RWG Technical

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It could also be your crown not disengaging from the stem. Your not going to damage anything with this problem, I would leave it alone. You shouldn't be handwinding your auto's anyway RG

I don't ever remember noting that the Asian and ETA wheels differed in thickness, I think they are the same... I have never had any reliabilitiy issues with the Asian DW's. RG

Should not be a problem... RG

I use different names for paypal accounts and different passwords for everything. As well, when I transfer money out of my paypal account, it takes a number of days, and added to that I only have one account linked to my paypal account. If anyone tried to change my bank account, not only would I know they were trying to change the account, it takes a number of days for the change and two deposits from PP to verify the new account. Unless someone used the hacked account to actually pay for a purchase, but then it would be easy to see where the money went, and put a stop to it. If I hacked into your account, you wouldn't be able to hack into it to see that I had depleted your account in the first place??? so how would you know that I had stolen your cash? Sound confusing to me. RG

I used to order my stuff from Ofrei, that was until Boob called me and decided to teach me a lesson in watch material ordering. Since then, I have found a supplier that I have been using for 4 years, and have easily spent $1000's of my dollars with, they are fast - I get my orders in 2 days, they are friendly and professional, and they treat me like a CUSTOMER not like a turd like Boob Frei does... What goes around will come around, BOOB wants to only deal with "Pro's", I guess someone needs to tell him that the total amount of watchmakers in the USA is probably not above 5000...the British Horological Institute has ONLY 3000 members, and with more manufacturer's keeping everything in-house, his clientel is slowly but surely dying or retiring off. He's living in the past, and thinks that time is on his side, but look around, companies that have been around and highly successful for many years are failing. Treating your customers like crap, isn't the way forward. People have a choice, I excercised mine and found a new supplier and have never looked back. Ofrei are also crooked, my postage would be marked as $6.20 on the package, he would charge me over twice that amount, parts would be incorrect or missing from my order, they would ignore my emails and I still have outstanding parts and tools they owe me. Boob Frei serves one purpose, he's a laugh when you get him going, I have fun with him hoping that I'll make him pop a gasket one day. I think he needs to take some Prozac or something... RG

If you looked in vain for 1 hour and couldn't locate my section, I need to re-think how I title my posts... Follow the links in my signature, and you will be informed. RG

That is too funny... Yes, the eye has healed up just fine. RG

Send me a pm with your email address, and it will be sent to you... or not (JK) RG

Good point. From my experience those movements out of a case are being handled by someone who probably doesn't know what he's doing, and/or were removed because they were damaged to start with. Overall if it's in a cased up watch, the odds are good that it should be complete and hopefully not damaged. But there are no guarantees of anything are there... RG

Looks great, now the fun starts...first it's the CG's, then the crown, then the crystal, then the hands...then the... RG

Great point to keep reminding everyone of what is out there. If I was building a Franken, I would only source the case from one of the dealers in aftermarket cases. Movement and the rest I would source somewhere eles. Genuine movements from the various dealers are junk and basterdized to the extent that they are not usable or very expensive to fix. Genuine movements should only be bought if they are inside a watch, too risky to buy loose ones. RG

Thanks again everyone. You guys are great fun! A girl should be so lucky... cheers Jennifer

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Thanks Dems... I never quite thought of it from that angle. Coffee and Tea are both quite good RG

Ah...no...together takes much much longer... RG

Not that I am aware of, it should work after a week or two...needs to be pure white vinegar to work... RG

As I used to say in the Air Force, "...anyone can make it work with ALL the parts..." I am happy to hear your trying out the servicing, great way to increase your overall knowledge and skill, and of course save money in the long run. After a while it will be second nature to you. Then you get into games (with yourself of course since this is a lonely hobby) and turn on your bench timer, and see how quickly you can take a 7750 down to all it's parts and pieces...my best time so far - 7 minutes. A great guide is to use the ETA datasheets, and number each piece according to the assembly order in the box on the page, then use that sheet as a guide as you go along. After a while you memorize everything and it's no needed, but it's a great help and confidance builder. Keep learning, and I want to know your teardown time. RG

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Keep in mind, that no matter what someone says or did actually do successfully, you may have totally different results. I have seen identical models from the same dealer be different and parts not interchangeable. There is no QA and I think there are many sources for the same rep, hence the differences. I also think some people will say anything to BS others into trying stuff...and they always come back "well it worked fine for me, or so and so...he didn't have any problems..." Bezels can be a real bitch to remove and I use a $300 bezel remover, and have totally destroyed more than my share, it's a one way street... RG

Just to provide more info Francisco, I have been seeing the skeleton gears for a long time now, that's not new either. RG

To say I am not surprised would be an understatement. The Porto one will be no different than this one, or any of the others we have seen... RG

Understood. Based on my experience with these franken's, squeezing the tube is not going to fix your problem, the tube is too short and doesn't reach the post, that is the problem. My point was that as the person who installed the hand should have immediatley known that the hand was not attached to the post, it's that obvious and why the hand fell off when you got the watch, it was never attached... I would expect that the person doing the work tests and checks his work after he's done, if this was done, the problem would have been easy to see and you could have had it fixed before you got the watch. You need to find a hand with the correct longer tube, maybe Ubi knows where to source these... RG

The canon pinion has nothing to do with this problem, it's the center seconds chrono gear that is too short, you need either a longer center seconds gear or a hand with a longer tube. RG

Hands for El Primero's are always a problem. Most of the time I have had hour and minute ones that are within a couple of mm of the correct size, or are the exact correct size and I can install them with no problem. Subdial hands are normally ok as long as the tube is long enough, you can broach or compress them by a couple of mm to fit. The biggest common problem is always the center seconds chrono hand. I can't believe that whoever did your original work sent it back to you like this, your hand coming off has nothing to do with the postal shipping, it was never attached, very disapointing when the watchmaker who assembled it didn't notice this problem, or bother to inform you, or even test the watch...poor customer service. Almost all of the center seconds hands have too short tubes, they will not reach the center seconds post. There are hands available from somewhere as I have had them in and installed them, where to get them I don't know. RG