Non-Hacking ETA 2846

[freddy333]

Are these movements supposed to hack or are there two versions -- one hacking and one not?

I got two 2846s from Ofrei and neither appears to hack. One of these is to replace a dead one I just swapped out of a 5 month old WM DRSD. The 2846 I removed from the DRSD hacked and you can imagine my surprise after getting everything back together again only to find that the watch was not hacking anymore. Is hacking an option with this movement or did I get two defective movements from Ofrei?

ps To save newbies some time, hacking is a feature in some movements that causes the movement (and second hand) to stop when the crown is pulled out to set the time. This makes it easier to set the time.

[stilty]

Are these movements supposed to hack or are there two versions -- one hacking and one not?

I got two 2846s from Ofrei and neither appears to hack. One of these is to replace a dead one I just swapped out of a 5 month old WM DRSD. The 2846 I removed from the DRSD hacked and you can imagine my surprise after getting everything back together again only to find that the watch was not hacking anymore. Is hacking an option with this movement or did I get two defective movements from Ofrei?

ps To save newbies some time, hacking is a feature in some movements that causes the movement (and second hand) to stop when the crown is pulled out to set the time. This makes it easier to set the time.

The two I've used in the past did not hack.

[freddy333]

The two I've used in the past did not hack.

Good to know I am not alone in running non-hacking 2846s, but I would still love to know why some of them (like the one I just removed from my WM DRSD) hack?

OR.............are the gen DRSDs supposed to hack?? Does anyone (Ziggy or Ubi) have the stats on which of these had hacking movements? It would still be nice if the movement hacked (much easier to set the time), but if the gens do not hack, then I might just live with it.

[stilty]

Good to know I am not alone in running non-hacking 2846s, but I would still love to know why some of them (like the one I just removed from my WM DRSD) hack?

OR.............are the gen DRSDs supposed to hack?? Does anyone (The Zigmeister or Ubi) have the stats on which of these had hacking movements? It would still be nice if the movement hacked (much easier to set the time), but if the gens do not hack, then I might just live with it.

I believe the early gen's did not hack such as caliber 1570. So having the slow beat, non-hacking 2846 is more authentic.

I haven't played with the 2846 in a while, but you should be able to stop the second hand by holding the crown a certain way. I remember doing this with a miyota movement. Also, The Zigmeister may know more, but you may be able to modify the movement to hack... I know I've accidently created a non-hack 2824-2 back in the day by messing around and not knowing what I was doing.

[freddy333]

Thanks Stilty.

Are you or anyone else familiar enough with WM's DRSD to know which gen movement would be correct -- hacking or non?

While hacking this subject, I might as well kill two birds -- I also have a Comex no-date Sub (the one with narrow 3, 6 & 9 indexes that came with the 'Comex 729' on the back) that I was also going to use one of these 2846 movements in. Does anyone know if the movement in the gen Sub hacked?

[ubiquitous]

Yeah... Of the 6 or so I've had, non of them hacked. They were all slow beat, non hacking quick sets.

The older 1570's were also non-hack, slow(er) beat and were also slow set. One of my only gripes of that movement- slow set date. Ughhhh... It's not much fun spinning the hour hands through complete cycles just to set the date... Especially when it's the 28th of the month and the date on the watch is set at the 15th.

[freddy333]

Thanks Randy, but this brings up 2 more questions.

1. Do you mean that the movement in the genuine DRSD that the WM DRSD is based on would have had one of these older 1570s that did not hack? So the non-hacking 2846 that I just installed in my WM DRSD is more accurate than the hacking 2846 I just removed?

2. I am confused about the quick set dates. Although neither hacks, both of the 2846s I got from Ofrei have quick set dates. Did any of your 2846s have quick set dates?

The DRSD I received from Watchmaster came with an ETA 2846 that had both the hacking feature and quick set date. The 2 movements I received from Ofrei look exactly like the one I took out of Watchmaster's watch and they have the same quick set date but no hacking feature.

So by my count, there are at least 3 different versions of the ETA 2846 movement -- 1 that has both the hacking and quick set date (like the one that came with the WM DRSD), 1 that has the quick set but not the hacking feature (like the movements I got from Ofrei), and 1 that does not have the quick set date or the hacking feature (like Ubi's).

[ubiquitous]

All of the ETA 2846's I've had were quick setters, non hack So, to my knowledge, there are only 2; hack and non-hack with both being QS.

It's the genuine 1570's that were slow set. And the early ones were also non-hack...

[freddy333]

Thanks Randy. And I know what you mean about the pain of slow set. I used to have a gen Datejust and it was the slow set date. A major headache if you do not wear the watch for a while and it runs down and the days go by.

[stilty]

Ughhhh... It's not much fun spinning the hour hands through complete cycles just to set the date...

If I remember correctly, on non-quick set movements, you don't have to spin all the way around to set the date.

A little trick is, forward the time past midnight to advance the date, then bring the hands back to 10 or 11pm then forward again, it should advance the date again when you roll past midnight. You can do this until you get to the correct date. Hope this helps!

[freddy333]

Right, I forgot about that trick.

[woody]

This is a good topic, and I am learning more about the 2846 movement, hacking, non hacking, plus how old 1570s behave. I am planning on buying two of them, and both Ofrei and Jules Borel that Randy had referred me to are out of stock at this time. Anyone else have any suggestions?

PS. Ofrei did tell me to check bak in 2 weeks, so I hope they would have it in stock then.

[stilty]

This is a good topic, and I am learning more about the 2846 movement, hacking, non hacking, plus how old 1570s behave. I am planning on buying two of them, and both Ofrei and Jules Borel that Randy had referred me to are out of stock at this time. Anyone else have any suggestions?

PS. Ofrei did tell me to check bak in 2 weeks, so I hope they would have it in stock then.

you could try julesborel.com

[Highflyingclive]

If I remember correctly, on non-quick set movements, you don't have to spin all the way around to set the date.

A little trick is, forward the time past midnight to advance the date, then bring the hands back to 10 or 11pm then forward again, it should advance the date again when you roll past midnight. You can do this until you get to the correct date. Hope this helps!

I have Russian watch with this "quick" set feature. Turn the time back from 12 to 8 and back again. It works - and it is a real pain.

So if the date is more than a day or two short of the date displayed on the watch, I know what the time is.

It's time to select a different watch

[woody]

you could try julesborel.com

I did stilty, take a look at my original post, but no go there too, at least for now, I was told.

[eunomians]

For the record: around 1970 Rolex movements started to have the hack feature.

[stilty]

I did stilty, take a look at my original post, but no go there too, at least for now, I was told.

Right! Sorry.... must have missed that... too much merlot. You could also try cousins in the UK.

[freddy333]

For the record: around 1970 Rolex movements started to have the hack feature.

That was my understanding too. So that means that most Sea Dwellers and DRSDs should hack, which brings me back to my original question which is why the ETA 2846 that Watchmaster used in my DRSD hacks, but none of the ETA 2846s I have gotten as replacements do? All of the movements look and beat the same way, so I have to assume that there are either two or more versions of the 2846 or that there is a 'hacking' modification available (that some rep sellers like Watchmaster use for their 2846s).

Woody -- I see that Ofrei has removed the 2846 from their ETA page of movements. It was listed a few weeks ago when I ordered mine. I just checked the ETA website and it lists the 2846 as "Phased Out". Something tells me that is not good news.