UPO lite attempts to self-destruct... now with happy ending.

[OiRogers]

I got my UPO lite about 5 weeks ago... I already have a 4th gen 42mm and a UPO ETA with orange bezel... Decided I wanted to try out the black bezel/orange numeral version without the full expense of the ETA. I ordered the UPO Lite full well knowing that the movement could very well be a timebomb that could go at anytime with no warning and little prompting.

First two or three weeks of my UPO Lite ownership went great... no issues at all. Water-resistant to a good depth after just tightening the caseback after a little siliconing.

Then about a week ago the first *hiccup* surfaced... the date wheel didn't change all the way... only flipped halfway. By crown the next morning it flipped easily with a loud *snick*.

Two days ago (after three more mornings of half-date changes) it totally stopped on my wrist. I undid the crown and gave it a good shake and it ran... but i couldn't hear the rotor spin.... figured I was seeing the demise of a UPO Lite movement firsthand.

Yesterday the same thing... stopped dead on the wrist, no rotor movement noise and ran find after unscrewing the crown and shaking the watch like it owed me money... it ran fine all night with the crown in the "wind" position" dial up on top of my dresser.

This morning (after a 16 hour work shift) I had the great idea to crack the caseback and see what I could see... wanted to see if I could find why the rotor had stopped spinning (at least as far as my ear could determine).

Upon cracking the caseback.... I noticed the three movement holder clips and screws were nowhere to be found..... empty screw holes and clip recesses were plainly visable. When I purchased the watch, I popped the caseback to silicon the gasket and at that point noticed that the three movement holder screws were of three different sizes.. amused me at the time.

I lifted the anti-mag cover and to my horror found the three missing screws and clips seriously gumming up the works... a screw was keeping the rotor from turning at all... a movement clip was jammed vertically through the balance... another screw was wedged into the winding train... the other two clips and single screw were nowhere in sight...

I turned the watch over and shook it again... As if it owed me *a bunch* of money... and low and behold... two clips and a screw produced themselves from points unknown inside the "asian eta copy" movement.

After removing the six offending pieces of metal.. the watch ran fine... date changes went fine... didn't just "stop" on the wrist....

I reassembled the watch... placing the three clips and three screws back in place and discovered that two of the the clips didn't actually "clip" to anything... they are too short. Also found that one of the three screws is too skinny and would fall pretty freely out of any of the three screw-holes.

After this discovery I have since reassembled the watch with 2 screws and clips (one not holding anything) and have a spare screw and clip in my parts bin... The watch has run for the past 16 hours losing less than 2 seconds on the wrist.... not too bad.... date changed fine this morning as well.

I checked my ETA UPO this afternoon... no issues at all... and all the screws are the same size. Checked one other UPO lite I have visitation rights too (next door neighbor) and found that the screws were of different headsize, but fit snugly into their holes... this makes me *pray* that my particular UPO Lite is a unique case... I came pretty close to chucking the watch into the "dead" heap and moving on.

My biggest question is how in the heck did those six pieces of metal, after working themselves loose, end up *UNDER* the anti-mag cover and in the movement... it seemed like a pretty snug fit when I looked at it.

And I suppose one further question for all the watchsmiths here that know more than me... (that would be pretty much any of you that own a screwdriver)... does having the movement/holder ring being held by one screw endanger anything... am I putting my crown/stem up to undue stress?... It takes a pretty good effort to get the movement and ring to come free of the case even without the screws/clips in place.

Long story made short... today OiRogers learned that upon getting a new watch... ensure the retaining clips and screws are tightly in place... one more step for me to go through upon reciept of a new watch... oh well... at least its fun to tinker under the hood as it were.

And man... I hope this makes sense to someone other than me.. I've had two bottles of locally produced Sangria after work tonight and I'm not certain that I've made any sense... Wish I would have had the wifes camera handy to document the wonders of my self-disassembling UPO lite.

But if nothing else... finding it out to only be clips/screws loose restored my faith in the UPO lite as one of the best "bang for the buck" reps available.

[FxrAndy]

Glad this had a happy ending, my anti mag cover is on tight, so i hope pixies dont to the same to me as they did to you.

[r11co]

Check out my post comparing the assembly of the two versions of this watch. When I disassembled the ETA and DG4813 versions side-by-side I discovered that both had (different) shortcomings in how the movement was secured. Both versions of the watch use the same steel movement holder, and with the ETA movement the clamps are used to secure the movement holder only - outside the anti-mag core. Nothing holds the movement to the holder. The Asian has the movement secured to the holder - under the anti-mag cover, but the holder hanging free in the case.

[OiRogers]

@ r11co...

My ETA version of this watch is the same as yours... clamps holding the movement holder only.

My DG4813 wasn't secured to the movement holder either... just plopped in there ala ETA...

I'm still trying to figure out how the clamps and screws made their way *Under* the anti-mag cover and into the movement... the cover was on snugly and had to use a *bit* of force with a fingernail to lift/remove it.

And I know for a fact that the screws/clamps were outside the anti-mag when I got the watch initially... I remember thinking the mis-matching screw head sizes was a nice touch in a rep watch... a mystery.