Why are datewheels so difficult to get right?

[aeroflott]

The most common complaint I see on this board is about datewheels not being accurate in terms of font, or the wheel not aligning properly to the window.

Is there no potential solution to this at source? Am I right in saying a lot of watches use similar wheels like the valjoux ETA 7750 date wheel?

Why is this so difficult to rep accurately?

Cheers

T

[spa]

If i were you i'd transform your question like this:

"why don't we, the collectors, co-operate to make our own correct datewheel overlays?"

Thousands of people here and in other rep forums, still expecting "illegal" rep manufacturers to get the details of the watches always right...

...well they won't!

Edited September 20, 2007 by spa

[HauteHippie]

Why is this so difficult to rep accurately?

Cheers

T

For the most part, they simply aren't trying to produce accurate date wheels. The movements they slap into these watches already have date wheels. The time required to customize off the shelf movements isn't really worth their while.

[Pugwash]

Why is this so difficult to rep accurately?

They're using off-the-shelf parts.

[dachshund]

Why should they have to make perfect date wheels, we buy all they can make with bad date wheels.

[sssurfer]

Agree.

Still I feel that a correct date (datewheel + cyclops) would have a market.

And there are rumours that someone is currently managing to get there...

[smilingbear]

How hard would it be to do it ourselves? Couldn't someone do it ghetto-style and simply make some overlay stickers with the correct font/etc, all the user would have to do is paste it on?

[Pugwash]

How hard would it be to do it ourselves? Couldn't someone do it ghetto-style and simply make some overlay stickers with the correct font/etc, all the user would have to do is paste it on?

You make it sound so easy.

The fact that this has been done for a few watches should come as no surprise, but that you need to modify the watches in some cases to take the overlays. For instance, on my MBK 1665, I need to install a dial shim to lift the dial off the datewheel as the slight friction makes the date change not as instantaneous as it should be.

[archibald]

How hard would it be to do it ourselves?

The answer to that question is, "hard." More precisely...

finding the right font and/or vectorizing them: time consuming

alignment: tedious

learning all the little tricks to getting the vectors, layout, registation marks, and colors the way the printer wants them: complicated

Finding a printer willing to them near OEM quality: almost impossible

Sizing and cutting: easy and expensive or cheap and hard.

installing: easy...for a watchsmith.

That being said: If you can provide me w/ an actual DW from the rep you want the correct font for, identify and procure the correct font, provide sseveral closeups pictures of the date window of the OEM watch, precisely measure the rep's date window, I can have a better-than-ghetto version for you in about three days.