UPO: is this Nickel 2824-2 swiss or clone?

[craptacular]

Just bought my 2nd UPO (trying a black bezel this time) sold to me as a "swiss 2824-2", and when I received it I opened the caseback to check out the movement to find this decorated nickel movement:

I sure wasn't expecting THAT. It's pretty, but it's lacking any kind of ETA stamp.

I haven't seen a decorated movement on a UPO before, so... is it swiss or a clone?

[tick123]

asian clone. There is absolutely no way it is eta unless it had the stamps, if not on the rotor, then at least near the balance wheel...

contact your dealer and ask them to refund the difference between what you payed for a swiss movement and the price of an asian clone...then if you want you can do a movement swap and get a genuine eta from ofrei and be assured that your movement is not only swiss, but that it is functional and not full of dirt and gunk like the genuine swiss movements from our dealers

[Shundi]

Echoing tick on the Asian ETA... can't see any stamps under the balance wheel... and I can't recall the exact detail but the shock protection on the balance looks different (I think ETA uses KiF and Incabloc... didn't The Zigmeister say this is some sort of 3 leaf hybrid?)

[tick123]

I believe the eta's use incablock, at least after looking at the movements for sale on ofrei

[craptacular]

So now comes the hard part for me. I purchased this from a private seller and paid quite a bit more than I could have purchased a new ETA-clone for. Granted, it shipped fast, I didn't have the customs risk and it did come with both the SS bracelet as well as one of the rep rubber diver's straps I've been wanting...

I don't blame the seller at all. He purchased it from Josh as a Swiss ETA, so I don't think he was trying to pull one over on me.

So what's the right thing to do now?

[andreww]

I really think there is no recourse for you. I remember when pics of this movement were posted here several months back. I and another member questioned the authenticity, and Joshua even showed up to reiterate his claim that it was a gen ETA, and that the markings had been removed when the movement was decorated. Nobody seemed to care then, and now you are the victim.

Josh's response...

Hi, This movt is being machined... It is swiss.. The swiss wordings are machine off due to the add on machining work. It is a more expensive movt.

joshua

Thats the biggest problem with letting dealers get away with selling crap like this. It ends up getting resold, and causing grief to the unknowing buyer/seller.

The thread can be seen here...

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...74335&st=40

[craptacular]

I really think there is no recourse for you. I remember when pics of this movement were posted here several months back. I and another member questioned the authenticity, and Joshua even showed up to reiterate his claim that it was a gen ETA, and that the markings had been removed when the movement was decorated. Nobody seemed to care then, and now you are the victim.

Josh's response...

Thats the biggest problem with letting dealers get away with selling crap like this. It ends up getting resold, and causing grief to the unknowing buyer/seller.

The thread can be seen here...

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...74335&st=40

Bingo. It's the movement in that linked thread.

I'll just proceed in the assume-all-movements-are-clones mindset from now on.

You'd think that if the factories can churn out detailed clones like this, they'd be able to get a **** bezel insert pearl centered in a triangle. I'm starting to think that obvious flaws like that are intentional to avoid the full wrath of the gen companies - nobody wants to be the next "closed factory".

[tick123]

if you have an extra 150 bucks id do a movement swap if you really want swiss that badly

[gillorin]

Well, it does look like a nice movement.

I do seriously doubt that the fine machining and decoration would take away ALL of the stampings.

That could be plausible in a case where some factory got ahold of some nickel ETA's and decided to fancy them up, but I don't think so here.

Might be a Seagull.

[Pugwash]

I'd not worry until it dies. That could be a very long wait.

[craptacular]

I'd not worry until it dies. That could be a very long wait.

That's what I'm getting the more I look into the ST24. Since I didn't buy it with resale in mind, I guess it's not that big of a deal.

Thanks for all of the feedback, folks.