Anakin14

The tools I got as a kit off of eBay. If I do this more I may end up getting some tools of higher quality. But they did the job. As far as the movement is concerned, I trust Otto. The guy is a huge distributor of watch stuff. I doubt he sells junk. His prices seem right too. His ETA movements (2824-2) seem to cost what they should. Not so cheap that alarm bells go off. The movement I bought is the first one down on this page (click) I may swap the date wheel with the one on my current movement....we'll see.

Here's a preview. This watch is a Raimundo Davolos Mean Streets Powersports that sold for over $1k (stupid price). I ended up getting it brand new for $50 when the manufacturer folded (a semi functional website still exists here click me ). The pictures below do not do the watch justice. It is really very attractive and weighs in at a heavy 5.8 ounces. Anyway, after 3 years of keeping good time the watch died. I brought it to a jeweler to inquire about having the movement fixed and he told me it was cheap Chinese movement not worth fixing. So, for two years the watch sat in a draw. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I've been boning up on some watch repairing skills. I dug out my old RDMSP and decided to swap out the movement. Lo and behold Otto has the movement on his site for $35. I bought the movement and some inexpensive watch repairing tools (hand puller, hand installer, tiny screw drivers, loupe, etc) and gave it a go. After all, the movement was junk. What I really like about this watch is the case and the strap. Let's see what I did, shall we? Here's the movement removed from the watch. Very easy to remove. The movement with the hands removed. The dial removed from the old movement. Here's my $35 Chinese movement. The new movement, dial, and hands back in the case. This picture looks horrible. Please don't judge the watch by this photo. No matter what I did, the black face looks gray and the stainless steel looks yucky in this picture. The steel is actually a nearly mirrored finish. In fact, I later polished it with Brasso to a mirror finish. Plus the dial is black. And here's the exhibition back. I swapped the plain rotor that came with the new movement with the snazzy Raimundo Davalos rotor from the original movement. When I do this with my SMP I'll be sure to take more photos and have better step by step instructions.

Hey, if people are interested I'll document the surgery and post it. If a noob like me can do it then anyone can!

Actually, I do. I recently tried removing movement, dial, and hands and then replacing them on some old junk watches. Then, I took a pretty nice, but cheap, watch that stopped working and swapped out the movement for a cheap Chinese movement I bought from Otto for $35. I'm certainly not an expert but the hardest part of the whole operation is removing and reinstalling the hands. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

Guys, please validate this course of action for me.... I think I'm going to buy the ETA 2824-2 MONDAINE on Rotor from Otto click here to view and swap out my watch's original movement. At this point, I doubt I have true ETA movement and therefore it wouldn't be worth the money to tear apart and clean. Discuss.... I must say I'm disappointed. I spent over $300 (including shipping) for a watch that doesn't work. I guess that if I look at it like for $300 I got a kick-ars case, band, face, etc and an extra $150 gets me real ETA movement, then that's worth $450, isn't it???

Update: Andrew at Trusty offered to have the watch repaired if I send it airmail to him (China). How much will that cost? What do you think, am I better off shipping it back for repair or should I send the watch off to someone like The Zigmeister for service, enhancements, and some TLC?

How do I get in touch with this guy? I would like to have my SMP serviced and modded.

I got an email back from Andrew @ Trusty and he says that this is normal. Doesn't seem normal to me. I have several other watches that are automatics and none of them do this.

Two questions: Who is The Zigmeister and how do I do business with him? Do you think I have gen ETA movement that's old and gummy or some craptacular rep movement? I paid extra for ETA (which I assumed was new) from TrustyTime that gets good reviews.

It's weird because if I wind the watch I can then watch the rotor just spin around until the mainspring is unwound (with the back off, of course). Wearing the watch, it won't make it through the day w/o winding it. I'm no watchsmith, but it seems to me that the mainspring tension shouldn't make the rotor spin. There must be some mechanism that stops this from happening and isn't working in my watch. Tick123, does your watch do this? When you hold your watch so it is level, can you hear or feel the rotor just spin & spin??

I've had to wind it because even while I'm wearing it, the watch keeps running down. Here's the movement...

I noticed today that my SMP keeps running out. When I wind it more than a few times, the rotor spins and spins until the mainspring is all wound out. I guess my movement is no good. And the watch was supposed to have ETA 2824-2 movement in it. This can't be right, can it??? Here's my watch which is only several weeks old: click Maybe I'll have to swap the movement out with one of these: click

You've got a point there. Not too many used SMP for under $1k that are in reasonably good shape though.

Yes, please PM me the pix. Overall, I'm happy with my bracelet. How does your bracelet compare to the rep? Is the rep even close?

I would like to buy some gen parts for my SMP from OFREI.com, but I'm not sure what my watch's "real" model number or case number would be. Therefore, it's just a shot in the dark. These items aren't cheap so I want to make sure I'm buying the right stuff the first time. Here's my watch: Here's what I would like to replace: Clasp on band (my double deployment is a little weak)( 1503-825?, 1504-826?) Maybe the dial (do you think mine should be replaced?) The bezel (the 1360, 1361, ???) The hands (aren't mine too short?) Even if I bought the "right" items, would they actually fit my watch? I bought my watch from TrustyTime Watch on Trusty

I want to buy my wife a nice, high quality rep for Christmas and I'm looking for ideas. Ideally, the watch will have ETA movement and no gold (I like gold but being a rep, I'm afraid it will wear off). Please give me some ideas!! Let me know what ladies rep looks the most authentic and where to by it. Regarding the brand, I'm pretty open to everything except Rolex (my wife doesn't like them). Thanks in advance for the help!

Thanks so much everyone for the help. So, if I understand correctly, older SMPs had white paint around the lumes, which mine certainly has. Therefore, it is "authentic". I must say, the dial on this rep looks spot on. I held it up to a gen and even the waves are perfect. One other question, does the back look like a gen's back? I doesn't look close to any gen's back that I've ever seen. Thanks again!

Has there been a recent gen of the SMP that's had no chrome accent around the lume's? I know current SMPs do and my rep doesn't. If not, I think I'll buy a new gen dial and replace this one. Any suggestions where I can buy a gen dial for this watch?? Here's a picture of my rep, sans chrome accents.