There was a link in the original thread where this watch was "found", do a search of the Rolex forum.
Just checked original thread and the link is no longer valid. I don't know why as I can't read Chinese! I suppose you can go to taobao.com and search on Tudor... The search box is fairly evident but once you get listings you are on your own!
Good hand-off! Cousin's has tech/data sheets for most of the ETA movements and if not listed on their site can usually provide one if you drop 'em an e-mail...
It seems to be functioning correctly. When I first unpacked it the time was close enough to 12 that I mistakenly assumed the hand had just been pressed on not perfectly lined up. I only operated the chrono a few times for a minute or two and the 24 hour hand didn't move when I reset the chrono so I sort of "assumed" it functioned with the chrono. After setting the correct date and time the 24 hour hand advanced but I did not notice until after I ran the chrono for an extended period of time and reset it. After this I noticed the 24 hour hand being in what I took as an "incorrect" position and my assumption bit me in the a$$!
OK, lemme take foot out of mouth. Kurt, you are correct according to the Miyota docs. I need to play with it some more but I could swear it only seems to move with the chrono running... Miyota_0S21.pdf
I just popped the back and it has a Miyota OS21 quartz movement. I'll do some looking and see if I can find a tech sheet on it and we'll know for sure...
The 24 hour totalizer is for the chrono function and after I hit the reset button the sweep and minutes totalizer returned properly to "zero" but the hour totalizer went to 6:00 position.
Bezel rotates with clicks...
I think, if nothing else, someone could reasonably use this case to build on...
OK, after watching this thing crawl through the postal system since it cleared Customs on Sunday it finally arrived! When I had my parts guy buy this for me I had set my expectations pretty low as I figured it would be a 100% POS plus he just described it as a "cheap watch". I was pleasantly surprised as it's only about 50% POS!
Major Flaws and gripes (remember, I'm not as anal as some):
The dial layout is wrong (I suspect they didn't have a movement that matched the proper subdials so they took "creative license" (it is a rep after all) making the right subdial a 24 hour totalizer and the left subdial a 60 minute totalizer. The only thing that's right is the sweep hand is the stopwatch sweep hand. You will realize there is no running seconds as this particular movement has the 24 hour totalizer where the gen has the running seconds. All-in-all this would make for a nice stopwatch for timing long intervals.
The crown does not screw down and does not have the black inlay as per gen.
The "lock rings" on the pushers are decorative only.
Clasp is wrong.
The crystal is not quite tall enough.
Pleasant Surprises:
Quick-set date.
The CGs seem to be reasonably accurate.
The bezel looks good and rotates.
Total weight is 144 gm.
Hands look reasonable.
Proper 42mm case size.
Overall impression:
It's wearable, having nice heft and at 42mm looks quite "chunky". As this isn't really common (at least on this side of the pond) it will probably easily pass the 6 foot test. This would be the first watch I would really need to remove a link on so it should fit some of the larger wrists. My wife told me that it looked good on my wrist and she has never made that exact observation before. It has a lot of flaws but it actually is a pretty cool looking watch and I think it's worth the money as for the same price I've gotten some real dogs!
Here are a few pics:
I don't think I've seen a rep dial with a date window bevel like that... They either have no bevel or a complete bevel and this one seems to "step down" a little then bevels inward.
Kinda looks like F's makin' a bobsled run! I remember, when I was a wee shaver in MI, waking up in the morning with snow drifts high enough to where they were onto the roof!
These are the pens I got from Trevor as freebies about a year ago. He had other styles but not the "Classic/Vintage" style so I thought these were prettu cool. The little "snowflake" floats in the clear end...
Trevor used to (may still) give a free pen with watch purchase and I think they were also for sale. I have three Mont Blanc reps that seem (at least to me) to be good quality. I have a retractable ball-point, roller-ball, and fountain. The refills are apparently "rep" Mont Blanc as well as I couldn't see a rep having a gen refill!
the 3186 really isn't a clone, just has some additional "decorations" which often cause reliability to suffer - it probably wouldn't fool very many people...
Dang, F, it got warmer up there today than it did in DFW!! I think I topped out at 21F, it's now 15F, supposed to get down to 8F!! That's sorta "nippy" for Texas! All I can say is "Thank God for global warming" or we would all freeze to death this winter! Now, let me go find some tree-huggers to whup up on....