RWG Technical

Thanks for the link O/S I don't think that Vibrograf was totally behind the times with their equipment. They had a few more modern model of timers which included the printer built in. Most of the digital timers don't have internal printers but external ones. Certainly the Vibrograf B200A that I have is a workhorse, it's been going for almost 40 years and still performs perfectly. I see no need to upgrade as long as it serves it's purpose.

15 seconds a day is better than the factory specs for many ETA's... The fine regulator may? work, but my experience is that as soon as you move it, it breaks and falls to pieces. I DON"T recommend that you attempt to adjust the regulator arm, your odds of damaging the hairspring is too high. As well, any of these adjustments without knowing and making sure the beat is correct (which requires a timing machine) are really in vain, beat is more important to the long life of the movement.

I found a source as well, going to pick up a bunch of rolls of papae before they are all gone. I wonder as well about the EU connection, actually the source. Portescape was the original manufacturer, I can't really find any information on them on the web.

Well it seems as if Vibrograf USA has gone out of business. Internet site is gone, phone number is disconnected and the lights have been turned off. Anyone who has visited a watchmaker's shop will have seen the blue/green Vibrograf timing machines sitting on the bench. A shame to see a 50+ year old business disapear, however I think they were instrumental in their own demise. The didn't seem to move beyond the 60's in terms of customer service. When I wanted to place an order for timing machine paper, I had to call them, then they would ask for my name and address, then they would mail me an invoice and I would have to mail the invoice back to them with a money order. The didn't accept any type of payment other than through this antiquated system, and you couldn't order anything over the phone or internet. I guess when you fail to keep up with the basics of good efficient business, you can't help but fail. Thankfully I have a good supply of paper for my timing machine, but I guess I will have to eventually replace it with the Wichi model... Of course this doesnt' affect anyone directly, but since this machine is the mainstay of many watchmakers, it does affect you indirectly if you are having watch work done...

Well done and researched, thanks for this.

Sorry, that is not what I am talking about at all. Sensitive? not in the least, you clearly forget the past and the show and tell and flamings I took from many of the members when I attempted to warn them of the bad modders. In the end it turned out that I did know what I was talking about, but not until many members were taken for a ride. I am not referring to your compliments of Kent's work, but your inuendo of my poor workmanship over the years, just like the comment in this post. You like to sneak those in here and there, I guess as a way to get me back for not wanting to deal with you... We both know why I took that decision, and at the time so did everyone on RWG1, it was aired in public when you posted my private emails to you. And the members all agreed that I had gone above and beyond in providing you with nothing short of excellent service, and you refused to compensate me for the less than half of what I was requesting for my time and efforts. Weeks later after you had sold the watch you did settle up with me, but only due to the fact you sold the watch. That terrible experience was not something I wanted to repeat, and who would? Kent does wonderful work, I have not seen it myself but have gotten feedback on the quality from members. His turn times always comes up as a bit of a issue though. Great solution and probably the best one, but only for those who are lucky enough to find one. I have nothing further to add, you know where I stand and why.

Oh no, you are aware of the International Society of Supervillains and our secret handshake ( and of course the cape that goes with it, with 2 Z's, not one) Yes gravity does suck, maybe it's time for one of those upsidedown hang by your feet gizmo's I have seen on the Shopping Channel.

My pleasure, if i had a fix I would let you know, maybe you need to move the the ISS?

Gee, I wonder who you are referring to? (moi perhaps?) For 3 years you have insulted my lume work on all the forums. And every time you do, I get PM's asking what lume job I did for you, that you were unhappy with. Of course my answer is always the same "I never did any lume work for Avitt, so I can't tell you why he keeps bashing my lume work". Clearly you have a problem with my lume work, and you have been carrying this burden with you for a long time. So please let it all out and tell us what is on your mind, so we can put this behind us and move on with the forum and more interesting topics. For those who haven't seen what Avitt is referring to, I present my "BUMPY LUMED BEZEL" for your viewing pleasure: Now in order to witness the bumpiness in actual size, please step back from the screen with your wrist held in front of your eyes, when you have stepped back far enough so that your watch is the same size as the watch on the screen, you can see the same level of detail as what you would in person while wearing the watch. @Chronus et all... I have never met anyone who sent in a watch for lume, and didn't want and demand the best possible glow (Tritium dials excepted). Lume is very simple, the more you put down, the brighter the glow. Don't believe those who try to pass off that the amount of layers of lume (and of course higher cost putting each layer down) makes a difference to the glow, they claim that more layers = more glow. This is false. I have all the technical documentation and information from RC Tritec (the makers of Super Luminova) and it clearly shows that the glow is directly proportional to the amount or volume of lume. Given the same thickness and width of lume, if that thickness and width is achieved with 1 or 101 layers, it makes NO difference, the glow will be identical in both applications. I will gladly share the information documentation with anyone who wants to see it. So having said that, the reason you see the thick lume on these bezels is because that is what the owner wanted done. If you (or anyone else) wanted a thin flat lume that is not raised above the bezel very much, it's not a problem, simple and easy to do, all you have to do is ask If you have ever painted a wall in your house, after you did some finishing work, you will know that glossy paint shows up every small fault, whereas flat paint hides everything. Keep that in mind when you look at my pictures, that and the fact the dial is magnified 4X larger than normal. Hopefully this sheds some light on the subject and answers your question. Personally I like it thick, but I appreciate it's not to everyone's taste or liking.

You just answered your own question. Turn the watch upside down, and I'll bet the stuttering happens between 6 and 12. Gravity sucks, in more ways that one, when the hand goes with gravity you see the slack between the gear teeth, when the hand goes against gravity, the slack is taken up. It's sort of the same problem I already mentioned, the spacing between the gears is causing the jumpiness, as with the other problem, it's not fixable.

Rather not say, although it looks nice, all is not well. Lets simply say that this is another of Phong's disaster movements, it has yet to be fixed or resolved. Today's advice: Stay away, far far away, from Phong and his watches...

The short answer is no. Oiling a movement requires not only specialize skills and lots of specialized and expensive tooling, it also requires complete teardown of the movement, cleaning, drying, and re-assembling, testing, etc... You need a lot of experience and practice to be able to tear down a movement and perform a full service. Anyone who offers to do oiling without a full teardown is nothing more than a scammer (some modders do offer this type of service). Here is an example of what level of teardown you need to be able to service a movement

Hmmm...that is a strange defect. Since it's the same gears that drive the hands when setting the time, I would almost think that the crown is loose on the stem. If that's not the problem, I can't guess what could be wrong, very weird. I don't think it makes any difference if it started life as a 2893 or 2892, there are so many new parts and changes that the basic movement doesn't matter...

In my experience the problem is limited to Asian copies of the 6497 and seems to be a recent problem, meaning I have not seen this type of problem until about a year ago. When I started to note this problem, I found that the clicking sound was between the crown wheel and the keyless works winding pinion. Sometimes the click would slip on the mainspring ratchet wheel as well, but not all the time. It's a design issue, I replaced the gears with ETA gears and it didn't fix it. A too long stem is readily apparent, the crown lever won't close. A too short stem is also easy to spot, if you can't tighten the set lever screw without forcing the crown towards the case, it's too short. You should be able to insert the crown with the movement in the winding position (Always remove the stem in the Winding position) and tighten the set lever screw without having to press the crown towards the case.

Well maybe they get Breitling to do the assembly

As far as I know the watch was never serviced. It is new and suffered water damage. It was taken into the Breitling dealer who accused the owner of leaving the crown unscrewed, they opened it up, wanted $1000-2000 for repair and the owner elected to sell it. From what I could see and tell during disassembly, it was never worked on until I took it apart. I too find it incredible, but after witnessing Nanuq's terrible Rolex AD service, I am not surprised, after all, who's going to know?? Certainly not the original owner...

The mainspring arbour, the great wheel, the cannon gear, hour wheel, and seconds wheel are all different and will need to be removed from the modified Soprod movement and installed into the new ETA movement. The mainplate is also different if I remember, its' modified and stuff is added to allow the Soprod module to attach to it. Why not simply service the existing movement??

Not possible. The pivots of all the gears are ferrous, any water anywhere near them, and the results would be rust. As well the water would not wash away the oil. The movement was spotless and perfectly dry. My guess is that the movement was oiled when it was delivered to Breitling from the ETA factory, then they took it apart, refinished the plates etc, washed it all down, re-assembled the movement and never oiled it. @ Triplehd Yes you can wash dials, I do it all the time, especially on old watches, and especially on those belonging to smokers Warm soapy water, mild detergent and a soft sable brush, it won't damage the dial and you have to dry the dial immeditaly with your dust blower.

Great link, thanks for this.

Do you remember Nanaqu's Rollie that had been at one of the more prestigeous service AD's, and the condition it was in when it was opened? I did up a post and pictorial of the findings... My suggestion, find a trustworthy local watchsmith who knows what he's doing, your much better off in the long run. If they send them out from the factory this way, I have little faith in the aftermarket work.

Yes and yes...completely re-assembled and working perfectly. Fully serviced, damgage fixed (what little there was), only needed a new rotor screw that had broken off and rusted in the movement, I was able to remove the broken piece of the screw from the plate. Dial was washed in warm soapy water with a sable brush and saved, small mark here and there, but nothing too bad. And yes, the owner is happy.

So I have a new Genuine Breitling with a 7750 inside that has some water damage. Of course the first step is to completely teardown the movement and see how much damage there is, and hopefully salvage the movement. As I take the movement apart, I admire the beautiful fit and finish and extra work that Breitling has done to the standard ETA7750, they even engraved serial numbers etc to identify it as their own. At first my main concern is to get the movement apart so I can assess the damage, along the way I note that there is no oil or lubrication...hmmm...that's a bit odd... As I take the top plate off the mainplate, I look at the jewels for the running gears, and they are all perfectly clean and dry, I take the balance cap jewel out, take it apart, and sure enough, it's dry and perfectly clean as well. When I finally get the last screw out and take the mainspring out of the barrel, it dawns on me, not one pivot point, not one gear, not one wear point on the chrono cam, nothing has any trace of oil or lubrication throughout the movement. It is perfectly clean and dry. Imagine this was your new car, you drive off the lot only to discover a few miles down the road, that the car manufacturer never added any engine oil, or transmission fluid, the wheel bearings are dry, etc...and as your car comes to a grinding halt you can't help but be royaly pissed that anyone would sell a car to a customer without making sure it's going to last. So how come Breitling can ask the high prices they do for their watches, and not provide the customer with a serviced and oiled movement. The next time you get upset because your rep is not serviced correctly as delivered, think how upset you would be if you had bought a gen...at 10 times the price...

Not normal behaviour, especially after a full service. Vac warranties his work, best to contact him and get it looked at under warranty.

From the bottom picture I would say you have broken the balance staff. I don't see a shadow below the arm on the balance wheel (the one at the 2 oclock position), that tells me that the staff is broken or bent, there should be a shadow between the balance and the pallet cover. Have a watchmaker sort it out for you.