Date wheel upgrade?

[Rich_B]

Hi

Can someone please advise me on the following.............

I have a Tag Carrera rep and I would like to upgrade the date wheel to one with the correct font.

How do I go about achieving this?

Thanks in advance.

[Toadtorrent]

Hi and welcome to RWG.

You need to order an ETA datewheel for a 7750...and you can see how to do this here:

Takashi's A7750 Swap Tutorial

You just found yourself the best watch forum around, filled with some amazing folks. Hopefully you enjoy your stay here and find participation in the forum valuable.

[Rich_B]

Thanks for the welcome and the reply my friend, much appreciated.

[Rich_B]

WOW, just had a look at the tutorial

Although undoubtedly very comprehensive, as a noob to the whole watch scene I have to say I'm a bit daunted by the thought of dismantling my new timepiece.

I was kind of hoping I could just order a date wheel online somewhere and then take it to an expert for the fitting. Is this possible or am I really showing my newbie status with questions like this?

Thanks

[krpster]

You can do it that way too. You just need to find a rep friendly watchsmith that will do it for you. While you have it cracked open you may want to get the movement serviced as well to give her a longer life.

[Toadtorrent]

Although undoubtedly very comprehensive, as a noob to the whole watch scene I have to say I'm a bit daunted by the thought of dismantling my new timepiece.

I was kind of hoping I could just order a date wheel online somewhere and then take it to an expert for the fitting. Is this possible or am I really showing my newbie status with questions like this?

Yeah...I should have added that caveat. Working on your watches the first time, will likely involve something breaking, and a little to a lot of swearing. Screws will go missing, springs will pop off, etc. It's part of the learning process. Perhaps a bit costly...but what the heck.

Yes. If you go to most any watchmaker, they will be able to do the datewheel swap for you, and can likely source the ETA datewheel as well. Swapping the datewheel is not overly difficult...BUT, involves:

• Ability to work under lupe
  
• Ability to work with tweezers under a loop
  
• Ability to decase a movement
  
• Removing of dial
  
• Removing of hands
  
• Resetting hands
  
• Re-inserting stem
  
• Making sure things are clean and not dusty
  
• Greasing of gaskets
  

All the above requires special tools (non-magnetic tweezers, lupe, special screwdrivers, hand remover, hand setting tools, Rodico, case opening tool of some form, silicon grease, etc).

So...there is some investment involved.

As Krpster said, servicing the movement properly REQUIRES a watchmaker who not only knows mechanical chronos, but ideally the idiosyncrasies of the Asian 7750 movement. These are hard to find. It also is a relatively large investment...but ensures your watch will be reliable for at least 5 years. A non-serviced A7750 may be operational for 5 years or more...but not RELIABLY operational.

That's the key. If you will be mortified if your watch dies in just over a year...get it serviced...or have fun with it as long as it runs...and replace it for just over the cost of servicing when it dies with a new, latest and greatest super rep.