Bork99 Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 So in the interests of advancing the hobby, I attempted my first real (i.e. not just resizing the bracelet) DIY watch repair and I've screwed the pooch. I have (had?) a Chopard Mille Miglia GTXL chrono with the grey face and the "12" and "6" on the crystal with a chrono that wouldn't stop running. I took it to a local repair shop that came recommended who held onto it for 6 months and from whom I eventually got it back in a worse state than before, apparently because they could not source the necessary parts. I decided my best bet at this point was a movement swop and so I ordered a replacement movement (A07.211, basically oversize A7750 from what I understand) from Joshua and a watch toolkit from Watch Bitz in Australia. Parts and tools in hand, yesterday I proceed to disassemble the watch to attempt the swop. Things went OK until it came to the hands. Under the loupe it became clear that either I or the repair shop had not been as gentle as I thought with the hand extractor and the hands are quite scratched up. But my problems are worse than that. If I try to remount them, the hour and minute hands seems to spin freely. It almost looks like the pin in the new movement is slightly thinner than the holes in the hands. The problem with the subdial hands is even greater: The pins (I'm probably using the wrong terminology) coming up from the movement are far thinner, and seem to have had some sort of spacer tube on them in the old movement. In my ignorance, I've lost two of the three spacers (one in the disassembly, and one because it went SPROING out of my tweezers), and frankly I'm not clear how to reinstall them anyway. I could give up here but there's not much learning in that. I'm going to contact Joshua to see if I can order a new set of hands and tubes(?), but if anyone here can help with correct terminology (so I know what to ask for) and installation tips (to avoid screwing up again) of the little spacer tubes on the subdials I'd really appreciate it. And a last question - the face was glued to the old movement - any tips on what sort of glue to use for this application? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_rymeister Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Good luck mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Without pictures it is hard to say exactly what you are facing. From the sounds of it your hour and minute hands have been damaged or stretched and the chrono sub dial hands have separated from the tube ( supposed to be one piece ). Add to that I am not sure the movement you purchased can be used to replace the one in your watch. Compatability of the 7750 and the A07.211 not sure. Kudos for giving it a go. If you can post some pics we can probably help you more. For now at a minimum you need to order a complete hand set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 You can almost trip over the number of threads discussing this problem. Read this & use the search if you require more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bork99 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 @krpster thanks for the info - that explains a lot, especially that the subdial hands and the tube are supposed to be a single piece! Mine are not :-( I'd post pics but my macro skills are a bit lacking! This watch actually came with that A07.211 movement (see http://www.1-pc8838.com/cp02001-mile-miglia-gtxxl-chrono-limited-grey-a07211-p-4295.html), so the replacement movement should be OK. I'll get in touch with Joshua to try to source replacement hands and go from there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Keep in mind when I say single piece I mean that they are normally staked together ( not actually one continuous piece ) Good luck with your repair. Hope you are able to get the hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bork99 Posted November 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Two of the subdial hands separated from the tube when I removed them from the old movement; the third came off with the tube, and thinking that piece was redundant I actually took the time to carefully remove it. Doh! So I understand what you mean with "single piece" all too well :-) They do say good judgement comes as a result of lessons learned from failure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 At this point a replacement set of hands is probably your best bet. In some cases, you can do some repairs. If the tube was enlarged during the removal process, a staking set can help close the tube back down so that it actually grabs the pinion. If the tube has separated from the hand, that is also something that can be repaired, but it is quite a skilled repair job and not for the faint of heart. Freddy's post above shows a great fix for you if you are up for it. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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