RWG Technical

With the back of the movement facing you, place the stem in the up position, and look just to the right of the stem, you will see a half moon cutout and in this cutout the dial foot, and a small half moon lever holding it in place. You place a screwdriver flat against the small tab sticking out next to the dial foot and on the lever, twist the lever out and away from the side of the movement. The other dial foot is exactly 180 degrees from this one, one is at the 3:30 position on the dial, the other at the 9:30 position on the dial. RG

Yes it could be a flaw, if they made the tension too high, it won't fit. There is a way to fix this, but it's not easy...maybe try some other ones and see if they fit. All the cannon and hour wheels I get from ETA, are all individually packaged with all the ETA markings, part number, height etc, I have never seen them from ETA loose pack, that is a bit strange to me...surplus ones? or copy ones?? RG

I have installed H3 ETA cannon pins on every model of 6497 out there, chinese, asian, ETA/Asian, ETA etc...and have never had any issues installing them. If you install the cannon pin with the correct tool, a jewel press, it will snap in place no problem. RG

Correct. It is spring loaded, the hammer centering spring is forcing it to the 12 position, there are no internal gears connected to the hand with the watch in the Stopped setting, the center seconds gear just sits there free, the only thing holding it in place, is the hammer...no worries about damage. RG

I have one watch in the shop that has been waiting for a finepics datewheel for months... The owner finally gave up trying to get finepics to do anything, and had me send the watch back with the old datewheel. I think there are a number of members here who are owed a lot of money, just with the 7753 datewheel fiasco alone, and the fact that these members have watches they can't use at all (the datewheels are the original ones from the watches, so they now have no datewheels in them and the watch is useless). There is something wrong with a person, when he makes all these promises, keeps members money, parts, watches, etc, doesn't answer them for months, etc...totally unaceptable. Unless your dead, there is no excuse for this behaviour, none...scammer is what I would call it... RG

For a permanent fix, the hand/tube joint should be epoxied. Installing it in the correct positon without fixing the problem just means it will slip again some day... This is the joint I am referring to: As long as you press with a hand installation tool, and aren't putting any side pressure on the post, you can push quite hard. RG

I thought the name was familiar, welcome back, hope to see more. RG

You have been a member for over a year, and this is your first post? Great answer, I hope you decide to contribute more, and not wait another year before posting again... RG

The factory specs on this model are about + - 20 seconds per day. That accuracy is only applicable to a clean, correctly oiled, and adjusted movement. Running a few seconds fast or slow, on any given day, is normal...the state of wind of the watch, what is done while it's being worn, if it's not being worn and sitting, etc, all these factors determin how fast or slow the watch will run. Anything within 20 seconds per day, is acceptable, especially on a movement of which the condition is unknown, it may be a surplus movement in need of cleaning and oiling, or it may be out of adjustment etc... RG Looks like fxrandy beat me to it...damn...foiled again...

Looks good, nice job. RG

Have one in house right now, for a transplant to an ETA engine, and relume...the question is going to be, can I relume the bezel area from 12-3...we'll have to wait and see. I dont' expect to get to it for a while. RG

All the best... RG

Really nice watch, great find. Enjoy. RG

I have done two transplants with the ETA 7750, and won't be doing anymore...they changed the design of the Asian model, and none of the parts you need to swap between movements are compatible. It is also a 10+ hour modification... You need to replace the second gear with the longer Asian one, the gear in the Asian no longer fits the ETA. The 30 minute gear also needs to be replaced, and it also is not interchangeable... so it's impossible to do the swap. I only managed to get the two I did modified, by stripping and stealing parts from my surplus bin, and even at that, it took about 7 old Asian 21K movements to make up the two HBB's functional. So unfortunatly I can't do this anymore... RG

Nice work. RG

Looks great, I have one as well, and really like it, especially the bracelet... RG

Not to my knowledge does the Breitling have this problem, as for which factory they or any are made in...it's anyone's guess... I have had a few Steelfishe's in house, no problems noted. RG

@ TJ Have not seen an Aspen model, so I can't comment. I just can't figure out why they would make such crappy hands...and with the unique design of them, you can't buy replacement ones... Very frustrating for me (or anyone who is working on the watch), try removing a tube that is 0.20mm in thickness, and not much longer (0.007 in for the non metric folks, or about the thickness of two pieces of paper), not only do you have to remove the tubes, then you have to get them reinstalled in the hand, and on the watch. Or in the case of hands that sit too high, your left broaching them to make them fit correctly... RG

.

.

Well I have seen a few of the HBB's and I have to say, they really dropped the ball on quality of parts issues. Although the case and strap etc may be correct and well made, the simple stuff that should be well made, is for the most part terrible. Some defects I see on these models: Poor quality, fit, finish, hands. Hands are such a simple item, you would think it's easy to get them right. The problems I see include: - hand fitment to the tubes/posts, hour and minute hands too loose or too tight on the posts. Subdial hands, fitting too high on the subdial posts, or too low and touching the dial face. - subdial hands breaking in two on removal, the actual hand comes off, but the hand tube stays attached to the post - subdial hands fitted so close to the dial face, you can't get a remover under them...so your left to work them off by lifting them with the dial - subdial hands attached to tight, the post breaks off the movement - hands slippage, not only is the chrono seconds hand poorly made and prone to slippage, the subdial hands slip all the time - paint/lume used on the hands in the strength of steel, meaning it's hard to remove to be able to apply super lume - lettering "H" and "Hubelot Geneve" on the rotor is attached with glue which has the staying power of teflon, a slight blow of the dust remover and the letters can come off... Other than this, it's a nice watch, just very frustrating to see the lowest cost, simplest parts, be of "Yugo" quality, when the case etc are of "Ferrari" quality... RG

.

I would try hand winding, slowly at least 50 turns on each watch, set the time, note the day on a piece of paper, and let them sit and see if they run, and for how long... It could be many things causing this problem, it can't fix itself, but it could be an easy fix ie beat out of adjustment etc. Sorry to hear about your situation. RG

I think what you see around the cyclops, is the fact that the crystal in a sandwich with the bottom part having a hole for the Cyclops to fit into. The ring is the sides of the hole cut out in the bottom half of the sandwich. RG

Looks really nice. I like the look of that strap, especially the buckle, very different but nice. RG