rwgforumfan Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 I want to pick up a cheap 21j 1655 McQueen from Josh and do a ETA movement swap. However, the low beat ETA 2846 is discontinued. Which current production ETA should I get? I'm looking for one that is low beat 21,600 bph, with correct DW spacing and fully functional 24h like gen. If I want to change the too long stock hands to some shorter ones, is ETA movement the way to go? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japanic Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Save yourself the trouble as Josh's McQueen Explorer is pretty good out of the box. I would just stick with the stock 21j movement, as it already has a low-beat rate and has a functioning gmt hand. It has become increasingly difficult to find a low-beat ETA movement with a gmt function. Not to mention new hands, cutting the dial feet and hoping there is enough space for 4 hands... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwgforumfan Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) My concern is the stock 21j rotor can be kind of loud with the cheap ratchet like sound and it's a dead giveaway. Edited March 30, 2012 by rwgforumfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyB Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 The DG3804b 21j is a GMT movement by design, slow beat, and has become well respected for it's function and durability. When it's time for a full service you just remove it, hit it with a hammer and buy a brand spanking new one for $25 from Otto Frei or one of the other supply houses, with a guarantee. None of mine are noisy, but they are new from Frei and not from the factories that tend to be not so clean in their work. It might need a bit of lubricant. I don't know of any ETA slow beat that is currently made, but the ETA 2846 is still available in NOS from some suppliers. Smith's Supply has them at a very good price, but they misused my credit card, so be careful with them. I converted an ETA 2846 to GMT, but the parts to convert are strictly Chinese, ETA never converted movements to GMT having only the ETA 2893-2 GMT in their line, and I was fortunate enough to have a few members here with extra parts I used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwgforumfan Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) Are the hands on the cheaper 21j version interchangeable with the ETA? Is the stock ETA 2846 designed to do 24h GMT like gen or it needs mod to do this? Edited March 30, 2012 by rwgforumfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyB Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 No, the hands are not interchangeable. The ETA 2846 is not a GMT movement. It would have to be modded as the ETA 2836-2 is modded to have a GMT function. The only designed GMT ETA movement is the ETA 2893-2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwgforumfan Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 So there are no suitable aftermarket hands for the Josh 1655 at all? I'm debating if I should get the Clark 116 or the gen crystal. Does Clark 116 have the correct cyclops magnification? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabularasa415 Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 The DG3804b 21j is a GMT movement by design, slow beat, and has become well respected for it's function and durability. When it's time for a full service you just remove it, hit it with a hammer and buy a brand spanking new one for $25 from Otto Frei or one of the other supply houses, with a guarantee. None of mine are noisy, but they are new from Frei and not from the factories that tend to be not so clean in their work. It might need a bit of lubricant. I don't know of any ETA slow beat that is currently made, but the ETA 2846 is still available in NOS from some suppliers. Smith's Supply has them at a very good price, but they misused my credit card, so be careful with them. I converted an ETA 2846 to GMT, but the parts to convert are strictly Chinese, ETA never converted movements to GMT having only the ETA 2893-2 GMT in their line, and I was fortunate enough to have a few members here with extra parts I used. Your movement from Ofrei doesn't make a ratcheting noise when it turns?!? Maybe I just need to buy one of these for my recent 1675 build! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyB Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 So there are no suitable aftermarket hands for the Josh 1655 at all? I'm debating if I should get the Clark 116 or the gen crystal. Does Clark 116 have the correct cyclops magnification? Ken at Rafflestime has hands for the DG movements. I think they ar OK. Clark's crystals do have the correct mag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyB Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Your movement from Ofrei doesn't make a ratcheting noise when it turns?!? Maybe I just need to buy one of these for my recent 1675 build! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I took one out to make certain. Straight from the plastic movement case it came in, not a sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatico Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 I swapped out the GMT parts from a swiss eta 2836 to a swiss 2846 and posted how it went if you can find it...iirc it was a couple years back. The 2836 was one of the swiss etas with the common asian GMT conversion that takes power from the day of the week works and has a non adj 24 hour hand. The hands from dial up: 24h 12h m sec I traded it away a few years ago but the fellow who got it still wears it quite a bit with no trouble at all. Otoh, I always had pretty good luck with the '21 jewel' DG GMT movements as long as they were clean and had a little oil here and there...most of them being the older type with non adj 24 hour hands from 8 or 10 years ago. My 'hit or miss rule' for asian 21 jewelers: If they run for 3 months without going DOA...they will usually run 3 years or more. One thing I will say is that they are very rugged (except for rotor bearings). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwgforumfan Posted March 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Clark's crystals do have the correct mag. Has anyone compared Clark's 116 vs gen side by side because I keep hearing gen is better but not sure in what ways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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