bezel itself, so it will take some heat/work to get it off and reposition for the new insert.

I've thrown in a relatively fresh battery from another recent Miyota chrono purchase that has been running rock solid. I'll be sure to pick up a brand new one to test before ordering a new movement. I'm a little hesitant to do that, what with it being a rep and all. Would removing the movement and just bringing that in for checking be an acceptable move? I've checked Frei, but strangely they don't seem to stock the 0S20 from a search of their site. My plan was to call them up to see if they'd order one if I couldn't find a simpler online route. Thanks very much for the feedback - I appreciate it.

My quartz PO Chrono is flaking out badly. I've caught it running fast by a couple of minutes, or slow by quite a bit. I guess it's time to find a replacement movement, unless anyone has a suggestion. Where could I purchase an inexpensive Miyota 0S20?

Yikes. I guess I was just paying attention to the dial markings, and just had a knee-jerk os20/fs20 reaction. I should double-check my PO Chrono guess before I order something.

Looks like a miyota os20 could possibly work. ...and if you find out where to get one cheap, let me know. I need one myself for a quartz PO Chrono that's acting up.

IIRC, he got the green insert off ebay. There always seems to be plenty of aftermarket inserts in black, orange, green and blue there. I'm not sure about the pearl quality though.

Dial arrived. Now all I have to do is wait for my UPO to get back from Ruby (in for repairs), and I'm in business. Thanks! Somebody should scoop up the other one quickly.

I removed the rotor and checked things out, but nothing seemed amiss other than a tarnished fingerprint-looking spot underneath. I lubed the bearings, reseated the rotor and made sure it was screwed back on securely. Unfortunately, the rotor kept sticking (at just over every 2 rotations)... but I did notice that when the tension kicked in there was the tiniest little clicking noise. It was coming from the silver gear nearest to the crown/stem. It would seem to "hop" just a little bit every time the rotor would get stuck. I guess I should add that this all started soon after the first time I had to change the date (other than the first time I set the watch). Upon remembering that, I re-set the date by running through until the current day came back around. The tiny "click" seemed to stop after that, and the rotor hasn't stuck again. Unfortunately, the watch doesn't seem to hold a power reserve now. I gave it a good 20 seconds of shaking at the end of the day, but it had stopped again by the following morning. I've had to set it aside due to travel over the weekend, but I'll be back on the case on Monday. Any further insight or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I did notice that when I apply pressure to the rotor it wiggles from front-to-back a bit. It hardly takes any pressure at all to get metal to touch metal, and I suspected that was the source of the noise until I read a thread about somebody having similar problems due to rotor bearings. I'll see how it reacts to tightening the rotor screw. Thanks for the reply!

Just got a beautiful UPO w/2824-2 movement a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday it stopped on me. A quick shake got it moving again, but when I gave it the old wrist-swirl to wind it properly it sounded like the rotor was stopping. The rotor has always been a little noisy (I assumed it was scraping very lightly against a side or something), so I opened up the case back to check things out. Tilting or shaking would not make the rotor move. I got it to move again with a little finger press, then pushed it manually to check the rotation a few times. It looks like the rotor sticks a little after a few rotations. Is it debris in the bearings, or is it need of lubrication? Could some oil on the bearings clear this up, or am I going to have to send it back? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

They're a big Tourneau store now, but before it used to be in a smaller store location just to the left if you're facing into the entrance. I used to go in and browse the old place whenever I was in Vegas, and when they were finishing up construction of the new larger location the manager actually took me over to look around. My wife and I were just there on my usual convention trip and were dressed down for the weekend, yet the gentleman took the time to chat with me about watch designs (I'm a graphic artist and I love getting inspiration from commonplace industrial design - watches in particular). No sales pressure, just a nice casual chat. He then took us over to show off how construction was progressing on the new location. Pretty surprising that he took the time to give a pre-opening tour to some grunged-out younger couple. I'd expect high-end sales snobbery at a place like that, so it's always refreshing to deal with the sales staff there. Tip: next time you're there and in a browsing mood, be sure to go to the convention area Caesar's. 1. Take the escalators all the way to the top, then walk in and to the windows on the left. 2. Enjoy the view from directly over the "tops optional" pool. Always a fun distraction between meetings.