Rocketeer

I'll time how long it takes to do a pair as soon as I get a chance. Any suggestions as to what a pair decorated and bevelled like the Hammy 921 wheels is worth on an exchange basis?

Just compared the 415 & 420 wheels from a std 6497 (Cousins list these as UT 285 415 & UT 285 420) with the beveled wheels from a Soprod 6497-2. The decorated wheel is just that, a modified version of the standard wheel, so putting a bevel and polish on existing wheels is possibly the simplest way. As the basic wheels are

The ETA technical documents for the 6497/8-2 movements show them as bevelled gears but give them the same part number as the -1 version. Theoretically anyone with an ETA customer account should be able to order them as spares, but ETA tend to be very protective about all of the Mecaline Sp

It's a common problem on those ETA movements, it's so easy to press the detent button just a little to far and dislodge the set lever and set spring. It's fixed by just re-assembling the keyless section properly but you need to be confident about removing the movement, hands, dial and date wheel to get to it. For any watchsmith it's usually a minimum charge repair. Email me if I can help.

Have to give that a try. Sounds much safer than the usual chemical method, a 10% solution of sulphuric acid (Bergeon call it 'Vissin' and charge a fortune for a little bottle) for loosening broken screws etc.

Take it back to whoever fitted the stem for you and get them to do it properly? You can sometimes get away with just winding the crown an extra turn down on the stem.

Stem height is identical - 2.25 mm with a 5.05mm movement height. The date change issue is a new clue though. If the date wheel has dropped slightly out of alignment or has bent a tooth, it could apparently turn ok when out of the case but jam once the dial and movement are tightened down into the case. whip the dial back off and have a good check over the date wheel and the related parts of the keyless.

According to ETA technical docs, the 2816-2, 2836-2 & 2846 share identical dimensions for assembly with a 2.25mm stem height on a 5.05mm movement height, so it should all work. If the keyless is working properly out of the watch, it brings me back to suspecting the stem length.

I'm guessing that this happens when the crown is screwed down. If it is, as you should have a spare 28xx stem from the new movement, try cutting it just slightly shorter than the other stem (or sometimes you can get away with just winding the crown an extra turn down onto the existing stem).

The stem will pretty much 'fix' the movement position so its probably a problem with dial print alignment in relation to the dial feet. If it's a new purchase I'd send a photo to the supplier and ask for a replacement dial. A good repairer could fit replacement dial feet but it's fiddly and time consuming to do it right. A diy 'bodge it' fix would be to snap off the dial feet and re-attach the dial in the correct position with some adhesive dial dots.

pm'd you.

That's right. It's a shame it isn't independently adjustable but at least it works. If you really wanted a fixed variation from local time you could reset the hand on the arbor if you drop the movement out. The date wheel is easy enough to take out to either reprint or apply a white on black stick-on. I believe the same movement is used in the Chopard Mille Miglia that comes with the black date wheel so you could always swap with one of those.

In all honesty, unless you really want to spend a fair bit of time (and money on lume pigment) practising just for the fun of it, it just ain't worth it for a couple of dials. Lume is funny stuff and you need to work with it for a fair while to discover just the right consistency for the job in hand and then how to keep it at that consistency 'till you finish. Then, when you do get it in the places and the shape that you intended, it also need to give an even glow and that takes even more practice. If anyone really wants to have a play, I could supply some non-branded Strontium Aluminate pigment (the stuff used in Noctilumina and Luminova) in small 'trial' quantities that I source in bulk directly from the maker in Norway at about a tenth of the price of the branded products. It won't work like SuperLuminova but it's good for less critical work and for practice. Then you just need an old dial to keep practising on and wiping back clean until you get a feel for it.

Ask Siltint to do a sample crystal for you before going too far. Results from them when I tried them with a test batch in the past had the typical edge lip problems as well as occasional milky patches to the coatings. There are much better companies in the UK for coating but they do take time and testing to sort them out. A good start is asking if they can meet MIL-C-14806A Rev2 spec.

Would these be any good?

Hope this helps 1. Usually no. 2. Yes 3. If you're careful (and lucky), a razor blade followed by a case knife, just like removing a dive watch bezel. Often it's safer and avoids risks of scratching the case to press the bezel off from inside the case, but you need a case die large enough to clear the bezel and this isn't one of the standard sizes that come with a case/crystal press. 4. The crystal size can occasionaly vary between cases and the gasket used. I've seen everything from 35.0 with a no step gasket thru to 35.5 glued in with no gasket. To be sure you need to measure what you have. If you're changing to acrylic don't forget to buy it one size larger to allow it to be compressed by the claw when fitting. Here's a typical auto case components

A tip that I find helps when fitting Radiomir straps is to put a small dab of Copydex type glue on the part of the lug wire that goes into the strap. Let it dry before putting into the strap, and then when you come to fitting, the wires stay roughly in place without swivelling everywhere and falling out at the slightest opportunity.

Just received some cases from MK and the ti cases I got are the long lugs, with OP 5513 & EE991530 engraving.

Hi I'm curious why you say that the hands won't fit? The 2836 and 2893 both take the standard 28xx sizes of 150,90,25 for the regular hands, so surely it's just a question of how the '36 was modded for swapping the day wheel drive to the 24hr hand and whether that is compatible with the 180 size on the'93.

I'm fairly new to the Reps area but I've been modding watches and building Franken-watches for a while. My next project is to build a Tudor Submariner that I hope will come out something like this one I've sourced the bezel & insert plus the hands, I've got a gen Tropic crystal for it and I'm doing the dial myself. What I'd like are your recommendations for the best source watch to provide the case, with drilled lugs, good basic shape and - most important - the ability to accept a gen crystal and bezel, a good rehaut - nice and thick and fairly vertical, plus the movement (can be 2836 or 2824, but must be Swiss ETA) Until now I've been using the Sandoz as donor for Sub style projects, but thanks to this place I now have a much bigger choice. So, where would you start? Thanks guys

The perfect answer! Thanks The Zigmeister. My concerns were that either older Tritium lume could exhibit its usual characteristic and crumble with age under the new layer, or that height restrictions would prevent my getting enough SL on to get a good job. From what I've seen of your work, I think I'll just try it your way

I've taught myself the basics of dial printing and luming and now want to progress to re-luming dials where I don't want to completely strip the dial back and start from scratch. I've only tried scraping back gently with a loupe and scalpel but haven't had great success with that. So what are the preferred methods of dealing with the existing dial lume? Thanks

Hi all, I've been enjoying the wealth of information here and decided it was about time I introduced myself. I'm UK based and an enthusiastic watch collector, modern and vintage. My real fascination is modding and building custom watches and this place has been an enormous help. I particularly enjoy building Mil-Subs such as 5513's & 5517's, the difference with mine is that I prefer to build sterile watches over the full on branded reps, so the first part of my modding is removing the branding Looking forward to getting to know you all better and showing some of my creations. Cheers

Hi all Very much a new guy to serious watch modding although I've been collecting for quite a while. I'm now attempting to do more complete mods and need to improve my collection of tools. Can anyone recommend what tools they use (and a good source, so far I only have an account with Cousins here in the UK) for removing and refitting crown tubes, press fit and threaded? I have the usual items so far, case openers, crystal press & dies, decent screwdrivers, tweezers and pliers, pin oilers and hand remover. What else would you suggest I will need? Thanks