Problems with the Powermatic 80 movement -Anyone else?

[panerai153]

I know that one of the sought after conversions to make the AP divers slow beat has been the Powermatic 80 movement ""cannibalized" from Tissot watches. This seems like a great fix, slow beat, new movement, 80 hour power reserve, and best of all, it's a direct drop in replacement. However, there is one big problem. This is essentially and "unfixable" movement. There is no way to regulate the timing as it's set from the factory, mine has plastic parts which may be OK, but over time may not be as good. Which in my case haven't been.

About a month ago, my watch became very erratic, ran fine then stopped, this lasted for several days then it stopped, would not run at all. At this time my movement was probably around one year old, and it came out of a brand new Tissot. Sent it to misiekped, got it running, then after a couple of days, it stopped again. He cannot find any cause for the problem, and his recommendation was a replacement movement.

While all this was going on, i posted on a watchmaker forum asking about problems with the Powermatic 80 movement. The responses were pretty much similar, but the gist of the answers were this is essentially a "disposable" movement, based on the fact that it has to be sent back to Tissot to be laser regulated. Even with a Swatch account, they felt like watchmakers couldn't do much with the movement,and what Tissot does is remove the faulty movement and chunk it. They replace it with a new movement and send the watch back out. probably at a pretty expensive price, as shipping both way to Switzerland from the USA plus the service isn't cheap. If the watch is still in warranty, of course another story, but for those of us who have the movement in our AP diver, that option is not possible.

I'm pretty bummed about this, mainly because the movement is not cheap, considering you have to buy a watch to get the movement, have it installed, shipping, etc. For a repairable, regulatable movement, not a problem, but a movement that should it develop a problem, is essentially unfixable, i do have a problem.

Finally, as the title suggests, is anyone else experienced any problems with this movement, or is everyone else's ticking merrily along, and i happened to get a lemon?

 

[mule play]

very interesting. i did not realize this movement had issues and had to be laser repaired.

[pfdamion876]

I have a powermatic 80 in my diver and it's been flawless for the past year or so. Great power reserve and off by less than a second a day. It's a bummer that the movement can't be serviced. I think the safest thing to do is save the donor watch so you can always send it back for warranty repair. If it makes you feel any better this won't be much of an issue moving forward since it seems like most factories are moving away from the A2824 movement.

[GenTLe]

What's wrong in a 2842? They are quite cheap (all old automatic Swatch use them), serviceable, with 90% parts in common with 2824 and direct swap too.

[Legend]

What's wrong in a 2842? They are quite cheap (all old automatic Swatch use them), serviceable, with 90% parts in common with 2824 and direct swap too.

According to my usual dealer, the rep manufacturers would be moving away from the 2824 movement in favor of the miyota movement soon, it's a strategy to save costs.

Message crafted while riding a leathery juvenile T-Rex and charging toward the horizon.

[GenTLe]

According to my usual dealer, the rep manufacturers would be moving away from the 2824 movement in favor of the miyota movement soon, it's a strategy to save costs.

Message crafted while riding a leathery juvenile T-Rex and charging toward the horizon.

And is the powermatic a direct swap with Miyota? Because if I understood the reason of the OP post, that was the benefit of using the Tissot one.

In the meantime (while the Ap reps are still with the 2824) a 2842 will do the trick

[FlawedRobot]

No, it's not. The dial feet layout and case mounting holes is different from ETA. Only the Soprod A10 and Selitta SW200 will directly fit.

Edited March 28, 2016 by FlawedRobot

[panerai153]

Another question, would the 2846 be a viable alternative to the Powermatic 80? Lots of folks use these in the vintage Rolex builds, like the 1680 sub. I know that some folks are converting an ETA 2824 to slow beat by changing out parts from the 2846 to make it into a slow beat, but why not just use the 2846 from the get go? I know it's not as cheap as converting an a2824 to low beat, but in the end, you have a movement that is slow beat from the factory and not a converted movement.

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[Legend]

8 hours ago, panerai153 said:

Another question, would the 2846 be a viable alternative to the Powermatic 80? Lots of folks use these in the vintage Rolex builds, like the 1680 sub. I know that some folks are converting an ETA 2824 to slow beat by changing out parts from the 2846 to make it into a slow beat, but why not just use the 2846 from the get go? I know it's not as cheap as converting an a2824 to low beat, but in the end, you have a movement that is slow beat from the factory and not a converted movement.

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IMHO my friend, yes.

A well-converted low beat movement (A2824 base, ETA2846 donor parts) would essentially comprise of about 95% ETA parts, and would run very reliably even when compared vs the ETA 2824 workhorse movement. They key is in proper conversion, and there are certain know-hows involved, and not a simple hack and slash surgery. Yes the power reserve would not be 80hrs, but I would settle for a very reliable and functional movement that has about 42hrs anyday.

In comparison, the A7750 sec@12 used in factory ROO reps are factory converted movements, but look at the potential problems they could present. I wouldn't mind to have a skillfully prepared movement prepared by a third-party. Spinmaster has converted at least 50 low beat movements to date that I know of, and there has so far been no complaints from their respective owners. I take that as a tacit confirmation of my faith in the converted movements brother.   

[GenTLe]

Another question, would the 2846 be a viable alternative to the Powermatic 80? Lots of folks use these in the vintage Rolex builds, like the 1680 sub. I know that some folks are converting an ETA 2824 to slow beat by changing out parts from the 2846 to make it into a slow beat, but why not just use the 2846 from the get go? I know it's not as cheap as converting an a2824 to low beat, but in the end, you have a movement that is slow beat from the factory and not a converted movement.

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2846 is direct swap with 2836. But they are rare birds...

2842 instead is direct swap with 2824.

Anyway you can made a 2846 having a base plate of it and using parts from 2842 and the date change mech from a 2836

You can also use a 2836/2824 balance stop lever to make it hack when changing the time

[GenTLe]

In other words, if your watch has a 2824 then swap it with a 2842.

Rolexes use the 2846 because they generally come from the factory with 2836.

The difference is the stem height.

[panerai153]

I got you. 2846 = 2836, 2842 = 2824. So the 2846 couldn't be used as a direct  replacement for  the 2824. Thanks