RWG Technical

If I had the tooling, parts and time, I would have been doing this all along...fixing them is one thing, making parts etc is another...the factories have the technology and expertise, with ETA going out of the selling beyond the Swatch Groupe in a couple of years, there is a HUGE market for quality movements...why not get it done right the first time??? Imagine someone tooling up and making quality V23's, and V72's, with the CORRECT markings etc, ubi would be in heaven... I have seen a number of these with the ETA 7750 and the Asian transfer gears, and the transfer gears and bridges etc, are easily on par with ETA as far as quality is concerned. I have one of these on the bench right now, with the Asian 7750 movement for power, and the quality is excellent. Aside from a blob of grease on the mainspring and barrel which I cleaned up (which seems to be a common issue on the new 7750's), after it's out of the shop, it's going to run for a lifetime with regular service. The only problem I see on the NEW Asian 7750, is a bad cannon pin once in a while (1 out of 5), but I can install the ETA one in it's place and it's fixed permanently..otherwise, the Asian is good value for the money, I think it's great value for the money... My new Olympus Digital SLR is made in China, how hard can it be to make a friggen movement...surely not as hard as a camera body??? RG

From a purely mechanical point of view, and from direct experience on the workbench, the only models I think are problematic - are those with Running Seconds at the 6 position. The issue is the extra 5 gears that it takes (correction that they USE) to move the seconds from the 9 position to the 6 one. I say "use" because you could accomplish the same thing with only 3 gears, but for some reason the decided to use 5 ("they" being the people that design this movement). There is also the way that they pivoted these gears, they run on flat metal to metal meaning the complete surface of the gear rubs against the brige, vs having them rotate on fine pivots and jewels... 5 gears, metal to metal rubbing, all adds up to friction, the enemy of any movement... The simple fix, use 3 GEARS - NOT 5, and use standard watch design for the gears, small pivots in jewels which has no friction and rotates with a light puff from the dust blower (ironically they use 3 gears and small pivots and jewles for the 30 minute gear transfer from 12-9, which is a intermediate load only), why can they do it over there, but not where it's needed the most... The basic movement heritage does not affect this problem, I have had ETA and Asian 7750's in for service, that would only run with the gears removed...and I have had Asian and ETA in for service, that ran fine with the gears in place...but generally, removing the gears fixes the watch. As for any of the other mods, i.e. moving the subdial 30 minute counter from 12 - 3 etc, pose no real running or reliability problem with the movement. It's the constant, and in this case, high friction load, from the 5 extra running seconds gears that causes issues. The solution is so simple, if I only had the ear of those who are designing and builiding this stuff, we could easily make a 7750 identical to the new Rolex layout, with NO reliability or running issues... RG

Looks great, congrats on such a fine piece. Wear it well! RG

The latest versions are almost impossible to get off...and even when you do (using a case knife) they bend... THe solution I have used, is to remove the insert from the back, meaning take the caseback off, then remove the movement, then the crystal, and then, you can remove the bezel insert... RG

I have one as well, actually just installed a genuine Tudor 7750 in it...love the watch... NOTE, my HE valve crown fell off and it's lost, check yours and maybe glue it in place so this doesnt' happen to you... Great watch, enjoy. RG

Excellent news, I am always like a nervous parent when I return stuff...1+ hours in the Ultrasonic machine can do wonders... To open the barrel, look at the side that has the cover on it and hold that side up (most likely the part stamped "Do not open") just ignore the warning, hold the barrel by the sides, put the end and flat part of your tweezers against the arbour sticking out the bottom, press with the flat part of the tweezers and the cover will pop off, but the mainspring should not come out. Once the cover is loose, remove it carefully and take the spring out from the center, watch your EYES as it can fly out if your not careful... Post a picture of it when it's out... RG

That was about a 10 day turn time from you shipping and me sending it back...I think it left here last Friday, got to love USPS, never failed me yet. Good to see the movement in place and I am guessing it's all working fine and started right up when you wound it? Do you dare open the sealed mainspring barrel so we can see how the 50 hours of power reserve is accomplished? Isnt' there a By-Law in Colorado against owing two El Primero Daytona's... Wear them well. RG

Great price, my supplier for Swiss ETA 7754, $800++++ I hope you post the work after your done. RG

Yes I do share the same view, and have been following all the posts from FL, and not posting on them because I did not agree with what was going on and what he was doing, but the hockey puck, especially to a Canuck, was too much and pushed me over the edge... You don't mess with out national sport. RG

There is always room at the workbench...if your ever in town, let me know... Glad to lend a hand where and how I can, got to go make my Scotch Broth with my leftover leg of lamb (now you know where the skin came from...). RG

All you can do is to remove the stem in the winding position, and carefully insert it while turing it as it goes in, this way it will normally engage into the clutch gear and not push the gear out of place. It's not covered in detail anywhere, so no worries...with most of this stuff, 1000 words would not do justice to the job at hand, yet 2 minutes at the workbench with me, would explain it all clearly...such is the limitations of text. RG

It is possible to have the hacking lever fall out of the grove in the clutch wheel...normally this happens if the stem is removed in any position other than the winding one, or it can happen if the square boss on the stem (the part that fits into the clutch gear) is not lined up, and the stem is inserted, thereby forcing the clutch gear to slip past the hacking lever arm. Once out, only fix is to take it apart and re-set it, but most times, once out, and you pull the stem to the setting positon, it crushes the lever... RG

Such a sheltered life... A butter tart, is a small open faced pie shell, filled with butter and sugar and raisins or pecans, very tasty, probably not good for you, but otherwise, a nice morning snack with my Tea... Must be a Canadian treat? RG

Push it back in place, it's only the dial feet clamp...this is NOT the problem with it not running... More than likely, it's got the same issue as they all do, too many gears for the running seconds. RG

Would not the fact that your using a "Hockey Puck" and a "Vise" to do watch work, be a clue as to why you broke the crystal? I can't imagine how you took the case back off or removed the movement... The huge problem you have is that you don't know the first thing about watchmaking, and don't seem willing to invest the time to learn how to do things correctly, or to spend a few $$ on correct tools... a basic crystal press costs $40...yet you ruined a $250 crystal by trying a short cut. There are no short cuts in watchmaking. Unbelievable that you actually tried this, and even more unbelievable, is the fact that your posting this and wondering what went wrong...hmmm ain't hard to figure this one out. I say, use the hockey puck and vise, the hell with correct tools, and if that doesnt' work get a bigger hammer... RG

I choked on my butter tart reading this one...hypothetically speaking of course...

It's on it's way home to the owner...you'll have to see if Ubiquitous can do it... RG

I haven't had any problems with wait times etc from my supplier, so far, any and all ETA models I have ordered have been at my door in two days... But, my supplier also carries a lot of genuine NOS Rolex stuff, and I get spares for them for my vintage restorations all the time...so I guess I am lucky - for now... RG

I have a couple of boxes like this in case... Reality is that the surplus market is where Ofrei and most suppliers, and of course the rep makers get the movements...so what is going to change??? Very little I think... RG

Totally out of my area of expertise...so I'll leave any comments to those that know stuff about these. RG

Nothing at all...it only takes a fraction of a second to remove the hand, and holding the hand in place, will not damage the movement. RG

I remove the stem on ALL watches in the Winding position, without out exception... Why? as it seems to go against the mainstream... Well for many reasons, some hard to explain, but mostly due to the fact in the winding position, the clutch is held against the crown gear and it holds it in place, the clutch lever and spring has little force on it and when you press on the set lever there is little risk of the keyless works popping out of place. It has worked for me, on hundreds of watches, it may not be mainstream, but I can't deny that it works...every time... RG

Welcome back... I remember the name, but not much else... RG

That's good to hear, no fun when you break something. If it doesn't fit, dont' get a bigger hammer, find out what is wrong... RG

I feel your pain Mark, been there done that... And I continue to get shafted at least a couple times a month, by members who book time for an apointment and dont' live up to their commitments, or have the decency to at least respond to emails... My solution, you get one chance with me, after that, email marked as spam, PM blocked, and Ignored on the forums... It may seem harsh, but when you consider that a broken appointement is one that someone else could have used, and my lost time on emails, pm's etc...it's not worth the trouble. Keep your word, or go somewhere else, simple. Sorry to hear you got shafted. RG