GMT-Master II Ceramic Bezel

[Stephane]

Dear All,

I have a GMT II correct hand stack that I bought from RepAustria a while ago.

I ruined it completely as I wasn't setting the time properly (the hour hand that flips/jumps is really fragile).

So I asked him to write me a little tutorial on how to safely set the time on that movement after he repaired it.

Here it is for you to copy/paste.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Stephane

In general it is best to first set the GMT hand by moving the crown out to the second notch, and then adjusting the hour hand by moving the crown to the first notch.

Always be sure to turn everything slowly, nice and easy.

This may sound complicated, but that way you make sure the movement is not stressed.

Set the hour hand only when the movement is at a full hour.

Meaning

[Guest nikos1978]

REPLICA IS ALWAYS A REPLICA

HE HE

[AllergyDoc]

  Stephane said:

In general it is best to first set the GMT hand by moving the crown out to the second notch, and then adjusting the hour hand by moving the crown to the first notch.

Always be sure to turn everything slowly, nice and easy.

This may sound complicated, but that way you make sure the movement is not stressed.

Set the hour hand only when the movement is at a full hour.

Meaning

[Toadtorrent]

Nice post and pics. I do want this one. I guess we'll have to see what the poop is on the movement.

[dvn]

  By-Tor said:

The correct hand stack movement is hour hand adjustable. The wrong hand stack movement has an adjustable GMT hand.

yes By-tor is correct and i stand corrected.

Joshua told me that "Unlikely to have any more" correct handstack verion but the "GMT independently hand adjustable" maybe

available next week.

I had a chance to get it but i prefered to wait and now i am too late. I hope they made more.

[Chronus]

  AllergyDoc said:

Here's something interesting.

The GMT hand cannot be adjusted.

When I pull the crown out to the 2nd position and attempt to adjust the GMT hand, the hour hand moves. Turning the crown the opposite direction changes the date.

The date clicks over when the hour hand moves to 12 a.m.

I don't know if this is true for this brand, but I'd always assumed that Omega uses the same system.

The only way to improve this is to have another crown position to adjust the date independently... so 4 positions (winding, time zone set, time set, and additional date set).

I know how it works in the genuine Omega:

To independently set the hour hand, pull out the crown to the date-set position. Rotating the crown up or down will move the hour hand clockwise or anti-clockwise (depending on which way you turn the crown - necessary for when you go "backwards" from say New York City to Hawaii/Lanikai for example). In this adjustment position, the minutes and seconds continue to tick away as if nothing has happened, which means you can seamlessly go from one time zone to another (unlike the ETA 2893 which requires that you view the GMT hand as the current time, unless you re-set the watch, not very convenient is it ?)

To change the date, you have to advance the hour hand to midnight. This can become monotonous as to change from one day to the next requires a complete 24 hour cycle with the hour hand. Luckily, on the genuine, this is pretty quick-ish.

To adjust the "GMT" hand, you have to go to the usual timeset position and adjust the minutes as per usual. This should also "hack" the movement and the GMT hand will move as you advance or reverse the minute hand.

Hope this helps!

Edited May 30, 2008 by Chronus

[Chronus]

  subzero1 said:

GMT hand should not jump, the hour hand should. When you move the minute hand around, the GMT hand should follow the minute hand, in the same manner than an hour hand follows the minute hand on a non-GMT watch.

The GMT hand only jumps on the inferior ETA 2893 system.

Rolex and Omega utilize independent adjustment of the hour hand, which is far superior if you are travelling (and I have made use of it in the past, so much better!).

Edited May 30, 2008 by Chronus

[woody]

I hate to say this, but all of this makes no sense. By Tor may be right on this, that perhaps there are some QC control. But for some dealers to come out and say that the factory will make no more correct hand stack ones, is beyond me. There clearly is a demand here, so unless there are some reliability issues, it would be truly foolish that they would not make them. And frankly, if I go to either Angus or Jay, and tell them I want a watch like that, I can't see them just say, "josh and andrew's got these" and it will be theirs only. If that is the case, then we really are talking about "cartel" like behavior. Just my 2 cents.

[docblackrock]

  Woody said:

I hate to say this, but all of this makes no sense. By Tor may be right on this, that perhaps there are some QC control. But for some dealers to come out and say that the factory will make no more correct hand stack ones, is beyond me. There clearly is a demand here, so unless there are some reliability issues, it would be truly foolish that they would not make them. And frankly, if I go to either Angus or Jay, and tell them I want a watch like that, I can't see them just say, "josh and andrew's got these" and it will be theirs only. If that is the case, then we really are talking about "cartel" like behavior. Just my 2 cents.

I think one thing some of you seem to be overlooking is the fact that this modified movements are not churned out of the backside conveyor belt of some humungous Chinese CNC machine. These movts are modified by skilled hands, and that takes time, effort, labour and money. There comes a point I imagine when the time and money invested does not make for more profit, quite the opposite, particularly if there are QC issues, which is always a potential with this movt. So I see this custom run and others of this type as loss leaders, a way of creating a huge surge of demand, picked up by early adopters, and then the mass production using the simpler, more reliable, less accurate movt to satisfy orders almost immediately after. Total speculation of course.

I don't want to read these threads too much now, as prefer to get the pleasure and surprise first-hand....

Current status:

Current mood:

Anticipated mood after the weekend:

[lanikai]

  docblackrock said:

I think one thing some of you seem to be overlooking is the fact that this modified movements are not churned out of the backside conveyor belt of some humungous Chinese CNC machine. These movts are modified by skilled hands, and that takes time, effort, labour and money. There comes a point I imagine when the time and money invested does not make for more profit, quite the opposite, particularly if there are QC issues, which is always a potential with this movt. So I see this custom run and others of this type as loss leaders, a way of creating a huge surge of demand, picked up by early adopters, and then the mass production using the simpler, more reliable, less accurate movt to satisfy orders almost immediately after. Total speculation of course.

I don't want to read these threads too much now, as prefer to get the pleasure and surprise first-hand....

Current status:

Current mood:

Anticipated mood after the weekend:

I wish you

Good Timepiece KARMA..

God's Speed

and the mantra will be.......... everything working properly... everything working properly.. it's a Wednesday factory built piece not a Monday or Friday... OOOHHHHMMMMMMMMM

the way I understand these modifications; the collector buy's the kits after they are fabricated ... that's why they need to go back to China for repair.. the whole kit needs to be supplied ; although they may need only a single part for the repair.. makes sense..

[robertb]

  nikos1978 said:

REPLICA IS ALWAYS A REPLICA

HE HE

I have a gen GMT II and had a problem with the watch so it might not be just a replica thing. I had to send it in and have the movement serviced because it seized, maybe it was a correct handstack issue.

[Stephane]

  robertb said:

I have a gen GMT II and had a problem with the watch so it might not be just a replica thing. I had to send it in and have the movement serviced because it seized, maybe it was a correct handstack issue.

[AllergyDoc]

One other thing I noticed is that the bracelet has the "comfort link" found on the gen. It's hidden in the clasp. It comes in handy if you bloat up at the end of the day, perhaps after downing too many Corona's. Whip that little extension piece out and your hand stops turning purple.

It's gained 12 seconds in 36 hours.

[Raijor]

  asiparks said:

so are there already 2 versions of this watch out there ? Lanikai states in his review that he has only 12 clicks to his bezel, not 24, and that his bracelet doesn't have the 3 micro adjustments that are clearly visible in your pics.....

I was really looking forward to getting in on the 2nd batch of these, but if they're not going to be correct hand stack versions, I won't.....does it make fiscal sense for the factory to engineer this movement for so few watches, then stop ?

Watchmark claims to be getting this model in too...is it possible that Josh/Andrew just got first dibs on distributing the 1st batch ?

Given that Doc's watch suddenly stopped and later started again it makes sense to me that these movements were problematic and the factory decided to go back to the more reliable non-correct hand stack version. It is a possible explanation for the change. Personally I prefer reliability in this case over the more accurate hand stack. I hope that Doc's movement settles in to work OK for him.

[AllergyDoc]

Watch has been running w/o a hitch for four weeks. Is about 12 seconds fast in the past week.

I also received a replacement bracelet from Joshua Monday. A screw was stripped on the original bracelet. It was the easiest bracelet swap I've ever done.

My current favorite!

[freddy333]

  AllergyDoc said:

Watch has been running w/o a hitch for four weeks. Is about 12 seconds fast in the past week.

I also received a replacement bracelet from Joshua Monday. A screw was stripped on the original bracelet. It was the easiest bracelet swap I've ever done.

My current favorite!

Doc, have you posted your experience here?

[AllergyDoc]

+1 second over the past month. Will run 5-8 seconds slow one week, 5-8 seconds fast the next, but overall +1 second over a month.

My best timekeeper ever. Spends most of it's time on a good winder.

[freddy333]

  AllergyDoc said:

+1 second over the past month. Will run 5-8 seconds slow one week, 5-8 seconds fast the next, but overall +1 second over a month.

My best timekeeper ever. Spends most of it's time on a good winder.

Same here with my chs

If ever there was a rep that deserves a permanent slot in the Replica Watch Hall of Fame, it is the GMTIIC. Easily, the most accurately constructed out-of-the-box rep I have purchased (or seen) in over 25 years of watch collecting

[Fidestro]

I am not real sure, but I think freddy may like this watch!

Really, it seems as every post he is bragging this watch up, something I love to see. It is too easy to become in love with gens, and then as a result, bored with gens. But I think freddy's wife may want to schedule an intervention.

[jjfesq]

I just got mine today.

This is the highest quality rep I ever had.

Edited July 21, 2008 by jjfesq

[AllergyDoc]

You know the favorite replica watch fora question, "If you could only keep one watch

[OCGene25]

  AllergyDoc said:

Forgot the pictures of the clasp, inside and out:

All great high resolution photos. Well done. Excellent presentation.

[freddy333]

  Fidestro said:

I am not real sure, but I think freddy may like this watch!

Really, it seems as every post he is bragging this watch up, something I love to see. It is too easy to become in love with gens, and then as a result, bored with gens. But I think freddy's wife may want to schedule an intervention.

As much as I love the chs GMTIIC for its construction accuracy, it is definitely not a watch that holds my fascination or sees alot of wrist time. Like AllergyDoc, mine spends most of its time swirling away (gently) in my watchwinder. Were an intervention required, the GMTIIC would not be the catalyst. But these might be

[geo1nah2a]

What a collection and a great photo. Thank You for sharing this.

3rd from the left, that PN is sweet...

[AllergyDoc]

  geo1nah2a said:

What a collection and a great photo. Thank You for sharing this.

3rd from the left, that PN is sweet...

Freddy surely favors the white-dial models, doesn't he?