Search the Community

Hi all, I am not very active in the forum anymore and I was going thru some of my old parts box. I completely forgot about this build that I was never able to finish. I wonder if someone here would like to give a hand and try to finish it. Movement ETA 2893-2 GMT and i also have a Chinese GMT the rest is aftermarket of course the dial is Gen, but I Think is too small for the case opening. the movement needs service and I have a few spare part for it. I started this project back in 2014 almost 10 years in the making. Let me know if you are up for a challenge

Hello, I am trying to assemble a Tudor. Please can anyone suggest a seller for high quality Chapter Ring, Ceramic Bezel Insert and a Dial for Tudor Pelagos? Also, is it possible to fit Black Bay Dial in a Pelagos Case? and last but not least, anyone pointer for custom dial site to fir ETA 2824 many thanks

Hello Members, i am thinking to assemble a watch. please can you help me in buying a watch set or case for "Breitling Navitimer". Blue is my colour I googled but nothing found. thanks

Hello, I recently received this watch as a gift and wanted to ask you what movement does it use? Is it an asian ETA? I am new to the field so please have patience Thank you!

Hi all, Bought this from ebay as gen Swiss Eta 7750 but there are no eta 7750 mark on the movement, instead there is C and 25 signs. For me it looks like some clone. Any possibility that this is gen eta 7750 ? Thanks for your opinions.

After hours of evaluating the best choices for sub hands... Clarks/Watchman 'Tudor' hands = seconds hand has the wrong proportions (i.e. the dot behind the seconds hand's pinion is too close), hour hand has the wrong rectangular lume proportion? the hands are a bit shorter than gen 3135 sub hands (because it seems like Tudor hands were always shorter than Rolex counterpart hands), no 3D-looking polish, poor lume? Startime 'Tudor' hands = seems like it has same problem as the Clarks hands, except the seconds hand looked improvement proportionally (i.e. the dot behind the seconds hand's pinion is further away like gen) Raffles = hour hand's rectangular lume area has skinny proportion that isn't gen-like (and commonly associated to lower-end or cheap reps), poor lume TC V2/V3 = best ETA sub hands ever made (i.e. tapered front on the seconds hand, 3D-looking polish, correct dimensions with correct rectangular lume area/location, capped pinion on v3, pointy ends, excellent lume)... but TC is gone Overall = TC hands were hands-down the best sub hands ever made - period. But now that TC stuff is pretty much discontinued, the second best seems like to be Startime? Any idea what the best available ETA Submariner hands? Have I missed out on better alternatives? Can someone please recommend me the best ETA Submariner hands out there? i have spent a long time researching and it seems like the current market for ETA Sub hands have a combination of fatal flaws Thank you!

Getting a little frustrated here over a project that it has been 4 years in the making when i was about to finish it, the movement stops ticking. now I need someone who can service and ETA 2893-2 GMT movement. This when I feel that I should drop all the reps I have and go Gen. Also my beloved MBW 1665 which has a 1570 movement inside now it will not change dates Let me know of someone in the USa that can be trusted with servicing these two Regards Cyb

I had been working on a project for several years and keep putting it on hold. I have this 1555 cartel that I turned into a 1675, Now I want to install an ETA 2893-2 that I purchased about three year ago. I need a movement ring that will fit the Cartel case 1555, can someone point where to find one and what number is? Thank you Your input is highly appreciated

Hello all! I'm looking at purchasing this watch over at Trusty Time (link below). It's a GMT Master II with a modified ETA 2836-2 movement. I had heard that ETA stopped selling their movements commercially and was now only making them for other Swatch Group subsidiaries. If that's true, does that mean that the movement in this watch is salvaged from another watch? Would it be reliable? Or is that rumor total garbage and ETA is still selling new movements to outside buyers? http://www.ttw-138.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5&products_id=12132

I am not active here anymore, come from time to time, just to check what is going on and what's new. I have this 1675 Project that is almost complete. I need help finishing it, i have an ETA GMT 2893 movement that i would like to get in this watch. This project is over four years old and counting Need an ETA ring that will fit this Cartel 1655 case. Is there anyone here that would like to help finishing this and Of course i will pay for the services. Message me if are up to the challenge. Thanks

Hi All, I'm hoping that someone will be kind enough to share some insight with me. I've recently stumbled into the process of trying to build a franken Heuer Camaro, 3 register chronograph. I already have gen: dial, case, pushers, crown, and xtal. I've run into a bit of a wall on the movement, though. (Some of you are probably smiling and nodding.) The original 3 register Camaro was offered with an option of the Valjoux 72 or Valjoux 7736. From my internet searches, these seem to be extremely pricey ($1000+). Are there any comparable ETA's that will also do the job as an engine for the Camaro? I'm indifferent as to whether it is manual wind or automatic. And, I need it to be rock solid as far as the mechanical functioning. This is the closest ETA that I've found, but I am not qualified to determine if I can actually make it work: ETA 2892-A2. Thanks for any and all help!

Hey guys since eta movements have been getting harder and harder to get ahold of, ive been talking with a friend who owns a jewlery/watch repair shop and he told me he has a chance to buy around 250 NOS(New Old Stock) ETA movements most of them being High Beat 28,800 but a few 2846 21,600 beat movements i believe 50-75 of those and 10-20 real low beat 18,000 movements not sure what the movement numbers are exactly for those yet, Those real low beat movements would be perfect for vintage rolex projects. What im wondering is if anyone would be intrested in buying movements on there own for projects or whatever you need them for. I would not need any money or payment upfront just wondering if you guys had any intrest in these movements. These are NOS movements meaining they have never been used in a watch but i would still say they would need a cleaning and adjustment to make them run in tip top. There are about 20-30 top grade finished movements like this, I also believe there are a hand full of Chronometer Movments. I will have to double check on those. The rest will be standard finish movements. These Pics are NOT of the actuall movements I will be getting they are just here to show what they will look like when it comes to finishing of the movement. I should have pics of the actuall movements after the holidays.

Hi all, Have a question here regarding the HR (helenarou) 6538 Big Crown from the raffle. The tube protrudes from the case, not complaining, just looks a little odd. It's an ETA movement. Looks like if it didn't protrude the bezel would smack the crown. Is there a fix for this? Better case option?

As reps go, the Breitling Superocean Steelfish is very nice. The gen is a classic, and so is the rep. I bought an H factory v2 "Asian ETA 2836-2" (more on this later) from Toro. Ordering was easy, and shipping was fast. I unboxed it six days after confirming QC pics. As many of us have found, the H-factory gets a lot of little details right. And even the ones that are a little off--like the dial--are still high quality. Rep left, gen dial right. Sure the color is too bright, the markers and numerals are a little too big, and it doesn't reflect light quite as nicely. Still, it's a good attempt. For all those reasons, though, a gen dial is a great upgrade. It makes a nice rep a whole lot nicer. Breitling parts are very hard to find. Although expensive, genuine Rolex dials are pretty easy to come by. In contrast, finding a genuine Breitling--let alone Steelfish--dial for a reasonable price is nearly impossible. I pulled the trigger on a blue dial, to see what all the fuss is about. It's worth it. I figured it would be an easy swap... Toro sold me what he called on his website an "Asian 2836-2". I wanted to drop in a Swiss movement, add the gen dial, and port the rep hands over. No such luck. I was very surprised to learn that my 2826-2 clone is not a clone at all. It is instead a new high-beat version of the DG2813. It is also a piece of crap. The "ETA 2836-2" that Toro and other dealers (according to him) are selling in at least some of their watches is a clone of the 2836-2 in the same sense that a Yugo is a clone of a BMW. They are both cars, and these are both movements. And one of them is, well, $#@£. On receiving the watch, I tried to operate the crown. I found that the stem was tight and didn't easily allow me to switch between positions. A keyless fix is pretty straightforward. But I couldn't find anything obviously out if place. It was just made badly and didn't work right. Beyond that, I didn't have any replacement parts--this being a new movement. I imagine that many of our watchmakers are running into the same problem. When I brought the problems up with Toro a few weeks ago, he kindly offered a full refund. That's commendable. He also agreed to change the movement description on his website. Unfortunately, as of today, the high-beat 2813 movement is still called a "2836-2 clone" in his ad (see http://www.torobravos2014.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=656). Read more about the problems of the new movement here: http://www.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php?t=170876 In the past, I and others here have advised noobs to get the ETA clone version because it's cheaper, works well, and is nearly as reliable as the Swiss counterpart. But if dealers are calling this junk movement a "2836-2 clone", that advice no longer applies. I would say: get the basic 21j or the Swiss. Stay far away from this one. I would hope that out trusted dealers revise their product descriptions. We all know what an actual clone ETA is. Back to the franken-making: the hands didn't transfer easily. The hour hand size on the junk "clone" was too large. Weighing my options, I picked up some genuine hands rather than take the chance that my modded rep hands would come loose and scratch the dial. I had a similar problem with the datewheel. A 2813 datewheel is completely different than a 2836-2. And Breitling fonts for the latter are hard to find. But I got lucky and saw a 2879 datewheel on the bay with the right font. Because that movement uses the same datewheel as the 2836-2, it worked out. In any case, here is the finished product. I'm very happy with it:

Picked up the above from Sora at Shinewatch but hate the jittery Miyota 8215 and fancied putting a high beat in there anyway....plan to chuck in a 2824-2 unless anyone has any better suggestions relating to hand size? Otherwise I'm gonna need hands that fit an ETA movement before resorting to my last resort of modding the existing ones. Anyone got any kicking around that they fancy parting company with? Or can point me in the right direction of a source?

Hi. I'm pretty new to building/modifying watches, but I am just finishing my first 1601 datejust franken build, and thought I would share my project with you- hoping to get some tips/ providing some pointers from my experience. I have started another build aswell, and would like to perfect my skills and keep building time pieces with a personal touch :-) this topic will include both projects. #1: - genuine 1601 case - genuine 1601 bezel and acrylic - genuine Rolex tube and crown - ETA 2824–2 - genuine blue dial - Tudor hands - movement holder raffles time #1 (slightly modified) - aftermarket leather strap # 2 - About the same specs but with the pan pie dial - aftermarket Jubilee bracelet (signed 554) ----- Just ask me whatever you want, and I will try to help you out if I can. I would gladly share my experiences/provide tips/pictures/explanations if it could be of any help to others doing similar projects ;-) trim.7BE67496-CB21-449C-8D5A-BD6A5F132EE9.MOV

Hi all, not sure if i'm posting in the right area but here's my dilemma. Just bought a Rolex everose chocolate asia rep as i could not find a real ETA movement version, i wish to swap in a real ETA 2836-2 movement out of a highend NOS Sandoz, the DAYDATE is the same as a 2834 which is identical to the 2836 except for the DAY wheel complication. Is there anyone in the US that could do this for me, i live in NYC and have been to many of the repair shops in Chinatown and no one will touch it due to it being a rep. Also i did find a replacement ETA DAY wheel on EBAY but was holding off to see if the asia DAY wheel will fit the ETA movement. I would like to give this as a belated mothers day gift when my mum visits from England in the middle of May. Hoping you guys can help. Thanks

Starting a new 5500 project and I have acquired a gen 5500 case and gen 78350 Bracelet with 557 ends (In MINT condition). So far have about $1100 sunk into this project. Would you guys go ahead and get the gen movement for $1000-1500 or stick with the ETA?

I wore this watch everyday about a month after receiving it before I decided to write a review to make sure that everything was in working order and will be able to work in the long run. I placed an order for the Ultimate Planet Ocean 42mm with the Swiss 2824 movement from Andrew at Trusty Time back in late December and received it before Christmas (Most recent link is here). I loved my gen Midsized Omega Seamaster Professional, but the size of the watch (at 36mm case diameter) started to bother me, as I wanted a watch that was more substantial in weight and presence on the wrist. However, the one I got from Andrew had problems from the beginning with the crown and tube not screwing down (one turn or less to release) and the movement not working correctly (eventually stopped working all together). When it completely stopped working, I emailed Andrew and explained to him my situation and agreed to have it repaired and I shipped my watch back to him on December 27. It was a few weeks into the mailing process that I realized that it takes a long turnaround time thanks to the mailing system in China after it leaves the US (explained in this post here). Eventually, after a bunch of emails throughout the months I get an email from Andrew with a picture of the repaired watch on a movement tester and a picture of the watch with the EMS label with my adress on it, it was shipped on April 20 and was delivered to my home on the 27. In the return box, I received my repaired/replaced watch, a dial (Replaced? I'm not sure), and a frame of the ETA movement. My impressions of the repaired UPO is that it is leaps and bounds better than the one originally sent to me in December. The movement winds well and can be wound by the wrist movements (unlike the one I got originally); additionally the crown/tube is much improved, it takes a good 4~5ish turns to completely unscrew it to the first position (for winding) and screwing it down (bonus is that the feet of the logo sits almost parallel to the wrist when screwed down or point down into the wrist for clarification). The materials of the bracelet, case, and crystal are very good and is almost feels gen (as I own a Seamaster Professional as a rough reference for comparison, as they are two different watches in the Seamaster lineup). The deployment clasp is good, whether or not the engravings is correct is ignorance on my part and the diver's extension works but is fussy when you want to close it back up. The only real aesthetic inaccuracies that someone can really call me out on are the bezel pearl (which isn't centered in the triangle) and that the raised Omega logo sits a tad too low above the Omega lettering on the dial (which is a bit less noticeable). The AR (anti-reflective) coating is present and often appears blue, but in certain lighting conditions will show the correct purple color; additionally the AR coating is easily prone to scratches when the crystal brushes up with solid objects (the repaired watch I got back had a few hard to notice scratches if you looked at them at an angle and a L shaped scratch on the bezel; I'm not too worried about those as it adds character to the watch and I'm more than glad that it works). The ETA 2824 movement is actually what Omega uses as the base movement of their 2500 caliber movements for the gen version of this watch (in which they modify this movement with George Daniels Co-Axial escapement); however, the Co-Axial escapement results in an irregular 7 beats per second as opposed to 8 on most automatically wound watches (like older Omegas and most modern Rolexes). This ETA 2824 movement doesn't suffer that lower beat rate (as this movement more than likely does not have the Co-Axial escapement installed) and has a nice smooth sweep and is rather robust which should handle a good amount of time without service; also, this particular movement keeps time really well, my aged gen Seamaster Professional keeps the time well as I wear it everyday and was serviced a few years back by Omega). The lume is were it shows a bit of weakness, it's not as bright as my gen when charged under the same light source for the same amount of time; the weak lume is the most apparent on the hands of the watch as they are dimly when charged under a light source. However, fluorescent light seems to charge it well as well as natural light, LED light doesn't like to mesh with the lume from what I observed when I used my phone's LED camera flash (in flashlight mode) to charge the lume. This watch fooled my uncle who loves Omegas and was shocked when I told him that it cost only $300 and change and that it was a rep. Needless to say he was rather impressed and wanted one for himself. To conclude this review, besides the small aesthetic inaccuracies and the lume, it is a rep that is definitely worth owning that is really close to the gen in many ways; as well as to commend Andrew for his patience and service for my watch during the repair process. Definitely let him know if there is something bothering you during the QC pic phase all the way to when something happens to it. My plan for my next rep is that I want is a Rolex Submariner in either the non-ceramic (like the D or Z serials without holes in the case and without the rehaut engravings) or the ceramic version (as long as it's accurate). I got a cheap Canal Street sub rep in New York as a souvenir but I want to have something like my UPO or gen that I can rock daily. I really wished I could of gotten the BK TW sub before he sold out, but I am looking at the TC sub and a ceramic sub from Andrew (since searching the forums didn't yield much on the Ultimate sub from TT, ROLSUB0017). That's my plan and my review, thank you for reading.

Hello gents, About six months back I purchased a perfect clones GMT Master II clone. I'm thrilled with the overall appearance of the watch. The crystal is solid, the bezel clicks nicely, and the dial is convincing. The movement on the other hand: The rotor came loose about a month after purchase, which I had repaired at a local watch shop. I was informed that the "swiss" ETA movement I paid for was in fact a chinese copy. The power reserve sucks. If I don't wind it every other day or so, it stops. It doesn't keep good time (tends to gain 1-2 minutes a day). Most annoyingly, the date wheel is not aligining in the window most days out of the month. It seems to get worse every time I adjust the date. My question is: Is there anyone out there that could replace or repair the movement in this watch to make it preform the way I would like? I'd prefer someone stateside so as not to have to screw with customs again. I'd gladly pay for good service and workmanship. Thanks.

Hi guys, just received a watch, movement not working. I am able to make it rotate via the crown but that's all. I am so disappointed. Any suggestions to buy from Italy at all? Thanks

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SELLITA-AUTOMATIC-MOVEMENT-SW-200-1-COTE-DE-GENEVE-FACTORY-NEW-SWISS-MADE/130810507098 $200 or £135 in real money Is that a good price or not? Considering they're supposed to be properly oiled at the factory, I'd consider it the equivalent of a £35 movement + £100 service, and £35 for a new movement of seemingly good quality can't be that bad? I'm tempted to order a couple. There is also these http://www.ebay.com/itm/ETA-2824-2-AND-SELLITA-SW200-CLONE-MOVEMENT-SEAGULL-ST2130-100-EXACT-SAME-SPECS-/121124262440 Chinese 2824-2, I haven't heard much about the Seagull movements? One of those would cost me £70, I suppose they'd be OK to go in a cheap daily beater.

Hi all, After getting my 42mm cheapie pumpkin I've fallen in love with it and decided to get a decent version of it's 45mm bigger brother. Having a look around I see that there seem to be two versions. One version has small square lume markers at 12/3/6/9, "Seamaster" is in red (orange) writing and the hour and minute hands are fatter (and uglier). The other version has semi-triangular lume markers at 12/3/6/8, "Seamaster" is in white, and the hour and minute hands are slimmer and better proportioned. So I had a look at pictures of gens and they match the second one (semi-triangular markers). But the first one (seems to be the ceramic version) seems to be the "latest" model? Are they both correct and copying slightly different versions of gen Omega POs? I must say that the fat, ugly hands just scream "cheap" to me, as do the "not quite right" square markers, so either way I'm going with the second version Puretime has it for $238 with an Asian 2824, or $388 with a Selita SW200. Andrew has it for $318 with an ETA 2824-2, everything else seems to be identical. Does the Selita movement come assembled in a proper factory? I.e. it will not need sending off for servicing immediately? I know the chances of the ETA being NOS and being nice and clean and lubed will be slim, so I'm tempted to go for the Selita SW200. Any advice or feedback on the Selita movement appreciated!

Sometimes (like when you re-set the keyless works), removing the ETA 2836/2824 datewheel (DW) is a necessary evil. The easiest way to do this is to depress the double jumper spring, and shift the DW slightly crown-side (to free it from the minute train bridge, which covers the keyless works) while lifting it off. The problem of course, is that most rep datewheels are overlayed. And the overlay hides the double jumper spring from view. Needlessly removing a datewheel overlay is a PITA, because getting it straightened out again is time consuming. The other accepted method to free the DW is to unscrew the date jumper maintaining plate and/or minute train bridge by just enough. Too much unscrewing, and a little bad luck can sometimes push a part or two out of place--a real headache. What to do? Funny you should ask: I happen to have an A2836 sitting on my workbench... One solution is to remove the DW blind. You can do this by inserting a very thin object under the DW in the direction of the double jumper spring. Then you just lift everything off like normal. Yes, I'm cheating because I'm looking. But this is the best way to demonstrate the technique. Our target: between the 5 and the 6. I used a blue oiler. In this picture, the double jumper spring is pushing against the gap between the teeth of the DW (see dates 7 and 8 ) : Pull the crown into the quick-set position. Turn it so the teeth just appear between the grooves in the date jumper maintaining plate: In the picture above, look at the teeth near 7, 9, and 10. If you could somehow lift the DW vertically, those teeth would pass easily through the spaces in the plate. The problems with doing this are that (1) the spring is above the tooth near 8. Also, the teeth on the other side of the DW are beneath the minute train bridge. Forcing things here is inadvisable. You need to push that spring in. Spring is depressed: Lifting up while pushing slightly crown-side: Done: Now, this is tougher when the DWO is actually on. Probably the most difficult part is determining when the DW teeth are in the right grooves for lifting. If you pull up prematurely, the DW isn't going anywhere. Turn the crown until the date almost clicks over-- you can tell by the increasing resistance as you turn the crown. You get the hang of it, eventually. Give it a shot!

OK. You got into the movement and did what you had to do. Because you removed your ETA date wheel without disturbing its overlay, it's going to be hard to put it back. Why? The overlay covers the double jumper spring. You can't see it when the overlay is on, and you need to depress the spring. The traditional way of getting the date wheel (DW) back on is to either (1) remove the overlay, fit the DW, and then realign the overlay, or (2) [partially] unscrew the double jumper maintaining plate and/or the minute train bridge. Say you don't want to do those. It is possible to get the DW back on by reversing the steps in this tutorial, but it's a little uncomfortable because you don't have the benefit of being able to see what you're doing. Here's how to do it... (Please forgive the fact the two-hands-constraint means I have to substitute words for the missing photos). Pull the crown into quick-set position. ***What you need (a fine tipped object like an oiler, a movement, a date wheel, an overlay, and something to hold the DW/DWO--like plastic tweezers)*** The date wheel, plus one ratty old overlay Double jumper spring, depressed (It's a good idea to turn the oiler vertical here) With the plastic tweezers, set the overlayed DW down on the movement, offset a bit to the crown-side. Slide the DW over so its teeth are under the raised edge of the minute train bridge. Notice that the overlay hides the double jumper spring from view. Here, the DW is resting at an angle, tilted up at 9 o'clock, as its teeth on that side do not fit through the grooves in the double jumper maintaining plate. Now, gently nudge the DW with your plastic tweezers on the crown-side. Turn it clockwise very slowly with your tweezers. At the same time, depress the double jumper spring with your fine-tipped edge. When things line up right, the DW will just drop into place. You may have to check a few times that you're pushing in the right place with your oiler. And turning the DW by nudging it is a little unnatural at first. When things seem like they're in the right spot, remove you oiler. Press down (gently) on the DW with your plastic tweezers near the double jumper plate. If nothing pops out, advance the date with the crown. You'll know right away if things worked Eureka! Total time: about 5 minutes. Plus, no messy DWO realignment to worry about. Warning: it may take several goes--my first attempt tonight failed, but I got it on the second try. Good luck!