Thought 2 out of 2 dead on arrival. All Good Now

[marblegranite]

Received my second rep order today. A PAM 288 with asian 7750 movement and a Chopard GT XL Chrono with Valgranes A07.211 movement. Unfortunately both watches are not working. Haven't had much luck with this hobby so far. Out of 4 reps ordered, had problems with 3. I actually only have 1 in my possession that is working, the second watch in my first order was sent back to China 2 weeks ago to be replaced, and now these 2 that just arrived DOA. Very frustrating.

I wore each watch for 5 minutes to wind them per a recommendation I read on the board. After that didn't work I placed both watches on my winder for 30 minutes (setting selected = rotate clockwise for 2 minutes and rest for 6 minutes). The watches still didn't start to work.

As a last resort I tried to manually wind the watches and noticed that the crown would not turn clockwise very smoothly. I didn't want to force it and risk breaking the movement. When I try to pull out the crown to set the time it appears to be stuck. This is true for both watches.

I would like to avoid sending the watches back to China to avoid the high shipping fees, the shipping risk, and the long waiting period.

My question is this - without knowing what the problem truly is, should I take my chances and take the watches to a local watchsmith to get it fixed? I was going to send the watches to Vac to have the movement serviced in a couple of months, but if servicing the movement will solve these problems I'll send it sooner.

Update: Everything is good. Figured out what was wrong. Didn't realize the watches had screw down crowns.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Watchmeister

[Guest zeleni kukuruz]

Yeah NO luck for you mate! [censored] that realy stinks! From who did you buy?

[gran]

What a shame...send them back

[Cats]

You aren't lucky with your first purchases.

I can imagine that you don't want to send them back to China.

We would like to know who your supplier is so we can be careful buying from that source. Please tell it isn't one of our thrusted dealers.

Carpe Diem

Cats

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[marblegranite]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

My first order was with Andrew and the second with Tony. Tony is a trusted dealer on another board. And to be fair to both of them, I had issues with both orders and received the same level of service from both dealers so far. It is easy to provide great customer service when everything goes well. You can only really validate the claims of good customer service when problems arise.

So it appears the consensus is that I have no safe alternatives to sending the watches back to China for a replacement/repair.

[eric72]

Tried to shake them a bit harder? WW for a start is not a good idea (my experience)

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[XWORD]

I've had a Sky Avenger for approx 2-3 years now and when I first received it had to give it a good shaking to get it going. Tried the winder , the gentle roll, etc. but the only thing that got it going was a fairly good shaking. When I don't wear it and it stops, it's very tough to get it going again and only comes around after a fairly lengthy shaking. I'm not suggesting that this will work for your watches, but it may be worth a try before sending back to China. Just my 2 cents worth. Hope it all works out for you.

[freddy333]

Sorry to hear of your bad (though all-too-common) luck. If you were planning to have Vac overhaul your watch, then I would go that route, since the movements in most rep watches are used &/or unserviced & generally require an overhaul upon arrival. That way, you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so to speak. Otherwise, your options are to send the watches back or have them overhauled locally by a professional (rep-friendly) watchmaker. Were it me, I would opt for the latter option since, as I said, pretty much all reps require a proper overhaul whether they arrive, whether working or not.

Oh, I guess there is a 3rd option - get a Swatch.

[marblegranite]

Thank you all for the feedback and suggestions. It is with a mix of joy and embarrassment that I post this update. I'm happy to report that both watches are working perfectly. I took the watches to a local rep friendly watchsmith that was recommended by a fellow member. It turns out the reason the crown appeared stuck when rotated clockwise was that both watches have screw in crowns, and they were screwed in as far as possible :bangin: . I didn't think the watches had screw in crowns since I could hear clicks when rotating the crowns anti clockwise. I was afraid of damaging the movements based on what I read on the 7750 user guide, which says you should only rotate it clockwise in the winding position. I also didn't think these watches had screw in crowns since the specific pages for these watches on both Andrew's and Tony's sites don't specify that they have screw in crowns. The watchsmith's assistant (the watchsmith was gone for the day) unscrewed the crowns, winded the watches and both watches started to magically work. When he showed me the watches working I didn't know if I should laugh of relief or hide my head inside my shirt LOL :bangin: .

I guess after reading so many posts in the past month I got a little freaked out about breaking the reps and was more careful than I needed to be. The next time I purchase a rep I'll look at the TD's websites for information about the crown, and if nothing is found I'll look for the specs of the gen and assume the rep operates the same way.

I'll edit the first post on this thread to specify that the watches are working fine.

[marblegranite]

Admin - I don't have permission to edit the original post. Please add a note specifying that the two watches are fine and it was just user error .

[BigBuys]

It is certainly a relief to find that NO ONE has that kind of bad luck, my friend! One additional little knowledge packet for Noobs is that many Asian clones have relatively high internal resistance and an initial light winding of the mainspring does not provide enough torque to drive a system against the resistance. You might observe this as a watch that is dead face up, but starts running when face down. This is also true of the inverse or on either side.

I have been successful with watches that exhibit these symptoms by mearly shaking them aggressively, to start them in the orientation of least resistance, and then continuing to wave them so as to wind the rotor for several minutes. Then place the watch in the position of least resistance and allow it to run for hours. Return and repeat the wave winding for a couple of days with it running continously. After a couple of days I find that I can flip the watch to the previous dead position, or wear the watch and it will continue to run without problems. When the watch runs down, you may find that is again difficult to get running but it most probably will not be dead. The internal resistance is best relieved by service cleaning and lubrication.

There you have it my friends. I am not a smithy but an engineer and a watch is but a machine.

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME WITHOUT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OR GUIDANCE FROM YOUR MOM. THIS SOLUTION HAS ONLY BEEN PROVEN IN TWO STATES WITHIN THE USA AND YOU MAY FIND THAT IT IS UNSUCCESSFUL AT YOUR ALTITUDE.

[Jkay]

If you find you like them enough, service them. They will then start to operate with the slightest movement. Is all in how well the machine is maintained.

Have you ever tried to start a lawn mower that needs a servicing? Case in point.

[Watchmeister]

I suspected it was too bad an outcome to be true. No one goes 3 out of 4 from trusted dealers. I will amend your post.

[spooky driver]

It's funny how when we get new things they are so delicate and we are afraid the might break if we look at them the wrong way then fast forward 6months it's a different story.....I'm glad they are working now!

Btw did they charge you?

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[sgtguk]

Good on ya M Glad to see you got them working!

[gran]

:bangin: happy ending

[marblegranite]

@ POWERMAX!!! and JKay - I plan to get all my watches serviced. I'm hopeful they will last for at least a decade if I take good care of them.

I suspected it was too bad an outcome to be true. No one goes 3 out of 4 from trusted dealers. I will amend your post.

Good on ya M Glad to see you got them working!

Thanks guys! I'm glad to be down to 1 issue in 4 watches . It's not that bad of odds considering where I thought I was yesterday.

:bangin: happy ending

LOL happy ending indeed.

Btw did they charge you?

They didn't charge me but I tipped the assistant $20 as a stupidity tax LOL. I would have given him more if I had more cash on me. It saved me at least $30 of shipping and one month of waiting for a replacement.

[Jkay]

The users named Vaccum and "14060 or 16610?" are both trusted watch technicians in CONUS who are qualified to service/repair 7750 movements, which are very complex. If you bring them to "just anyone" for service, you are playing Russian roulette.

An excerpt from the services FAQ (posted publicly. nothing confidential here):

2) Flat fees for full service:

..........$100 - ETA 28XX and clone movements (non-GMT)

..........$100 - 6497-type movements (non-chrono)

..........$175 - Standard A7750 (running seconds at 9, no subdial modifications).

..........$195 - Modified A7750 (running seconds at 3 or 6, or any other subdial modifications (eg. 30-minute counter at 3). Seconds-at-6 gets graphite treatment).

..........$215 - A7753.

..........$215 - Modified A7750 with running seconds at 12.

..........$225 - TAG Grand Carrera movements.

..........$225 - Breitling big date movements.

..........A S K - gen Omega, Rolex, Breitling, Seiko and other movements.

[marblegranite]

Thanks JKay. I suspect the prices may have gone up. I've been corresponding with Vac via e-mail and he is asking $145 for 2824/2836 and $225 for 7750

Or maybe there is a noob price sheet...

[Jkay]

Thanks JKay. I suspect the prices may have gone up. I've been corresponding with Vac via e-mail and he is asking $145 for 2824/2836 and $225 for 7750

Or maybe there is a noob price sheet...

That's George's ("14060 or 16610?") pricing FAQ page from the RWI forum. All the modders charge what they feel is fair. They all have different pricing.

I have used Zigmeister, Vaccum, and The Katt but never George. I hear he is top-grade, tho.

[Jkay]

I should add that all the top modders have around a 30 day backlog of work. Expect to not see your watch for a while.

Some accept your watch immediately, then you wait for it to return. Some accept a reservation slot, and then you must send your watch to them at a very specific date so it arrives "on schedule" for your reservation date.