The money sink is almost completed!

[fraggle42]

Ordered the last parts for my UPO today.

 

A gen bracelet clasp and gen bezel, plus a couple of parts and some spare bezel wire springs.

 

Just shy of £400 for that little lot.

 

Once these are fitted the only non-gen parts will be the case, case back, SELs, bracelet links and the HE valve. The movement isn't a gen 2500, but it is a very nice TC 2824 which i'm more than happy with.

 

The clasp will go right on, but the gen bezel will only go on once I finish making the adapter ring that clips inside the gen bezel making it the same inner diameter as the rep bezels.

 

I'm planning on using two bezel wire springs, one gen and one rep, but it's going to be extremely tight for space on the adapter ring. It's 1.8mm from outer to inner surface and I've got to cut two narrow retaining channels in that 1.8mm for both retaining wire springs. Hopefully 0.5mm will be deep enough, leaving 0.8mm.

 

I have a decent length chunk of material to make them from as it'll probably take a few goes to get it right, and the extra bits and pieces and tools I've bought to do this on the lathe will mean I could have been most of the way to the price of a gen, but this is a lot more fun

 

[Nightwatch]

Well that´s quite something of a project You have going there. And a lot of expertise for putting it together and modifying the bezel fittings. Great. Have a TC since yesterday and the movement is fantastic compared to the standard Asian ones, quite another class. Assume that I could (let a specialist) replace an Asian or Swiss ETA with that one but would it work on a watch with former 2813 too in case it breaks down or I want to improve it?

Wish You to successfully finish it soon so we may have some pics of it. Good luck.

[lofi]

congrats. i finally finished my 45.5 po a couple of weeks ago. I used soder to take up the gap on the gen bezel and used the rep spring. it was a pain trimming back the solder with an exacto knife and cutting a groove for the spring but well worth the effort. I went with a used 2892 movement I got off another forum. I got it years ago and put it in this build last year. the only thing I have left is the caseback and maybe a gen bracelet. cheers to going above and beyond and taking this hobby to the highest degree!!!

[knovako2]

Congrats on your finishing product! Let us see how it looks at the end.

BTW, i thought that the bezel is a straight fit w/o any modifications needed. Or is it true only for the 42mm PO?

[fraggle42]

Thanks guys

 

Nightwatch, in this post here

http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/67631-asian-21j-vs-asia-eta-2813/

scoobs says that the 2824 should be a direct replacement for the 2813. Bear in mind that the 2836 is not as high as the 2824, so if the 2813 is the same height as the 2836, the 2824 might bee too high and when you put the back on the auto weight may touch the inside of the case back and not turn. I think you should be OK though, as it's a cheap replacement for the ETA movements, so I think it'll be copying the cheaper 2824 than the 2836.

 

Konovako, yes, only the 42mm PO bezel is a straight swap.

 

The 45.5mm is a different size, the inside diameter of the gen bezel is 40mm, the inside diameter of the rep bezel is 36.4mm, so there's quite a gap to fill in. (the rep size may differ between versions or factories, I've only got my UPO as a reference)

 

Lofi, solder? Wow! I'm impressed that you managed to fill that gap with that much solder, it must have taken absolutely loads of solder! Did you make a wooden frame or something and then fill it with the solder? You must have used a powerful soldering iron. I'm used to electronic repair work and use a soldering iron for that, but it hasn't got anywhere near enough power to melt that much solder.

 

 

Tonight I thought I'd quickly put the clasp on, sorting out the bezel is going to take some time as I need to set the lathe up and sort out some heat in the garage / shed as it's freezing!!

 

 

It didn't go as straightforward as I had hoped! The gen clasp does not directly fit onto a rep bracelet.

 

If you look at the clasp it has two "wings" either end that extend about 1~1.5mm from the main body of the clasp and are maybe 5mm wide. The first segment of the bracelet has a matching space cut into it to allow these wings to fit nicely, and the wings are there to hide the small links either side of the bracelet, just make it look nicer.

 

The difference between gen and rep is the width of those wings. On the rep they are smaller than the gen, so after I put the gen on it would not close properly, the gap in the (rep) end segments is too small and so the clasp cannot sit flush with the end segment in the bracelet.

 

All isn't lost, all I have to do it remove the material in the end segments so the gen clasp will fit perfectly.

 

I've got to put my CNC machine back together (I'm upgrading the motor in it at the moment), and then I'll do the work, taking some pics showing what I've done to these end segments, and hopefully the end result all together and looking lovely.

[fraggle42]

Well I've machined the bracelet links that connect to the clasp and the gen clasp now fits in nice and snugly!

Unfortunately the half link I have in the bracelet decided to completely fall to pieces when I was putting it together. It was just too worn to push back together and stay together so I tried some blue threadlock and that has worked brilliantly!

All back together and the clasp now closes perfectly and doesn't fall to bits like the old one did.

I'm still tempted to try to pick up a gen bracelet complete, if one comes along cheap enough I will, but for now I can move onto making the adapter that the gen bezel needs to fit properly.

And in the meantime, wear it and enjoy it

[dannyboy]

Quite a biuld!  Good luck with it.