r11co Posted July 9, 2006 Report Share Posted July 9, 2006 (edited) Well, guess I spoke too soon when I praised the reliability of these new Asia 7750s. The watch still keeps perfect time, but activate the chrono with the watch face horizontal and the stopwatch doesn't work (normal time ticks away though). Turn the face to the vertical and the chrono starts ticking quite happily No problems with start/stop/reset, but gravity is obviously shifting something on the movement. There are no obvious physical blockages. This is going to give me an opportunity to test out a watchmaker favoured by JTB and another friend of mine, but can anyone suggest anything obvious as to the cause? Edited July 12, 2006 by r11co Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Ubiquitous has an Asian 7750 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJFlash Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 This is the new, improved Asian 7750 movement right? Personally I have found it to be less expensive to replace entire movement rather than attempt repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r11co Posted July 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 This is the new, improved Asian 7750 movement right? Personally I have found it to be less expensive to replace entire movement rather than attempt repairs. This may be the road one goes down. I am visiting a trusted watchmaker today for some advice. He's a real ETA buff I've been told.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonthebhoy Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 This may be the road one goes down. I am visiting a trusted watchmaker today for some advice. He's a real ETA buff I've been told.. So are you heading for Rothesay Rico? JTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Ubiquitous has an Asian 7750 ? I do? *looks around* Where? A most odd symptom with your watch, Rico. What happens when you engage the chrono and hold the watch flat, but with the dial facing down? Does the stopwatch still work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonthebhoy Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 All that jumping around when Italy won the World Cup will probably have done some damage to the movement which I'm betting is a French (not Asian) 7750 copy! JTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r11co Posted July 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 So are you heading for Rothesay Rico? Yup, and what a very worthwhile trip! Here's the story. The watchmaker concerned has his shop in a relatively inaccessible part of Scotland, whch I am sure is a deliberate ploy to keep his workload at a manageable level and allow him to continue to enjoy his work because his service can only be described as above and beyond the call of duty. I was looking forward to meeting the chap and talking watch movements with him, but initially he was a bit frosty about my ailing TAG, calling it 'A little Chinese one' within seconds of the caseback coming off. He reckoned the symptoms described above were 'fixable' and I also asked him to take a look at the datewheel issue (the numbers being off centre). He said it would need a fair bit of stripping down, so myself and my wife should go spend a pleasant day on the island and come back just before close of business! Lunch, a seafront stroll and a few pints in a few bars later we returned, and our watchmaker welcomed us happily, obviously satisfied with his job. The chrono now behaves impeccably, and he explained the fault - a spring that holds a lever against the toothed wheel that operates the chrono second hand had broken. The only thing putting pressure on the lever was gravity when the watch was held a particular way. He asked if I'd opened the watch as he couldn't find the broken bit of spring anywhere - I had. That had been a mixed blessing for it meant it didn't get lodged somewhere else in the movement, but it also meant he didn't have the broken piece to match up against something else, but he said at that point he'd given up some of his prejudice that this was a crappy Asian movement and took a look at the Valjoux 7750 chart for guidance. From the drawings and his own exerience he managed to fabricate A NEW SPRING!! I won't tell you how little he charged for this repair and overhaul (except that it was embarassingly little), and then we had our chat about movements, discussing how expensive a genuine replacement 7750 would have been. He also confirmed what has been discussed elsewhere about the datewheel issue on the TAG chronos ie. the numerals are indeed printed off-centre and it is not a problem with the movement itself. He unfortunately didn't have a replacement datewheel, but we have set that problem to be solved at some point in the future... Then, having listened to him talk at length about ETA movements, I asked him to take a look at my 'best' Omega SMP Pro. He popped the back off and enthused at length about the 2824 - he was in no doubt about what he was looking at having 'worked on these for years'. Then something caught his eye about the movement that answered a question brought up here. He was surprised to see an Incabloc shock protection module in the ETA rather than the KIF-Flector he was used to seeing. He brought a 28xx based movement he'd extracted from an IWC out and showed me the difference... (apologies to river and josh for using their pics for this illustration, other copyrights recognised also).. Incabloc schematic... KIF-Flector diagram.. Incabloc and KIF are rival brand names for the same basic product and they are both used interchangeably on a variety of movements. He said there was no difference in quality, not any difference in their basic construction beyond the shape of the spring used to retain the jewels, which is their identifying 'trademarks'.. Finally, he put my SMP back together and then commented on how good the clasp was and how it even felt like the real things when opening and closing. I told him I had replaced the clasp spring, sourcing the part from Cousins (the Cousins catalogue happened to be sitting on the counter at the time). Our friendly watchmaker looked bemused and said he thought he knew Cousins part stock explicitly and had never spotted the spring listed! We found it together in the catalogue and he thanked me for alerting him to that. Apologies to anyone reading the above ramble, but I hope I have got across some useful advice as well as some sense of the experience with a fellow movement buff. I get the feeling that he hasn't got time for the stylists and posers (which is no bad thing IMO) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonthebhoy Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 He's a good lad is MS. I would have guessed that your repair would have cost buttons, relatively. I'm just not sure that he's ever THAT busy. When he used to have his place here (Dumbarton) it was a very quiet wee shop with just the odd person coming and going. Perhaps he likes it that way. The stuff that I've given him to date he could do with his eyes shut so he will have enjoyed the challenge of your repair. JTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r11co Posted July 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 (edited) He's a good lad is MS. I would have guessed that your repair would have cost buttons, relatively. I'm just not sure that he's ever THAT busy. When he used to have his place here (Dumbarton) it was a very quiet wee shop with just the odd person coming and going. Perhaps he likes it that way. I didn't want to turn the post into an advert for his services as he had a little sign up in the shop along the lines of 'Due to recent and sustained ilness the time for repairs may be significantly extended'. As for the cost of the repair - we paid more for our return ferry tickets!!! Edited July 12, 2006 by r11co Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonthebhoy Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 I know. Jeez I hope he is alright. Be good to have him around for a whiles longer (He said selfishly!). Guys like him are extremely rare. JTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryaku Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 Interesting story r11co too bad it's a little bit out of the way from Italy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r11co Posted July 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 Guys like him are extremely rare. Indeed. His shop/workshop is full of guages, milling machines, miniature lathes and devices I couldn't even identify. He's a genuine watchmaker. not a parts swapper like many others who carry the name. The fact he crafted a spare part from scratch tells me that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehtolcad Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 that's an amazing find and a great story to boot forza italia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 that's an amazing find and a great story to boot forza italia! What a great story. i love to hear about people who like their jobs, are good at their jobs, take their craft, but not themselves, extremely seriously cause then you know true artisanship isn't dead yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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