Asia GMT movement - reliable?

[GhostfaceZX]

I'm interested in buying a SMP GMT (bond style) with Asian movement. Anyone have feedback as to the reliability of them?

[Guest overboosted]

Have 2 Rolex GMT's with with asian movements and both are fine after 6 and 8 months.

[GhostfaceZX]

Have 2 Rolex GMT's with with asian movements and both are fine after 6 and 8 months.

Thanks for the info...just out of curiousity, do you know if the same movement in your Rolexes are used in the SMP GMT?

Also, besides the asian 7750, are the asian movements pretty reliable in general? If it's not reliability, what makes the swiss movements more desirable and people willing to pay double the asian rep price for them?

Finally, isn't there supposed to be a pic of Stacey Keibler in your sig?

[bricky]

1 out of 2 was defective for me.... I'm not very fond of them.

[Guest overboosted]

I thnk for the money spent asian movements are excellent. They arent going to last forever. Other than the 7750, I think they have a very low failure rate in the first year. After that who knows.

And yes Stacy was a part of my sig, but there were complaints that my sig was up to over 4MB and people on dial-up we having issues.

[Chronus]

And yes Stacy was a part of my sig, but there were complaints that my sig was up to over 4MB and people on dial-up we having issues.

There are still people on dial-up???

They should just switch off images and selectively load the ones they want.

[ehtolcad]

tell those dialup users about adblock and move on

shake it stacy!!!

[Richard Tracy]

Ahhhh, the question of the hour, Asian or ETA,..

I think it depends upon the watch, and your disposable income, and the use of

a particular watch, but first, as to the question of reliability of Asian movements,

my experience has been very good.

I have had a few for over ten years, and many over two.

As for failures, for watches that I've kept, zero.

I have had a few come in with problems, but I sent them back, or gave them away to my

sons to go play ball with.

Same with ETA.

I think there are a whole range of grades within ETA or Asian, the problem being,

there is no way to know before hand, as it seems even our dealers don't always

know what they are selling.

However, that said, living and learning here from the wealth of collective,

or maybe just being influenced by the masses, I tend now to choose ETA

when I feel it's with a watch that I am serious about, and intend to keep.

That especially goes for the 7750.

Those are far and few between however, as even though it took me two plus years to

put a shape on my self image in timepieces, that outline has eliminated many watches

from my list.

It hasn't closed it off however and I doubt it ever will, as the outline needs filling in.,

And that is the fun of the game, I'm just much more selective.

So, when I'm experiementing, I tended to go for a less expensive variety, just to test the

companionability of a particular watch, and I feel, until one reaches that point of knowing

just which watches, will grow and survive your changing tastes, Asian engines remain a smart

alternative to automatically throwing extra money into pieces that may not stay the course with you,

because for many of us, discovering TRC WT and RWG, is like hitting the jackpot , giving us the chance

to dive head first, into the glorious, varied world of styles and functions in watches that we could ill afford otherwise.\

Isn't this Exciting ?

Edited March 18, 2006 by Richard Tracy

[GhostfaceZX]

Ahhhh, the question of the hour, Asian or ETA,..

<snip>

Nice info...my first rep was an ETA Explorer 2 that cost $300. I broke it within 2 months by fiddling with it, trying to get to the dial.

Spent about 3 hours today trying to repair it, but no luck...the hour and gmt gears just don't want to grab. Quite sad...

I want another GMT, but want to stay away from Rolex..now this beautiful Bond SMP is available to me in both Asian and ETA, price difference of about $120...what to do?

[robertk]

I agree with Tracy. I have a ton of reps, more than 30 Asians and only two have had a problem which was repairable. many of them are over a year old and still keep excellent time. I think the new asian movements are an improvement, and, as tracy said, a cheap alternative until you decide what you really like

[groobash]

onlt asian movement that crapped out on me so far was one of two Muller jumping hours

[GhostfaceZX]

Pulled the trigger on the Asian - will let you guys know if I come across any issues

[alligoat]

All of my Asian movements have and continue to run well, with the exception of one- it's from the ABC Watch Co. - China. It's in a red sub and I may swap it out for a ETA or a Miyota some time. The others are doing fine and keep good time. I think the quality of the asian movts is improving, or at least I hope it is!

[dadog13]

Pulled the trigger on the Asian - will let you guys know if I come across any issues

you made a right choice...asian mvt are ok for me...have 3 reps with asian mvt and all work just fine...

for the price you pay you will be very happy with them!!!

[GhostfaceZX]

Received the Asian Bond SMP GMT this week...

Sofar, I'm unable to report on the true reliability of the movement, but I do have several issues with the watch listed here.

1) When I first got the watch, I shook it to wake it up, but nothing. I didn't even hear the rotor turning. I wound it by hand and got it ticking, but still no sign of movement from the rotor. I brought it home and took off the caseback and found the rotor was stuck in one particular location. I found some glue remnants on the top of the rotor, but that wouldn't have caused it to stick. It was able to turn, but once it got back to the same place as before, it would get stuck, like something was adding friction at that point. I unscrewed the rotor to look underneath, but didn't see anything. Screwed it back in place and voila, it moved fine. I'm guessing it was misaligned on assembly.

2) Crown is crooked on stem. Not a HUGE problem, but it is annoying since I have to thread the crown very carefully (and make several attempts) to lock it or it will want to cross-thread.

3) Plastic movement holder (no movement clamps or metal movement ring) is quite loose...if I pull the crown to set the watch, I can see the dial shifting in the case. I cut a small piece of business card, folded it up, and jammed it on the side to make the movement holder snug to the case.

4) Crown stem unscrewed from the crown. It didn't take very much force to come off. I had to take the stem out and super-glued the stem back into the crown. I tried rethreading it into the crown several times before, but there didn't seem to be enough friction to make stay. Every time I adjusted the time forward, the crown would unscrew off the stem and the watch needed to come apart again.

5) Only one of the clasp lock wires are hooking the [censored]. I took that clasp lock apart to bend the wires, but it only helped a little. Now, if I want the inner wire to hook onto the [censored], I have to press both buttons when closing the clasp, then release and see one of the buttons only halfway out. Pressing the clasp harder on my wrist will fully lock the inner wire.

I don't know if anyone would consider those problems reliability issues of the asian movement, but without having the right tools, someone who encounters them will not be too happy.

Overall, I think the watch looks great, and I'm wearing it proudly. The bracelet is much more comfortable than my rep Rolex Exp 2.

I'm in the process of regulating the time now...seems pretty difficult to get it close enough to where I'm happy with it, but I'm sure I'll get be able to finish that up soon.