RWG Technical

Nice collection, thanks for taking the time to post it.

Well done. Great post as always, very well written with great pictures that show the whole process. Thanks so much for taking the time to make this up, and for sharing your expertise with the RWG members.

No idea. If as I suspect the jewel has fallen out, it needs to be located and could be wedged somewhere inside the movement. I would not wind it or do anything else to it until someone looked at it. It could also be that the top balance staff pivot is broken off...

The most likely problem is the top jewel for the balance wheel has fallen out. It needs to be looked at by a watchsmith, it's not a do it yourself repair...

Maybe I should have painted my 5508 dial lettering red and made a load of cash from it... My dial was in much better condition that that one.

You hold the square boss in a pin vice, and simply unscrew the crown from the stem... Using pliers is possible but only if you hold the stem by the threaded part. Pliers are risky because your not lined up when you try and unscrew, and you risk breaking the stem off in the crown. With any watch work, the best habits to form are the right ones by using the right tools, I am not a big fan of hack or buckshee work (my appologies to hackR, I am not referring to the person, but the method) I see ruined watches all the time, which is totally avoidable.

Looks good, nice work...

I don't stock these as they are special order, as well I have to machine them on the lathe to make them fit the Seagull. I think I have a few left in the bins...

The bottom one looks "right", maybe the top one is a replacement one. The only way to be sure is to measure all the dimensions with a micrometer, looking and comparing won't do, the dimensions and tolearnaces are too small...

@R Not gone out yet, did the best I could with the CG feet, it's all ready to head your way, I'll include a stem. There can be slight differences in the stem, the critical dimensions are the tip, the square boss, and the round section with the grove for the set lever. The diameters and length of each sections are what you need to compare, if it came from the same type of movement I would try it out and it should work just fine.

I never did try Sea Gull directly, most OEM's do not sell to individuals, they are not set up for it... and I know of no supplier that carries the Sea Gull line. Which leaves one to do the next best thing, make your own...

From what I hear sourcing spare parts for ETA's as well as complete movements is not going to be a problem, ever...

The Venus stem does not fit, the only solution I know of is to make one out of an existing stem. I have made a few of these in the past and probably have some in my spares bins...

Sounds good, hopefully the scans are high quality.

I have only noticed the broken gear on this particular model, I never really took notice of the non-chono ones. The bezel crown doesn't screw down, it's sealed with an o'ring, same as the pushers, they are sealed with o'rings, screwing them down is not for waterproofing, it's for preventing accidental activation of the chrono. As with all reps, stay away from the water.

Thanks Lanikai, that really means a lot to me. Funny how we started out with me being up front and telling you that I couldn't meet your expectations for the work you were requesting, and that I was going to send everything back...then the FF debaucherie where the forum members of RWG were ready to hang you, until I posted the "rest of the story" and FF owned up to his mistakes and shoddy workmanship (not the first time that happened)... It's been a bit of a trying road at times, but in the end off line, on emails, you know where the truth lies.

If you have one of these models please note these problems: 1. Pushers falling off. The screws are loose and you could loose a pusher. If you have the skills and tools, remove the movement, unscrew the pusher screws, coat the threads with blue loctite, and re-assemble. 2. The gear that rotates the bezel is made of a hard britle plastic, it should be made of metal. It breaks very easily, especially if you slightly rotate the bezel in the wrong direction. The gear is right next to the balance wheel, if it breaks you know where it will find it's way into...so be very cautious and careful with this one. There is no fix, except to re-epoxy it in place once it's broken in two pieces. FYI

Whatever you do, do NOT lie on the description or value. If there is something that will piss off any Customs Officer, is someone who is lying to them...

I managed it the hard way, with many many hours of reading, studying and troubleshooting, and learning by trial and error. Actually I don't like the attention that my contrubitons have brought, which is why my contributions have virtually stopped over the past year. With the attention comes bad stuff, so I prefer to sit on the sidelines and just do my thing. Too many trying to knock me down all the time...even from other forums I don't belong to... It's easy to keep bonus points with me, be up front and honest and not a jerk, on, or off the forum, especially on email. Treat me right and I'll do the same and more in return. @ Francisco I think there are different versions, I have had others that were not a problem, but how do you tell which one is the good one...and which is the bad one...

Haven't seen this one before. 24 volumes dedicated to chronograph's is quite the libary, just not sure how practical the information would be on a daily basis. Other than an El Primero, the V23 and V72, the Omega 861/1861, and of course the 7750, I am not sure what other chrono you would ever run accross... All chrono's basically come apart and go together the same way, and the adjustments are virtually the same. If you can service and adjust a V23 and a 7750, then you have the skill and knowledge to do them all, just like a car engine is basically the same on a Ferrari or a Yugo, once you know how one works, you can figure out the rest. You could get the CD from Offshore, it has all the Omega models listed, and you can download some from various sites on the web, Chuck Maddox comes to mind. If your looking for a reference set to simply have in hand, this is probably nice addition to your library.

Chrono subdial hands not re-setting to zero is a common problem, mostly due to poor quality hand tubes causing the hand to slip on the tube. Epoxying the hand to the post normally fixes the problem. Creeping 12 hour counter is due to the brake lever not holding the gear in place. Try starting and then stopping the movement (don't reset it) and see what the hand does. It could be the brake lever or the pusher causing the problem, normally it's quite simple to fix during servicing. Jumpy hands on the chinese movement is fairly normal, most of these models are indirect center seconds driven, which in addition to being 21.6K cause the hand to jump around...getting an ETA with direct center seconds and 28.8K speed is the fix. In this case, higher initial cost does pay off. There is no fix for this one, it's just the way it is...

Very very nice. Love that strap, it blends in perfectly with the dial finish and the PVD.

Well done, and you learned some stuff along the way. The best of modding. Enjoy it on your trip.

A novice won't be able to spot the defects, or correct them. It requires a detailed understanding of horology to find the problems, and then the skills to fix them. It has taken me many years to sort out the quirks on the A7750, that hard earned knowledge stays with me. I believe that this is indeed the situation, different runs, different versions, or maybe different factories producing the same model. This is not a subtle problem I found, in other words the problem is very apparent and a design one. I did have another Flat 6 in for servicing and it was fine. So the problem is like always, how do you spot the difference between a good one, and a bad one...you can't spot the difference, except once you get it in hand and then it may be too late. In my view it's like the seconds at 6 Daytona's and the CHS GMT's, sure some work good, but many don't, how lucky do you feel? So I don't think your missing anything, you got lucky...

The seconds at 9 A7750 is a good movement (as is the seconds at 3 and 12 A7750's), the A7750 does come with a number of defects and problems as delivered, least of which is not being serviced. Fix the defects, service and adjust the movement, and your problems are solved.