RWG Technical

Looks great on that strap... Glad you like the results. RG

Fair enough, everyone is aprehensive with new things... All I can add is that these "Stories" are that, "Stories" and nothing more... I'll only say that as a citizen living in Canada, I have first hand experince with customs, and have not had a problem...as I said before, the "stories" are always from those who don't actually live here. It's one thing coming into the USA from China, but another all together coming from Candada. As with anything in life, there are no guarantees, I can only offer my experience based on the past. If memory serves me correctly on the Breit, there are no case clamps on this model, it's just a snug fit in the case...more than likely the hollow sound is just the way it is, I can't remember if I tightened the bezel when I worked on it...the bezels come loose quite often as well... Understood, and I am happy that in your short time here, you have gotten that impression. My philosophy is always, if you like what I do, tell a friend...rarely do you see any posts about my work, and this is ok by me... I am fine with setting something up between us, PM is open, I sent you a message yesterday (or was it today), if you respond to that message, we'll work something out. I am not trying to be a jerk, but as you can imagine, I have a fair number of members who use me to their advantage, and after a while it taints a person. I can't tell you how many members will suck the very life out of you if you give them a chance...so I have stepped away from providing a "consulting" service via PM. When I feel as if I have been taken for a ride, well like anyone, I get a bit peaved off... No worries, I'll look for your PM. Have had worse start ups with members, who have in turn become great friends... RG

It is very hard, and getting harder to find a watchmaker anywhere... Where there used to be dozens of watchmaking schools in Canada, today there are none...I only know of a "Jewellers" course in the whole country, and it's 22 months of jewellery work, and 2 months of how to change a battery... Those that have gone to professional schools, or are self taught (like me), tend to either work for a large company, or have their own business and are kept very busy with local genuine work (waiting times up to a year I have heard in some cases). So finding someone who is actually competent at fixing mechanical watches, is far and few between. In my city of 300K people, I think there are 2-3 real honest to goodnest watchmakers... RG

I am not offended, but taken aback somewhat. My avitar shows clearly where I live, Chieftang lives in the USA, Yellowman in the EU, Kruzer and many others in the USA. All have and continue to send work my way, with no issues. If you had reservations about shipping and customs, why even bother sending me a message in the first place? I respect Flav as well as Vaccum, and this has nothing to do with either of them. If shipping to Canada was an issue, I would have thought you would have let me know your concerns before now. Many members aren't comfortable shipping to Canada, that is their choice, and I understand it completely (although I have yet to see or experience any "Customs" problems I hear about from people who don't even live here...go figure). Many others from as far away as New Zeland have no concerns, and send watches my way. From reading your initial post, it looks to me as if I was a choice of last resort, not due to my location, but because I was the only one who offered a complete package for the work you needed taken care of. RG

Actually I would like to see a wrist shot of Kruzer's as well...I am not even sure of the strap it comes with. Thanks for the feedback, adding the slight yellow tinge to the plexi, does add that little bit of detail. Even so, these are too big for my wrists... RG

Let me see if I understand this... you contacted me for information on doing these mods last month, I gave you feedback. As soon as you got the parts in, your first choice for doing the work was not me, but was flav and vaccum, and when they could not help you, you turned to me... That's like asking the homely girl to dance, after you have been turned down by all the other good looking girls. So I was your choice for information, yet I was not your choice when it came for the actual installation. In other words, after helping you out, if flav or vaccum would have been able to help you, I would never have heard from you again... Sorry, but my dance card is full. RG

I have never heard of any watch with any sort of belt in them for drive...my initial guess would be that the belt and pully would have too much resistance and not work either. Getting the movement re-designed with correct -watch engineered gears- is the fix, if only they would do it. I would love to see how the rolex is designed, since the placement of the seconds is a direct function of where the winding stem is located, which in turn locates the balance, which then dictates the placement of the second gear. I still haven't figured out how they did it...maybe someday Ubi will trade in those franken El Primero's and get a real Daytona I can have fun with... RG

I think the way the design is laid out now, with the transfer gears running on small metal thin raised rings, without lube, is the least friction you can have... Teflon I think would have to much friction. There would be no way to trim the gears, as they lay flat on the bridges and mainplate and run on the whole surface. Not sure if you have seen one in pieces, but the posts are only there to keep the gears in place, the posts are not normal pivots. There are also only a couple of jewels for all the 11 gears, and even at that, the jewels are totally useless, as the gears run on themselves, not on the non-existant pivots... I have tried everything, including popping out all the riveted gears (3 of them), cleaning them throughly, adding a black oiler drop of 9010, reassembling in the jewel press, and getting the rivet and gear to just the exact fit so there is no sideshake, but perfect freedom...hours literally of fine tuning adjustments, yet to no avail...sometimes it works, but most times, it's a failure. So I gave up, now after service, I try the transfer gears, any problems on the vibrograph, and out come the gears and I freeze the running seconds. RG

My view is that there is a simple and easily done solution to this problem, the problem is that I can't do the fix...it has to be done at the source at the manufacturing level. IF they were to make the transfer gears (all 11 of them) pivot as per normal watch standards, in other words, have each gear with pivots turning in jewels, that would fix the problem. That's all there is to it. The other design change would be to run the 12 hour counter accross the dial face with the 5 gears, and the running seconds directly from the 9 position to the 6 one, with 3 gears (not the present 5 gears). The 12 hour gear runs directly off the mainspring barrel, so it has a lot of torque, and runs very slow so added friction is not a concern. Using a lighter lube will not correct the issue, just think of all the non-serviced 7750's that have been reported as failing...these are not oiled at all, and don't work. So I think no oil, or lighter oil, is not a fix. It would be so easy to make a 100% reliable movement, sadly I don't have the skills or tooling to do it. Larger mainsprings won't work, the mainspring has to be what it is now, a larger one would cause overbanking and the movement would fail. I can't understand why they can't make such small design changes, to change the movement from unreliable, to perfect. The same goes for the cannon gears, they are all terrible on the A7750, yet so easy to make it right...same for the pallet stones, falling out all the time and not attached to the fork...I glue them in place during a service, why doesnt' the manufacturer glue them in when they make them, the glue is there, it just doesn't work...etc...etc...etc... One afternoon with the manufacturer, and I think we could produce a wonderful movement, the chances of that happening are slim to none. RG

I am not sure what one it is, it's got the Moljina movement in it, with the plates over the basic movement...I think? it's from Davidsen?? Kruzer knows what it is, as does the owner of this one, but I can't remember the name or model, or source. Thanks for the comments everyone, I like the finished effect. RG

Great work, it's always satisfying to do it yourself. Thanks for sharing your work. RG

I did not take it as being critcal, I just think there is misunderstanding that the Sellita is a copy of an ETA, and therefore the ETA parts will fit... it isn't a copy, and none of the ETA parts fit. People need to be clear on that part. Seagull make amazing movements, how many Venus 175 copies do you hear failing...none...they are great (much to the demise of watchmakers... ) It's going to be interesting times, out with the old and in with the new. If were aware of the void ETA is leaving, I am sure some really smart Chinese businessmen are also aware of it, and stepping up to fill the void. This may be the second time the Swiss get their leiderhosen snapped off by the Asian's...yoddel hea he ho... RG

Great write up and information. I am surprised to see the older 21K 7750 still showing up in reps...I thought there were all surpassed by the newer version. Can't wait to see the pics. RG

I agree. My comment on the interchangeability with ETA was a statement, just to clarify that the Sellita is not an ETA. Sellita is a great alternative and I just hope the watch supply houses realize this, and start supplying the movements and stocking the parts. With ETA getting out of the business so to speak, we are going to have alternatives, I too would chose a current available movement vs one in limited supply. My stock of parts are for my own use. The future looks brighter, I'll take a new supported movement over a limited supply one any day... RG

I have not had the time to try each and every part, but those that I did try, did not fit...so based on that, I think they are not interchangeable. RG

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I have worked on a number of SW200's over the past year, and they are indeed very nice. But the parts although looking like an ETA, are not interchangeable. RG

Wonderful job, it looks amazing. Congrats. RG

I have an asian price list and movement catalogue at home, someone posted a link to the company, and I contacted them for pricing... I was shocked, to say the least...6497 movements for $10 or so... I'll have to dig it up, and post the pictures and pricing, it's shocking to say the least. Meaning very reasonable prices, for quality movements. Bring on the Chinese, the next "Made in Japan" leaders. RG

Think about the huge market for quality mechanical movements when ETA leaves a big hole in the ground by stopping selling outside Swatch. Someone somewhere has to be looking at this, and figuring out a way to fill the void. How hard can it be to make high quality movements, with CNC and computer design etc. This is only my opinion, but I find it hard to ignore the signs that are all around me when I order parts etc. RG

I disagree. Look at Bob Frei, in business for 80 years, one of the longest and largest suppliers in the USA, Bob can't get genuine ETA movements from ETA, they won't sell them to him. Bob is left with picking up surplus movements on the open market, as is everyone who is not part of the Swatch group. It's no secret that in 2009 ETA (the largest mechanical movement manufacturer in the world) wil not sell outside SWATCH. If Bob Frei can't buy ETA movements but from the surplus supplier, while ETA is selling to non-SWATCH members, what happens in 2010 beyond... ETA will not be avalible, Tourbi knows this, he's next to the source. Call ETA in your country and just try and buy one part from them, they will not sell anything to anyone...I have tried, spoke to the lead salesman for ETA in Canada, you can't buy anything from them... I'll keep saving my ETA's, because I know they are only going to be more rare as time goes on. ETA's in Rep's??? not for much longer I think... 7753 gone, 2892, gone, 2893-2 gone, 2892 with PR gone...we have seen this in the past two years alone here on RWG... I wish you were correct...the signs are here, all you have to do is look at them. RG

I doubt anyone outside of the SWATCH group will be able to buy one of these... We will have to wait till they become surplus on the open market, which is not going to happen for a long time, if ever. I am afraid the days of ETA's are soon coming to an end, which is why I am stockpiling my ETA parts and sorting them out, I think it's only going to get worse, not better. It is a beautiful line of movements, would love to tear a few down for fun. RG

No need or reason to scrape the old lume off...it serves as a good starting base. RG

I suspect it's only automatic winding in one direction... The autowinder and hand winding use all the same gears, if one doesn't work, neither does the other. Your problem is most likely a result of handwinding, which can damage the clutch in the click wheels. These models should not be hand wound on a regular basis, hand winding only to get the watch going after it stops running is ok, but daily winding will lead to failure. The autowinder click wheel(s) need to be cleaned and possibly replaced if they are damaged. Sorry to say, there is no easy fix for this one... See my signature for further info. RG

It is simply pushed in place over the spacer ring...some are tight, some loose... You can get it off by using a screwdriver and finding a small gap, and lifting it off. I work the screwdriver around the cover and it comes off no problem... RG