Timelord

I am not sure if I am confusing my information on the replica chronograph with the genuine chronos. My understanding is that the top pusher starts and stops the big centre seconds hand and the bottom pusher does nothing at all on the S1903? Is this correct? Or am I missing something that comes with my old age? Thanks in advance for your input

Yep, that is the SKX031 and if you like the hulk style sub, then this model is also nice https://www.ebay.com/itm/SEIKO-SKX031-7S26-0040-Kermit-Hulk-Submariner-Modified-Nice-Collection/223887175710?hash=item3420b7301e:g:AacAAOSwgZteR8pb Although modified it is a genuine brand watch!

was lurking at random on ebay and what I thought at first glance was the Rolex submariner turned out to be this nice piece by Seiko which I thought what a great substitute from a genuine watch company for the Rolex submariner with minor modifications https://www.ebay.com/itm/SEIKO-DIVERS-AUTOMATIC-SUBMARINER-MODIFIED-SNZF17J-CLASSIC-SNOWFLAKE/143462684005?hash=item21670ad565:g:f~kAAOSwADVdo2QM Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated either directly or indirectly with the sale, purchase or any vested interests relating to the above item Intention is for supporting the illustration of this post only!

The Miyota 9015 is a great work horse, reliable and efficient similar to the Toyota Hilux going through a war zone. Three problems in using it as a direct substitute to replace in a Noobmariner or any rep purchased from our reliable friendly dealers. (1) As you have declared, it does not match up the dial casing and hand specs. As for dial feet being off, then it is a "No" right away for me. I hate, HATE,........hate, hate,..... with an absolute passion cutting off dial feet and trying to glue, epoxy, solder or whatever miracle substitutes the relocation of dial feet. I have disposed of many great dials because of this problem. Out of 9 or 10 of them that I have tried this, by all sorts of methods such as buying new dial feet to epoxy on, it is a hit or a miss and the chances of when casing the dial with movement, they seem to break off, especially when realigning the stem and trying to make case clamps to hold it in tight or even to remove the movement again for a replacement. I only have one that has worked and it is with an eta onto a genuine dial, which has had the one of the hands slightly off line, and I am not game enough to take out to realign simply because of this happening until service time. (2) the 3.9mm thickness of the mechanism versus the 5.25mm eta may present stem alignment problems. I am not skilled enough to make modifications to address this issue (3) finding the right hands would be another issue. Regarding ""many"" women, whether they happen to be rocket scientists or just lame Janes, I have noticed that they usually always put aesthetics before quality, safety, practicality and durability regardless of cost. It is just the way the sea is made up of water and the earth is made up of soil. Not a criticism and to disclaim myself from any wrong doing, I will label this as my opinion only from my observations!!!! There is nothing surprising or wrong with wearing an Apple watch or no watch at all regardless of gender. A woman's best friend are diamonds -not watches!!! A man's best friend is his dog and maybe his watch if funds will permit it!!!! An expensive mechanical watch is now an anachronism item, very much like wearing a top hat at a the royal gala. Nobody would wear a top hat when going to the supermarket unless you have a sane enough creed for it!!! You have a watch on your phone or if you really miss wearing something around your arm, just look for a cereal carton with children's free bees added in those cartons and you may be lucky to get an accurate reliable working watch - who knows!!!. I usually wear one of these plastic give aways when doing the garden which I throw away at the end of the season. Automatico, I love your posts and they are so informative and a true asset for me to cut and paste in my archives. Thanks for them as I am sure others feel the same

I have noticed that they can be an issue with spare parts!! In my experience the price difference is very much at par! The trend I see with the total horology industry is that they will all go the same way! Once a market has been established with easily accessible products, then it will become "hitting on the head time " with the "making it hard to get game" which will sky rocket the prices and the rest will be history! Just look ook at when Rolex themselves started doing this and then Omega mirrored the same attitude and now eta! Do you think it will stop there? You can do it and why should I not do the same if this is how the consumers will continue to cough up the cash!!

So do I ! I would still buy the original Zenith El-primero chronograph which resonates at 32k beats instead of the adulterated 28k beat which is housed by the Daytona! Have you seen the 50th anniversary WG zenith chronograph? What a gem of a piece! I was never wealthy enough to purchase the Daytona inhouse chronograph to compare it , which most dealers claim to run circles over their zenith predecessor , but it would be interesting to see how they compare!

Oops, I got my knickers in a knot. I stand to be corrected! I usually get the 1530 and the 1556 (which is the correct caliber in the presidential) confused as they are so similar !! Old age is really getting to me great post BTW Automatico!!

What about Rolex -everywhere else? One would think that their rules are globally uniform! The 1560? Isn't that the one in the presidential day /date model? They are in the 18k gold pieces that every posh dreamer creams over! I was about to bring one that belongs to an estate of a dear friend of.mine for a service and you have saved me from the grief of hearing that they are heading towards the gold smelters! Worst gold investment I have ever heard of!

Great question!! I believe they would be , using the information on https://forums.watchuseek.com/f72/technical-schemes-seagull-chronographs-25040.html the dials seem interchangeble

As with any television show, media news etc. they always sensationalise the stories otherwise they don't sell or make the ratings! Old as the hills in the media industry! As for never been worn, I didn't buy that part either! Maybe worn on special occasions at most 10 to 20 times, would be consistent with the condition of the back seal, especially if it was kept in a safety deposit box as he claims! If it were my watch I would not have wound it to get it ticking as the old oil in the movement over the decades would be like old enamel paint ! I won't comment on those receipts nor the missing stamped certificate. nevertheless it was a great story and I enjoyed watching it! Thanks for sharing!

My endless thanks! It reminds me of a similar post you helped me out with some 18 months ago where you went out of your way to take photos , post them and tutor the issue for me! Very useful information with the video link also! Thanks again!! You are spot on!!! Took your advice and before my very eyes, it started ticking again! I tried to case it and just as I was about to close it, it stopped again. Had to make several attempts at closing it while still ticking! I kept playing around with it until it kept going! I then changed one of the case clamps for a tighter fit and surprise surprise, it has not stopped! Too good to be true? Time will tell! Excuse the pun! The only problem is that whenever I push the register to start the centre hand, it stops! Don't know what is happening there, but I got it ticking again and will refrain from using the stop watch as I am not skilled enough to play around with the chronograph area. I just made it to service a basic 15 jewel fhf. Movement being my Everest achievement for an amateur watch dismantled! my endless thanks

Hello fellow members, I would hope someone here may be able to tell me the difference between the manual wind chronograph seagull ST1901 and seagull ST1903 as they both have 3 registers. I am trying to replace a module in my manual wind Silix speedmaster which has a display back and I cannot identify which of the two movements it is. In an earlier post last year the only clue I had was that it is a ST19, Sadly my speedmaster fell off my arm somehow and since it dropped it had the tendency to stop every couple of hours after the fall. Worse still it now no longer runs on a full wind. I am still no skilled enough to work on chronographs. My watchmaker wont even look at it as he clams these Chinese mvts are a pain in the a@#$ to work and repair, and I am not skillful enough to completely service a chronograph at this stage. I am stuck as to (1) identifying the correct movement and (2) upon identifying the correct movement, what options exist in replacing it with a good quality one by not ending up with a dud as most of these movements seem to be in the high risk category, My research states that it is a one to one copy of the Venus 175, but I am not so sure as this movement only seems to have 2 registers. It gets more and more confusing Thanks for your input

Stumbled across this whilst doing some research on trying to repair a eta Tissot https://watch-insider.com/news/tissot-powermatic-80-automatic-caliber-ushering-era-ultra-precise-low-cost-mechanical-movements/ time me will tell how this movement will hold its place in horology history! Nevertheless very interesting reading!!

Not true!! No acquisition of skills & knowledge is ever a waste of time! To have and not to use is better than "not to have and not use"! Rolex cut their parts supply to independents and the small guy many years ago, but that has not stopped these skilled people from servicing or repairing a rolex watch. Some parts can still be turned on a lathe and although not all parts can be made, that is still light years ahead of a layman like me that is still learning or worse still those that have no idea on how to even change a watch battery! you can use this same reasoning with eta and as Panerai153 has stated, others will fit this void with other generics, so it is not the end of he road! It is not the best solution but better than having no loop to fall through at all! True we did not need this blow on the head, but it is still not a lost war! Keep your chin up as you are a great asset to the watch world and especially to our forum!

Thanks for sharing this info! I learn something new every day! I personally have never machined SS so I would not know! I was under the impression that 316lL was not really any easier to machine than say 304L or any of the 400 series! Great info!

Glad that you now have some direction in this! Hopefully your seller should give you a grace period for you to see it n the flesh and have any doubts eradicated! if it helps further, from the image you have posted I am inclined to wager that your reference model number is 135.0010 with manual caliber 601! It is likely to be a mid 1960's vintage Good luck with it and enjoy your outcome to good health!

I claim to be no expert on this subject and can only share my observations over the last 41 years from the very first time I held my first omega in my hands. Others here have also a great eye for this and I can assure you are far wiser and nicer than some members on some of the genuine forums. The hands appear as if they have been repainted over to offset the falling lume as a quickie to fix the deterioration. It is hard to see from my screen, but I would not worry too much about hands as they can be replaced. You would be surprised what you can still get new on ebay, but the market is drying up since omega spare parts department have decided to make our lives miserable in cutting supply". Sorry that I cannot be much help on this matter!!

You might find the link below regarding generic crystals helpful, especially responses 3, 11 & 13; https://omegaforums.net/threads/crystal-replacement-omega-or-generic.35560/#post-402236 As a Franken watch it is highly unlikely, as most omega parts for each vintage line are pretty much for those models apart from the movements. I had NOS case, seamaster 165.002 with movement and all the NOS parts but no dial. It was nearly impossible for me to fit any other NOS dials of same diameter to complete the watch as the movement and stem aperture did not line up. Especially Geneve dials were different again! I hate to admit it, but some of those vintage omegas were very under rated and I even like some of the models better than most other brands!. A very refined desiign where my favourites were the chunky case bumper winds from the early 1950s

Hello and welcome!! The timepiece you are contemplating seems all legit to me!!! I have had a few of them myself in the automatic caliber 552 and 562 for this type of case. You have what is known as a monocoque case or a front loader which is a one piece case where the movement and dial come out from the front. The DeVille Seamasters were cased in North America like the LeCoultre representing JL and these cases were made there under license by their parent Swiss companies or made for them. L&K was one American company that specialized in case making under license from Switzerland to avoid import taxes on complete imported watches. These one piece cases were quite popular back in the 1960's as it was an attempt to make the watch more water resistant which was not such a success. That is because most of the problem was through the crown and these have what we know as a split stem system where the stem is made of two clipped in pieces which holds it together. The reason why your seller was unable to open the watch is that it is something which not every layman is able to expose the movement without having the crystal removed and removing the dial with movement from the case for a complete movement inspection ( of course after removing the stem). It took me quite a few years of amateur watch skills to reach this level. One good thing about them if any good came from these cases. As for faking these, I am not sure who would be so brave to go to that effort only to make a few dollars if any?? so your gamble would be quite safe. The generic crystal can present problems if the tension ring is not the correct geometry for this case as dial should sit correctly with the bevel section of the tension ring! As for the price it is ok, but you could do better in getting an automatic version for the same price or for a few dollars more, depending on your tastes!! Good luck with your quest!!!!.

I guess we can say the same for some genuine lines as well!! I have a plated tag heuer where the brass is showing through the worn plating! It is almost to the point where there is a dip between the case back and the mid case! I also had some vintage plated Omegas and Breitlings with similar problems where the lugs have worn off that I needed to put epoxy to hold the spring bar. I kept the movements for their value as the cases were throw aways! I accept that most of our project watch cases are what they are, but I have been fairly satisfied with them. To mention a couple are; the old F series noobmariner which mine has been water resistant enough to swim with and some of Yuki and helenerou cases have been quite good also. I wouldn't mind buying any of them watches for the value of just the genuine eta only!!

I absolutely love these Bulova Accutrons as they remind me of the Apollo space times when Bulova accutrons were so much a new wonder. My soft spot!!! However, I am still not inclined to remove the movement from these timepieces to fit into a replica, as it defeats the economical purpose of avoiding the issues associated with the mechanical automatic watches. I would only use a quartz movement with a sweep second hand to avoid the problems that come with automatic mechanical watches as they are getting scarce and expensive ( also because eta clones are no option !!!!! ). The last time I replaced a battery in my Bulova tuning fork, I purchased it from https://www.ebay.com/itm/Accucell-1-1-35V-Battery-Bulova-Accutron-214/202624029392?hash=item2f2d5552d0:g:n~YAAOSwYgxa6136 and as one can see they are not cheap, where they last a few months only. Mine loses a minute per day. so I might as well stick to the mechanical watch!!!! Also, these coils and parts are expensive to replace as very few people in the world have parts for them, they charge what they like!!! They roll their sleeves back when a sucker like me comes along and just grin, thinking I have caught the biggest fish for today!!! Getting like Rolex authorized centers.

Those Bulova electric watches are great BUT most of them used the old mercury battery which are no longer available due to the obvious reasons. You can buy a silver oxide substitute battery in an adapter but they are in excess of £15 and only last some 8 months! Good for the anachronistic reason but not so sure if It is the option to replace a mechanical mechanism for the economy argument!

Here it is, I just remembered which one it was! The rolex truebeat which is a mechanical movement but mimics a cheap quartz watch! A possible solution to the OP's proposition to have a "Functional replica with all the looks of the real deal minus the expenses and headaches that come with it!" A nice write up on https://gearpatrol.com/2018/08/02/rolex-tru-beat-history/

I am not sure about the spring drive but you could be right. I was under the impression that the spring drive was a later release in their Credor line. These super 18k gold models go in the 5-6 digit price tags! I believe citizen has a Miyota chronograph 6S21 which has a sweep second hand. I also have a wall clock that is quartz but the seconds hand moves smoothly like the accutron Bulova tuning fork movement. I don't know why these quartz modules in watches were not more common with a sweep seconds hand as I don't buy the reasoning that they take up more battery power as discussed in other forums many moons ago. I change my clock battery one every 3 years or so. The quartz module spells out the phrase "very cheap" with that cha cha beat! Then again Rolex made a mechanical watch with the seconds hand that has the same cha cha beat ! It is a matter of perspective I guess!

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing! I had always wondered how watch cases were made apart from just a punched out piece of metal with a blank! Makes sense why a 3/4 ounce 18 k solid gold case costs astronomically more than an ordinary jewellery item of the same weight! Unless they have a way to salvage all the gold cuttings and filings from each case as was wasted in the steel ones, we are paying mostly for gold that we don't get in the final product! The day date presidential is a perfect example!