RWG Technical Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Well just when you think you have seen it all, along comes another bunch of surprises... Nice Daytona but as soon as I take the bracelet off and spy these bent like banana's spring bars, I am a bit unsure of what was to come, certainly not a good start. I decide to give the watch a wind and see how it's working and to test the chrono's...it doesn't wind... as a matter of fact, the Crown falls off in my hand... Ok, so why don't I test out the pushers to make sure the chrono turns on and off, so I unscrew the pusher... and it falls out, yikes... well lets unscrew the other one, and it TOO falls out...(I am not making this up) Alright, not the end of the world, but not a great start either...so open the caseback, it's barely finger tight, what's the first thing I see: what happened to the Rotor, it's MISSING. A closer look at the crown reveals the problem, there are no threads left for the stem to screw into, no wonder it fell off...as for the pushers they were not secured in the case... Well it can't get any worse can it? lets uncase the movement and have a look. Not looking great in the side shot, the center seconds hand is not seated where it should be, and is loose, a close look shows the hand tube is filled with glue... Alright, time for a closer inspection of the hands, they don't look so good either, all full of finger prints and stains, remember that this is a BRAND NEW fresh from a Dealer watch, what you see is the condition as delivered, talk about a bad day on the assembly line. Next up, off comes the hands and the dial and lets start to take the movement apart and see why it's not running... First up, it looks like there is going to be a problem with the 30 minute counter drive, unless there is some sort of invisible force field between the gears it's not going to work, the gears aren't even meshed with each other. Lets remove this plate and see what the rest of the movement looks like, what do we have here? Is that a grinding mark on the mainplate? Why would someone grind out a piece of the bottom plate and the bottom of the mainspring arbour??? Flipping the movement over and take apart a few more bridges, and what happens, one of the screw inserts falls out and some other piece of metal from somewhere falls out as well... If you look closely at the balance wheel hairspring, note that at the 10 o'clock position the spacing of the hairspring, now compare this to the spacing at the 4 o'clock position, the hairspring is not concentric and out of round. Lets remove the balance and pallet, and test out the going train to see why it's not running, I give the mainspring barrel a wind and nothing, it's frozen solid and the gears are not moving...so off comes the bridge and what do we have here??? The great wheel teeth are all distorted and there seems to be something wrong with the second wheel below it...the circled section appears flat, not rounded as it should be... Here is a better view of the great wheel gear, note the teeth all pushed in one direction and distorted. And here is a view of the great wheel and the second wheel, note the bend in the top edge, it looks like it was hit with a screwdriver. So what do you do with this? You put it back together, document your findings, and send it back to the dealer for a refund or replacement. Never have I seen such terrible workmanship and so much damage on a brand new fresh from the dealer watch. Not sure what happened but someone was really asleep when this one was put together, or maybe it was late on a Friday and TGIF at the bar... Lesson learned, when it starts out bad, it can sometimes get much worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadog13 Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 looks like this one was assembled from the worst parts...absolutely no QC and definitely bought from a dealer that dropships! whoever is the dealer that sold this piece of crap should send a brand new one free of charge to the buyer... Thanks for the nice pictorial...it is always nice to see detailed pics of what crap can be found inside reps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capice Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 wow, this blows your mind.......I hope the buyer gets it sorted out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmegaPOFL Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 lol......holy crap its amazing, what we usually get works!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Never have I seen such terrible workmanship and so much damage on a brand new fresh from the dealer watch. Not sure what happened but someone was really asleep when this one was put together, or maybe it was late on a Friday and TGIF at the bar... Lesson learned, when it starts out bad, it can sometimes get much worse. Wow... Whenever someone makes a "My new watch arrived but doesn't work and won't wind..." post, I'm going to think of this... Absolutely crazy... Thanks for taking the time to document such findings, it's certainly interesting to see how and why a DOA watch is DOA... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayward Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Truly unbelievable...not a great ad for drop shipping! Thanks for the pictorial Zig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
its_urabus Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 looks perfect to me... as one dealer whom many people here trust and vouch for said to me, "It is a rep. enjoy it for what it is." looks like this one is a paperweight I wish the owner luck with this one. at least no pubic hair in the movement Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek001 Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 My stars, you're not actually going to try to fix this, Zig? I'd send it right back and ask for my money back, including shipping. This is actually depressing, we pay a lot of money for these watches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted July 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 My stars, you're not actually going to try to fix this, Zig? I'd send it right back and ask for my money back, including shipping. This is actually depressing, we pay a lot of money for these watches. Not even going to attepmt to fix this one, somethings are better left alone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxMan Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 "Out" the dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramerica2 Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 "Out" the dealer. Doesn't really matter, this could happen to any dealer that dropships... However, if the dealer claims to QC, than The Zigmeister should consider to "out" him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxMan Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Doesn't really matter, this could happen to any dealer that dropships... However, if the dealer claims to QC, than The Zigmeister should consider to "out" him. What if the dealer claims that he does NOT drop-ship (even though we all know, otherwise)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherfish Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 "Out" the dealer. +1 for that. We need to know to avoid them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted July 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 I don't think this is the normal condition of watches from this or any dealer. Careful examination of the case will reveal who the dealer is...it's in the details... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinMaster Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Some factory just don't know how to assemble a watch the correct way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 This sad wretch looks like the Rosetta Stone of nearly all of the problems that typically plague reps. It is really a crap-shoot out there, guys. And if ever there was a good reason to buy even the simplest of watchmakers' tools (so you can at least remove the caseback), this is it. Though, to be fair, I have seen similarly nasty stuff (though not to this degree) inside a couple of Phong's expensive franken-tonas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 This sad wretch looks like the Rosetta Stone of nearly all of the problems that typically plague reps. It is really a crap-shoot out there, guys. And if ever there was a good reason to buy even the simplest of watchmakers' tools (so you can at least remove the caseback), this is it. Though, to be fair, I have seen similarly nasty stuff (though not to this degree) inside a couple of Phong's expensive franken-tonas. Do you think this watch came from Phong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jawo Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 That is brutal Zig. Almost as bad as finding pubes in the watch, ROFL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oberblender Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 uah.... this is the worst assembled watch I have ever seen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Disney World? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinMaster Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Disney World? not from me tho... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailboss Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 OH MY GOD! Col. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolfire Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Disney World? I believe you hit the nail on its head, mate! not from me tho... Nah.. definitely not you, mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BROM Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Wow this is amazing and scary at the same time. Thanks for the write up The Zigmeister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialvat Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Thanks for the post, hope I never get one like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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