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I didn't want to turn the post into an advert for his services as he had a little sign up in the shop along the lines of 'Due to recent and sustained ilness the time for repairs may be significantly extended'. As for the cost of the repair - we paid more for our return ferry tickets!!!

Yup, and what a very worthwhile trip! Here's the story. The watchmaker concerned has his shop in a relatively inaccessible part of Scotland, whch I am sure is a deliberate ploy to keep his workload at a manageable level and allow him to continue to enjoy his work because his service can only be described as above and beyond the call of duty. I was looking forward to meeting the chap and talking watch movements with him, but initially he was a bit frosty about my ailing TAG, calling it 'A little Chinese one' within seconds of the caseback coming off. He reckoned the symptoms described above were 'fixable' and I also asked him to take a look at the datewheel issue (the numbers being off centre). He said it would need a fair bit of stripping down, so myself and my wife should go spend a pleasant day on the island and come back just before close of business! Lunch, a seafront stroll and a few pints in a few bars later we returned, and our watchmaker welcomed us happily, obviously satisfied with his job. The chrono now behaves impeccably, and he explained the fault - a spring that holds a lever against the toothed wheel that operates the chrono second hand had broken. The only thing putting pressure on the lever was gravity when the watch was held a particular way. He asked if I'd opened the watch as he couldn't find the broken bit of spring anywhere - I had. That had been a mixed blessing for it meant it didn't get lodged somewhere else in the movement, but it also meant he didn't have the broken piece to match up against something else, but he said at that point he'd given up some of his prejudice that this was a crappy Asian movement and took a look at the Valjoux 7750 chart for guidance. From the drawings and his own exerience he managed to fabricate A NEW SPRING!! I won't tell you how little he charged for this repair and overhaul (except that it was embarassingly little), and then we had our chat about movements, discussing how expensive a genuine replacement 7750 would have been. He also confirmed what has been discussed elsewhere about the datewheel issue on the TAG chronos ie. the numerals are indeed printed off-centre and it is not a problem with the movement itself. He unfortunately didn't have a replacement datewheel, but we have set that problem to be solved at some point in the future... Then, having listened to him talk at length about ETA movements, I asked him to take a look at my 'best' Omega SMP Pro. He popped the back off and enthused at length about the 2824 - he was in no doubt about what he was looking at having 'worked on these for years'. Then something caught his eye about the movement that answered a question brought up here. He was surprised to see an Incabloc shock protection module in the ETA rather than the KIF-Flector he was used to seeing. He brought a 28xx based movement he'd extracted from an IWC out and showed me the difference... (apologies to river and josh for using their pics for this illustration, other copyrights recognised also).. Incabloc schematic... KIF-Flector diagram.. Incabloc and KIF are rival brand names for the same basic product and they are both used interchangeably on a variety of movements. He said there was no difference in quality, not any difference in their basic construction beyond the shape of the spring used to retain the jewels, which is their identifying 'trademarks'.. Finally, he put my SMP back together and then commented on how good the clasp was and how it even felt like the real things when opening and closing. I told him I had replaced the clasp spring, sourcing the part from Cousins (the Cousins catalogue happened to be sitting on the counter at the time). Our friendly watchmaker looked bemused and said he thought he knew Cousins part stock explicitly and had never spotted the spring listed! We found it together in the catalogue and he thanked me for alerting him to that. Apologies to anyone reading the above ramble, but I hope I have got across some useful advice as well as some sense of the experience with a fellow movement buff. I get the feeling that he hasn't got time for the stylists and posers (which is no bad thing IMO)

This may be the road one goes down. I am visiting a trusted watchmaker today for some advice. He's a real ETA buff I've been told..

I remember how it was for the '82 final, and I'm sorry I'm taking my holidays late this year or I would have been in Italy for this final. I did wake half the neighbourhood singing 'Fratelli D'Italia......' at 1 in the morning coming home from the pub last night...

Can't argue with that summing up, but the Italy/Germany game also had probably the best refereeing of the tournament in terms of playing advantage and keeping the flow going. There is always a risk a final is going to be a cagey affair when dodgy decisions get made, and that just makes it a disappointment to watch for those without a stake in the outcome...

I've got to agree the pictures I posted look that way, but there really is no difference in reality as I have compared mine side-by-side with a real one. Another thing that sometimes looks diferent is the depth and clarity of the engravings on the bezel, but again it is down to lighting of the pictures as the difference isn't actually there in reality.

Thierry Henry is a gentleman and a diplomat.

I did. I thought you were inferring you knew where he would be training for his 'leesonce'. Anyhoo.. Hearsay! Sources in France are about as partial as you can get WRT this incident. I heard that Materazzi said Zidane's mother was a hamster and his father smelled of elderberries, then he farted in Zidane's general direction.

Yeah, but I heard it a month ago, from the same person that told me P Le G was going to be the Huns' manager, a year before it was announced.... Anyway, I reckon Zizou passed the interview last night...

It says "we know you are retiring, so what's the point in muddying your reputation any more than you have done already". Oh, and JTB - I've heard a wee rumour about Zidane's future plans.....

One of those tartan pieces of crap JTB likes to post is my guess...... but not retirement, merely progression....

Naaahhh. Just a fluke. It's school holiday + World Cup fever. Or maybe that's just me..

Photobucket is stuffed, so... PDVD_002.BMP

Well, guess I spoke too soon when I praised the reliability of these new Asia 7750s. The watch still keeps perfect time, but activate the chrono with the watch face horizontal and the stopwatch doesn't work (normal time ticks away though). Turn the face to the vertical and the chrono starts ticking quite happily No problems with start/stop/reset, but gravity is obviously shifting something on the movement. There are no obvious physical blockages. This is going to give me an opportunity to test out a watchmaker favoured by JTB and another friend of mine, but can anyone suggest anything obvious as to the cause?

1. There is no need to completely remove the bezel if you are not confident about doing this, although it isn't an overly dificult task to do with care. Not removing the bezel means you have to be VERY careful when placing the cement to stick the insert back - too much or some in the wrong place can stop the bezel rotating. 2. The old glue is easy to remove with some heat and a very small amount of white spirit soaked into a cloth. This also has the benefit of degreasing the bezel for reattaching the insert. Th best glue to use is two-pack epoxy resin applied sparingly.

Anthropogenic global warming - bunk! Ten facts about global warming THEY don't want you to know. Climate Change Truths One worrying aspect about AGW is that the same emotive language is used to champion its cause as was used to promote the concept of Eugenics a century ago (if we don't act our childrens' futures will be threatened, all mankind is at risk etc. etc.)

Which flies in the face of the observations of many of our members and the detailed analysis of several of our watch movement experts. In other words your opinion is misguided. The advice to be wary of older Asian 7750s and ones modified to reposition the subdials is good, otherwise there is nothing wrong with them.

The most important thing about regulating a watch is don't do it within days or even weeks of getting the piece. A month's running in time minimum is essential if you don't want to have to repeat the process.

Dunno about you guys, but I'm having a problem with that exploding head animation someone is using. I know it's just a movie effect (Scanners) but I still find my stomach churning for a few minutes after I see it, plus I can see that giving kids nightmares. [censored] and [censored], no problems though....

Leave that strap on!! Black face, black bezel, white markers - functional yet imposing!!

(That little guy up there is whistling "Fratelli d'Italia......")

Regulating a watch is a fiddly annoyance, but if poor timekeeping annoys you more then do it. All my watches now keep time better than when I received them!!

And you are just bitter because.......

And it's the [censored] slow-beater too! Scratchy shiny finish and fake microregulator. Obviously no-one wants these for the reps anymore so they are being 'dumped'.