Rick James Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 I have a PAM 004 from another member here, the main spring seems broken. The watch wasn't keeping particularly good time and now the mainspring seems to slip. The movement seems to be an ETA 6497. The best way to describe the issue is that instead of winding you hear a spring slip inside the watch. The gears and the click seem fine, so I'm assuming it's the spring that's broken. Does anyone know of a watchsmith in Houston that is OK with reps and fixing swiss movements? I've taken a movement out of a watch before, but I've never torn a movement down so I don't think this is a job I could do myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 http://www.rwgforum.net/user/4964-14060-or-16610 (George) is a long-time trusted watch technician from TX ,, he lives on another Forum be he does have an account here. He specializes in difficult/complex chrono movements but does all kinds of work. http://www.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php?t=60017 this is his storefront on RWI forum .. looks like he's been doing business for 7 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick James Posted February 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Thanks for the tips! Vac also got back to me saying he can do a 1 week turnaround on a movement service and mainspring replacement. Not super cheap, just under $200. Not sure what's normal price for this kind of job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Vac is the best all-around modder in North America right now and so his turn around times have climbed insanely in the last year or two. Looking at 15 weeks sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick James Posted February 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Weird wonder why he said a week. I did see in one of his posts he said he hired a guy just to service movements (since I'm not modding anything.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceejay Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) $200 to fix or $50 for a new Asian 6497 movement...hmmmm Unless of course it's real ETA Edited February 10, 2014 by ceejay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 The 6497 is the most basic ETA movement, and beginners learn to repair on them. $200 for that piece is really out of line. I mean ... that's robbery; sorry. Why not email The Katt in MN and mail your watch to him. GKLONER at GMAIL dot COM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick James Posted February 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 The 6497 is the most basic ETA movement, and beginners learn to repair on them. $200 for that piece is really out of line. I mean ... that's robbery; sorry. Why not email The Katt in MN and mail your watch to him. GKLONER at GMAIL dot COM I guess I should shop around some more. Did strike me as expensive. $200 to fix or $50 for a new Asian 6497 movement...hmmmm Unless of course it's real ETA It's a real ETA movement as far as I can tell by looking at it, and was billed as such by babola when he sold his build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfa1 Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) I doubt you will find a qualified watchmaker to do a complete disassembly clean and lubricate properly any Eta movement any cheaper than the price quoted. There are some who will do it cheaper, but I doubt they are schooled and certified on ETA movements, just my experience in L.A. having had 2824's and 2836's serviced and both having the Top grade Glycudur balance and Anachron main spring installed and calibrated in 4 positions, your quote is quite reasonable. Edited November 11, 2015 by alfa1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreformed66 Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 $200.00 for a service and mainspring on a 6497 is ridiculous in my opinion. They're a very simple movement that's very easy to work on. I'm going to let everybody in on a little secret. There are lots of qualified watchmakers that never went to ETA's school. I've been doing watch repair for 25 years. I am for the most part self-taught and partially educated by a watchmaker who sat at the bench for 70 years who himself started as an apprentice boy at 15. Just because you didn't attend their school doesn't mean you couldn't read and comprehend. I can have a 6497 apart and in the cleaning basket in 10 minutes. I can have it back together, oiled and ready for regulation in around 20. The dead time while it's in the cleaning machine is usually used to work on something else. Unless there's a problem you missed during the service they regulate quickly and well. A mainspring is less than $20.00. So basically the quote is for $180.00 an hour labor, which actually isn't even at the high end of things. Try paying for factory service. And yes, I've cleaned up after the factory service guys from time to time and they all went to WOSTEP. My point is that there are lots of "certified" watchmakers who cut corners and rush jobs to bill more. I know more about watch theory and design than most of the "school" watch technicians that I've ever talked to, but the reason for that was I wanted to learn it and did so on my own. Some of them did too. Others didn't. I've got copies of the ETA technical sheets (and many others) and I read those too. Where the WOSTEP trained guys have an advantage is that they devoted a couple of years of their life full-time to learning watch repair while guys like me had to build the skills over a longer period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slay Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 200$ is beyond ridiculous! Joel takes less than that to work on 60+ year old angelus movements.You dont need to disassemble much to change the mainspring on a 6497, it's very easy even if you have never done it. If you dont want to do it yourself, ask Joe/Neckyzips, not sure what his rates are, but as far as I know less than 100 for a 6497.If its Asian, you may want to consider getting a new movement from ebay for 40$ (!).Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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