preacher62

Ahoy, all you watchmakers. Just servicing a DG 3804 for the first time and have a question. Where does the tiny little washer in the keyless works go? I know it is a spacer and I think a necessary part. Thanks! Mike P. S. The 3804 is very different in design from the 2813. The dial side is completely different. A much better design. The date changing is gear oriented rather than lever oriented.

Really not. A case is designed a built for a particular movement spec, which is the total depth of the case and, more importantly, the distance from the dial surface to the center of the case tube. The ETA 2824-2 does not fit the same case as a 2836 or 2846, which are the same spec.

Is it possible that you do not have the dial properly mounted on the movement. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Thanks, TR. You are sure right about that. I just converted a 2846 to GMT using the parts from the Asian-made movement. I hadn't thought about it but it uses the day changing function to move the GMT hand. I will get to the bottom of this. I am looking at the back side and there are no tells from the 2813.

Well, I wondered about that so I sent Josh and email asking if the 2813 was actually a 3804 and he wrote back and said, "No, it is as advertised on the website." Also, on Rafflestime website in the ad for the GMT hand for the 3804, he says that it will also fit a 2813. Confused. I just got the watch so I may just pull the movement and check it. There aren't any tells from the back side I think. You must look at the dial side to tell.

Hey guys! I know that this has been published but I just can't find it. I have the above mentioned watch in the DG 2813 version and want to put in a DG-3804B movement. I am an die hard ETA believer, but understand that the 3804B is a very good and reliable, purpose-built, GMT movement. I want to try it here...especially if the hands will work. I also have an orange GMT hand coming from Rafflestime. Question is...will the hands on the converted 2813 fit the DG 3804B? (BTW...the 2813 is keeping almost perfect time.) Thanks in advance!

Clem...no inference intended, but from the questions that you are asking, it seems that you might do some work on some less expensive components prior to building your grail sub. All of us have destroyed some once in a lifetime equipment trying to accomplish what we were not up to. When you start fitting a Rolex dial to a non-Rolex movement...the first, second and third time is a struggle to get it right. Pan said there are searches and among those are some good tutorial that have been developed by members who have (I am sure) torn up a lot of parts before they got good at it. This is like a university education...our training did not come cheap. Nor our watches. Most could have bought a gen Sub with the parts we have destroyed.

All this said...the frankens only have value on the forum. You still can't advertise them on the bay and sell them.

At $25, I will take two. M

With that parts list, I would spring for an 18K bracelet at some point. I know it's an $800 - $950 option, but then the watch is forever. Great TT. One of the best I've seen.

Sometimes it's not the die that is off but the replica case back. Remember, the wrench was made to open a gen Rolex. Your die might fit a gen.

That's not the problem. I have purchased two of the Clark sets and in both of them the washer is just a tad small to fit over the little rim on the retaining ring. The I. D. of the washer needs to be opened up. Doc must have bent the retainer or the bezel while trying to force it on with the washer up over the rim of the retainer. Neither of these parts are overly robust and one must be careful with them. If it takes too much force to seat the retainer a modification either needs to be made to the inside of the retainer or to the outside of the crystal or you will break something. If the bezel is deformed any more than the thickness of the washer it will not work. The tolerance is very small.

Yeah...that must be a different problem. I could put my bezel ring on without the washer and it would snap on fine, but it would just spin freely.

Yes... the GMT conversion uses H5 wheels. You must do a pretty complete disassembly and reassembly to complete this conversion but it works great. There is a pictorial of the conversion on this board somewhere.

This is unbelievable. I solved this problem yesterday. I was about ready to hit my 1675 with a hammer. I even bought a second bezel assembly from Gary, thinking that I had damaged the first one. The short story is...on Gary's bezel assembly the washer's I.D. is about one half mm to small to fit over the rim of the retaining ring. You can't see it unless you put on a loop. You can press it on with a press...sometimes, but it will not turn. You cannot turn it with a channel lock. I went back and found the first assembly that I bought from Gary and voila...same problem. That washer would not fit over the ring either. I rooted around in my box and found the original bezel assembly that came on the Trevor watch and the washer fit the Clark retaining ring perfectly. The bezel snapped on and I am so happy.

You're paying extra for the service which, personally I would not buy from a rep dealer. I like Andrew and have spent a lot with him but what you see is what you get. I would rather purchase the 16610 of my choice...get it in my hands and then (I would service it myself) take it to a local watchmaker or send it to one of our CONUS RWG watchmakers or EU watchmakers. That way, you can feel better about the service. I guess that I do not have enough confidence in our "trusted" dealers to believe that they are going to furnish something that I cannot see or touch.

Yes! I have done it by myself, but someone to operate the drill definitely simplifies things.

I take the crown and chuck it up (by the stem) in a cordless drill leaving enough space to get the sanding disk on the dreml in between the crown base and the chuck. You need to put the disk on the dreml with the sand side back toward the tool, for obvious reasons. Then you start the drill turning slowly and insert the sanding disk with the dreml running. Voila...instant metal lathe. 5 minute job. Be careful. You can take off a lot of material really quickly with power tools. To protect the crown stem you can mount the crown on an old winding stem and then chuck that up in the drill. Then you have plenty of space between the crown and the chuck.

I can truthfully say that I have never spent one minute dreaming of any of the modern subs. I think the 166610 is "clunky" to use a descriptor. I even drilled lug holes in my MBK 16610 so it would look even more vintage.

The bracelet is actually smooth and soft looking. That is the most striking thing about the TC bracelet. It is so smooth and the endlinks are right.

It doesn't look like a late-model gen insert. Maybe an older one.

So how do we get in touch with Josh, these days. There seems to be no website. Anyone have a email address.

I think that the consensus here has been that (if you have a case with gen type bezel) you need to buy the retaining ring, spring and bezel as a set. On a rep case you can't always mix and match them. If you purchase a complete gen bezel assembly I know it will work on the Sean case.

That's the best coronet that I've seen on a sub clasp.