RWG Technical

True, but what about the wear before they finally stopped working... RG

Properly cleaned and oiled watches dont' wear out, no matter how old they are... The only thing that does wear out is the mainspring, and if you read my 1893 Elgin restoration, you can see that a mainspring from 114 years ago is available today, I think the same will be said of the ETA parts that fit into the Asian 7750... Clean and oil every 5 years, is the only insurance you need. RG

Looks great, good photo's as well... RG

They don't offer it as a Swiss movement, because they would have 2 choices: 1. Install a Swiss 7753, which is probably close to impossible to source anymore, or 2. Make the Swiss 7750 into a basterdized 7753, which requires total disassembly, and installing an Asian longer post second wheel, and all the other stuff to make into a 7753 layout. From my hands on experience servicing the A7750, I have to say again, it is a very good movement, and once clean and oiled correctly, works as well as the Swiss 7750. I have not had one new 28.8k A7750 returned for warranty since the model came out over a year ago, not one report of failure or problems, no problems at all... So the A7750 in my book is a great movement, it works and keeps on working... Now I have to see if I can make the Swiss Tri-Compax 7750 I have work in this HBB. This movement is a 7750 base, with extra gears added to make it like a 7753 layout, ie the 30 minute counter is at "3" not "12". HOWEVER this movement has a big problem, All the ETA series are the same thickness, 7.90mm, even the 7753. The problem I have, is that this Tri-Compax model, uses the same design as the Asian one, and because of this, it's thicker, so much so, that the second and 12 hour hand posts are below the movement face, and very far below the dial face, in other words, it needs to be upgraded with longer posts...no problem right? Wrong. Since the ETA 7750 series are all the same thickness, it stands to reason that they dont' produce gears with longer posts, no reason to... So I have to search and find a second and 12 hour gear with longer posts from my spare Asian 7750's... Yes, the A7750 that is installed in the HBB right now has longer posts, so your saying, "Why not use those..." well it seems when the A7750 28.8k was made, they changed the design and now the A7750 gears DON"T fit on the ETA...the old A7750 gears were interchangeable, but the new ones are NOT interchangeable... So now you know what my day is going to consist of, digging through old movements trying to find parts to make this Swiss 7750 (7753) work... Stay tuned, if I get it done, I'll post a review.... RG

Well then I think your going to have to remove the dial and see what is going on with the gears and their attachment. The GMT gear is driven by a small transfer gear that also drives the calendar change gear, it's probably slipping out of engagement now and then... RG

I had serviced a HBB a while back, and I never noted any "special" modifications or anything else with the basterdized A7750 (7753) that was inside the watch. There were various posts claiming that the A7750 in the HBB was "special, one of a kind.." or whatever that would not allow a Swiss 7750 to replace it... I am not sure where this false rumour started, or why, but it's false, the A7750 is identical to all the other A7750's we have in our reps... Installing a Swiss in place of the Asian one, would require the same work as replacing the A7750 in say a 188 or 196, full disassembly and swapping of Asian parts to the Swiss movement. I am in the process of installing a Swiss 7750 tricompax movement (not a typo) into this HBB, once done I'll post some pictures. For anyone who was contemplating installing a Swiss 7750 in place of the Asian one, there is NO reason that it can't be done. Sounds like the Choppard rumour of it containing a "special extra modified A7750" when it was only a normal 7750 with the chrono running all the time...no big deal... I wonder where all this misinformation is originating, and more importantly, WHY are these rumours started, is it to justify the price of the watch?? Very strange, as this is two examples of misleading information on movements, in as many weeks, and both were shown to be untrue. What's next? RG

No, no, no, you have to be in BED for it to work... RG

Dial washers are common, you just need to size it to fit over the gear. RG

Let me know how it goes... RG

There could be a number of reasons why it's stopping, most likely the problem is the attachment and engagement of the GMT gear to the rest of the gears. It could be as simple as installing a dial washer over the gear stack to make sure the gears stay engaged. One simple test it this, lie on the bed with the watch upside down over your head (ie dial facing you), pull the crown to the time setting position, and turn the time, watch the GMT hand, and see what it does, if it skips a beat, the gears are becoming unmeshed and that is your problem. RG

Great story, so sorry to hear about your loss. With the long weekend here, and knowing that the postal service won't be moving anything in Canada over the next few days, I will wait and ship it Tuesday. That way it's not sitting around all weekend... RG

Amazingly, it was available, as was the new mainspring... I am sure there are some parts that are obsolete, but common parts can be had. @BD It was my pleasure doing this work for you, shipping it back on Tuesday, after the long weekend... RG

That is exactly the scenario with this one, but it's not up to me to share those details, the owner can if he choses to post the history... I too would like to find one to restore, but there are none to be found in my family... RG

Move #2 towards #1 (makes the hairspring appear longer). Without a watch analyzer to measure immediatly the results, it's a hit and miss affair, you can use an atomic clock for reference. Make sure you DON"T touch the hairpring, use a 4X loupe while moving it, only push on the top of the arm near the balance kock, and support your moving hand so if you slip, the tweezers dont' go anywhere and damage something. 1 minute is probably about 1/8" in arm movement... RG

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V's cases and crown are in the shop, I have some manual wind cases to test fit it into as well, and I have a 196 case I can test it on. I expect to be able to do the testing this weekend, and post the results. Adapters from 0.90 - 1.20 and 1.20 - 0.90 are not a problem, I have them all, will it work on the handwind? I think not, due to the distance from the crown to the movement, there isn't any...we'll have to wait and see... RG

Valid point on the crown lever being already shortened on those that have the Palp or Lello crown installed... The only option would be to replace the CG, not a cheap or viable option, or maybe cut the CG feet down to bring the CG closer to the case and crown, but maybe there would not be enough room left for the crown to work properly... This could be a show stopper for some folks.... I will try and get this done over the weekend, on a 196 (7750 and 7753) as well as a handwind, and let you know the results. My associate is out of the country until June, so I am solo on everything, including the emails, so bear with me please... RG

Oh yea, here we go again...Kruzer comes up with a project, and I get to do the leg work and testing - again - why does this seem familiar? I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend, testing a crown in a manual wind case... If the crowns are only 0.90mm stem sizes, then I have adapters I can use to mate the 6497 1.20mm stem to the 0.90mm crown. I'll let you know how it goes and if it fits. RG

All I can offer is the information I have been told by supplier. The short answer was this, they sell two types of ETA movements, normal ones, and "Swiss" ones...when I asked what the difference was between the two types, the answer was this: "We have brand new blister pack sealed factory ETA XXXX movements, the factory ones are "Gold" coloured, and the "normal" (surplus) ones are all silver nickel plated ones" When I asked where the nickel plated ones were from, this was the answer: "All nickel plated ETA's are from the Hong Kong distributor of ETA movemnets..." So that leads me to believe that ETA still produces the 2836-2 and 2824-2 movements, if you buy the factory ones direct from ETA in Switzerland, you will get a gold plated movement, if you want the cheaper surplus ones, you get nickel plated ones from the HK distributor. If someone wants to pay for me to buy a ETA sealed one so we can find out for sure, it's not a problem, I'll buy it and show you what I get. I think ETA is a screwed up company anyway, I have spoken to the Candian distributor and they haven't a clue about anything... RG

Urban myth...sorry... RG

Exactly. ETA produces millions of movements every year, year after year, for anyone to think that these genuine movements can't find their way into our watches, is living in a dream world... Funny how "experts" are always those who have no first hand experience in the topic at hand, namely opening and looking at reps... RG

I have seen, and continue to see, every day,REAL SWISS ETA's in many, many reps. Unless your working on them, it's impossible to see them... RG

Good idea, that will smooth out the ride back from the pub after a few whisky's... RG

Of course it doesn't correct anything, that is complete crap. Whoever told you that, was blowing smoke up your butt...what a crock of BS...where does this stuff come from, I'll never know... It's no different than your car engine, replacing the winter air in your tires with summer air, won't correct the valve adjustments on your engine (you DID replace the winter air in your tires didn't you?). If it's gaining 1 hour a day, most likely the beat is out, and/or it's so dry that the friction in the pivots is not allowing the power from the mainspring to swing the balance out fully, small swings = fast swings... It should be looked at and possibly serviced. Anything else is a waste of your time. RG