My 1655 saga...and a movement question.

[CptTripps]

Some of you may remember a thread I started about a funny noise that my 1655 was making. It's a Phong case, with a gen movement. The rotor was 'squeeking' and I wanted to get it taken care of.

 

I found a local watchmaker that worked on vintage watches. He had a pretty good rep from the 2-3 people I talked to. So on May 30th, I took it up to him to investigate. He looked it over, and thought I could pick it up on Monday. (YOu see where this story is going...don't you?)

 

A week later, he needed more time. It wasn't running right.

 

A week later he needed more time...he needed to replace the cannon pinion.

 

A week later, I didn't get a response to my email or TXTs.

 

A week later I got an apology, and that he wanted another guy to look at it.

 

A week later, I didn't get a response again.

 

A week later...same.

 

A week later (Friday) I sent him an email and said I'd be coming in on Monday to pick it up.

 

When I arrived this morning, his face turned white when he saw me. Went in the back to work for a sec...and then came back with my watch. He said he was having an issue with finding a cannon pinion that was the right length, and that the second hand wasn't staying on. He gave me my watch back, and also told me to take the pile of things that I'd gathered from his store while I was waiting for him. (3 leather straps, and a few other misc parts.)

 

The watch was running when I left, but the date was resetting at 6p...and the GMT hand was nowhere near 12 when it happened.

 

I pulled the hands when I got back to the office, and reset them back where they belong. I need to work on getting the datewheel to center, but that's a 'nice to have' as, right now, the seconds hand moves with the minute hand, and a little faster than it. Interesting. I'll play when I get home.

 

So I'm back to square one, and after a little research here, I see that there is a modification you need to make to the cannon pinion to make it work with the older GMT 1570s. I can't find anything that tells me WHAT the mod is though.

 

Any guidance? I'd really like to wear this watch again. I had it for 2 weeks...he had it for 8.

[denimhead]

If i can first of all sympathize with your quest  I had countless issues with a 1575 in a Franken 1655 that i build a few years ago, then even more issues with an old 1030 in a recent 6538 Sub build. I've personally come to the conclusion that I'd rather spend the extra cash on other things rather than the Gen movements.

I'm in the process of finishing off another 1655 build but this time I've taken a different direction. My case is a highly modded ingod44 case which is made for the 1570 movement, a Yuki eta adapter for the 1570 movement, lifted the GMT components off the Asian 2836-2 gmt movement and put them onto a slow beat 2846, removed the hacking lever as the case is dated from 1973(pre-hacking) and had the 24hr hand frozen so it follows the hour hand and isn't independently adjustable as per the Gen movement

Hope that may have given you another route to investigate, far cheaper and more reliable in my experience too!

Cheers DH

[CptTripps]

Next time...I may go that route. I'm "pot committed" right now though.

 

It turns out that the sound it was making was from the wrong screws being used on the rotor assembly. so they were rubbing. I could have fixed that myself...if I'd just known. At the time, I was afraid of pulling movements apart though. I'm still a little weary...but am OK with the less complicated movements like this one. (The Zenith on the other hand...that's a bit out of my reach still.)

[denimhead]

I'd love to see it when your done  lovely piece if its done right

[CptTripps]

I'm just hoping I can get it back to where it was when I took it in to him!

[CptTripps]

I got her torn-town, and back together. Should be in good shape now. I AM missing one screw though. One of the casement screws. I need to buy a bunch of those.

[automatico]

"I found a local watchmaker that worked on vintage watches. He had a pretty good rep from the 2-3 people I talked to."

I think this needs to be said:

Anyone who can work on an automatic Eta 2824, AS1903, Bulova 11BLACD etc without screwing anything up should be able to work on a rolex 1530/60/70/75/GMT. Period.

The only difference is there are no spare parts readily available for rolex.

If the guy could not fix the watch (cp?) because of parts, he should still be sharp enough to diagnose the wrong screws and put the date in correspondence with the hands.

I think maybe this guy needs to stick to changing batteries.

"I've personally come to the conclusion that I'd rather spend the extra cash on other things rather than the Gen movements."

I agree. I have some rolex parts and that is the only reason I can make a Frankenstein now and then. As for chasing rolex parts down...it is just not worth it imho. Especially 1575 GMT parts.

Otoh, it's hard to justify a $400 dial, $500 bracelet, and $1200 case with a $75 Eta or $25 DG grinning at you when you remove the back.

[CptTripps]

I think he was just out of his comfort zone and didn't want to admit it. In an hour, I was able to get my datewheel issue fixed, oiled the noisy piece of the rotor, and put the hands back where they belonged. I DO want to send it out to have someone year it all the way down and re-build the movement and lubricate it properly. Mike has too many of my watches right now, so maybe I'll see if I can find someone else CONUS to do it.