RWG Technical Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 This is the first time I have come accross this particular version of the venerable Asian 6497-2. There seem to be more variants than I can keep track of. Specs: 18,000 BPM 18 Jewels (normally 17) Lettering is not engraved, printed only PROBLEMS Overall view, note that some of the lettering has disapeared following cleaning: First odd item, do you see the extra sets of holes in the mainplate for the pallet cock, the two holes are an alignment pin hole and a threaded hole as well. Not sure why there are extra holes, if I was to guess, it appears as if this mainplate was designed for a pallet bridge which is fastened on both sides and includes a built in set of banking pins. Maybe this mainplate started life as a Unitas 6497... the other oddity if you look closely is that the banking pins are a long ways back towards the balance wheel than they should be, normally the pins but up against the pallet arm, in this case they are butting up against the pallet forks, very odd indeed... Next problem, the crown is fully in the winding position, but notice how the set lever has not fully switched to the winding position, the set lever alignment pin should be fully seated in the notch of the keyless cover, it's only partially seated. The reason for this is that the stem is too short and will have to be replaced with a correct length longer stem. This is not a problem that the owner would detect and was caused by whoever sized the stem to the incorrect length. If I didn't note this problem and left it as it is now, the result would be that the sliding pinion and the crown gear would not engage fully, and since this is a handwind, winding would eventually damage both the pinion and the gear. This just goes to show once again that until someone has a detailed look and services the movement correctly, you never know the condition, another reason for a servicing and detailed inspection of a new movement. IMPROVEMENTS Lets look at some improvements, they added a jewel to the top of the winding barrel arbor, a good idea since this is the pivot with the most stress. Another problem, and this is not unique to the A6497, hairsprings defects exist on 99% of Asian movements. Before photo, you can see the uneven gap between the coils, if not repaired, the timing would be inacurate and cause the movement to run fast, slow, even, all over the place. It is a fairly easy repair, I manipulated the hairspring and corrected the uneven spacing. Another timing problem, the hairspring is at rest, this is the regulator arm and pins, you can see that the hairspring is touching the inside of one of the arms only, the hairspring should be centered between the two brass arms. BEFORE I moved the regulator pins and now you can see that the hairspring is centered between both pins. AFTER Overall a good movement, but I wonder why we have gone back to 18,000 beat rate from the normal 21,600 rate... Thanks for reading, if you have any questions or comments please ask... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabularasa415 Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Was this pulled from an H-Factory watch? I thought that all of the Noob factory PAMs had the engraved plates as opposed to printed, so I wonder where this printed one came from... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w0lf Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Thanks for the detailed analysis, and great pics! These are in fact the so called H-factory movements and they are very likely to become regulars on your workbench as the quality control is relatively lacking and the watches are plentiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Noob, Noob, Noob......! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks for the detailed overview Zig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Some nice finds Z. Thanks for sharing with us once again. I for one have missed your movement threads. Nice to see you back in action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 terrific post, R...thanks... question: how do you manipulate the hairspring spacing to make it even? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolexman Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Nice write up! Thanks R. I recently tore down the new 111 Noob movement and that one is also different. But good different. It probably comes closest to Swiss standards from all the 64xx series I've seen so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteM Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks for sharing mate Great info and analysis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialvat Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks for the tear down and report Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxman Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thank you Zigmeister for taking the time to do this.....beautiful work as always. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianton Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks for the review R! My watchmaker said the same, that it's a good movement overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted October 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Sorry for the late reply, been one of those days at work... Thanks for the feedback, interesting to know that others have seen this particular model. Initially after servicing the timing was way off, but after adjustment it's working just fine. @hackR, the hairspring is manupilated with offset tweezers and some hairspring tools, you need to find out exactly where the problem is, and then bend the hairspring in the right direction and amount to eliminate the error. @watchmeister...you asked for it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 You bet I did. Enquiring minds want to know. Oops, I mean me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhitesox Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Thanks again for taking the time to do this R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 @hackR, the hairspring is manupilated with offset tweezers and some hairspring tools, you need to find out exactly where the problem is, and then bend the hairspring in the right direction and amount to eliminate the error. thanks, R...i always appreciate learning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrgod Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 happy to read posts like this again! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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