We do see the odd fake here at the workshop, but as we don’t accept them knowingly, it doesn’t happen too often.
This Submariner came in, and on first sight, nothing was wrong with it…. Continue reading
Fake Rolex Submariner 114060
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Category Archives: Chinese
Valjoux 7750 terminal date change “feature”
Sometimes, it’s hard to understand what engineers were thinking when looking at some watch movement features. One of the worst offenders I can think o
f is the otherwise excellent Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement.
Try to change the date with the quick-set function too close to midnight, and you are in for a surprise – a sizeable repair invoice from your watchmaker!
Have a look at this Valjoux 7750. Next to the “14” on the date disc, you can see the brass coloured date change wheel, and the little triangular bit that should advance the date has broken off. You can see the same wheel as the day change wheel on the left and above, with the triangular tip intact.
Comparison: Sea-Gull ST 5 and Glycine calibre FHF 96-4.
Barry was wondering which of his watches would perform the best after a service.
Both watches are from around the same time period and I would think it will be a close match. The Seagull must have been a true luxury watch for the average Chinese back in the days. This particular Glycine was aimed at the middle class worker wanting a reasonably good quality timepiece. The Sea-Gull is a NOS watch and the FHF has clearly been used, so to even the battlefield I will keep the original mainspring in the Seagull and get a new mainspring for the FHF movement.
Service: New old stock Double Rhomb / Tongji movement
Tamer contacted me, as he had bought a batch of NOS Double Rhomb watches. The interesting bit was that they came in their original packaging!
This watch probably dates from the early 80s, as the dial is already in Chinese and English, and the movement is the 17 jewel Tongji. Continue reading
Service: Shanghai 24 jewels
Staying firmly on communist ground, we move from Russia to China. This is one of Torsten’s watches, and he is a keen collector of Chinese watches with a very sizeable collection. This Shanghai is apparently a rare beast, and in need of TLC. Continue reading
Video: Taking apart an ST2130 (ETA2824-2 clone)
And whilst we are at it, here is the video of me taking apart the movement:
Video: Putting together an ST2130 (ETA2824-2 clone)
It’s been a while since I’ve put up a video, and I always wanted to do one of me putting together a watch movement. A bit tricky, as you are of course more nervous with the camera running, and because I can’t use the microscope whilst filming (as you wouldn’t be able to see anything), so I have to do all the things I usually do under the microscope just with the optivisor.
Nevertheless, here we go:
Comparison: Sea-Gull ST2130, ETA 2824-2, Peacock SL3000
Torsten, who is very active on the WUS Chinese watch forum, has asked me to compare three movements for him. The original, the ETA 2824-2, and the well known Sea-Gull ST2130, a Chinese clone, and the new Peacock SL3000, another Chinese clone.
I have a new Sea-Gull in stock, and Torsten sent me a Peacock. Thanks to Ron from Texas, I got hold of a used Fortis watch with an ETA2824-2, so we have to take into consideration that the ETA isn’t new, but used. Continue reading
My most accurate watch – the Casio F-91W
Just for fun, I got the first quartz watch for my collection yesterday. I had to fork out £17 for it, and this Casio F-91W has so far kept perfect time in the last 24 hours.
I chose the yellow one, because I liked the colour best, and the main reason for the buy was to find out how accurate a super-cheap quartz watch is!
Review: Sea-Gull 1963 Chronograph
This is a watch from my collection – a Sea-Gull 1963 chronograph. It’s a replica of a chronograph Sea-Gull manufactured for the Chinese air force in 1963.
The movement is a clone of the Venus 175 movement, which Sea-Gull now calls the ST19.
Just right up my street – no frills, clean dial, just does what it has to do. It’s hand-winding, and has a normal second hand dial at 9 o’clock, and the minute counter dial for the chronograph at 3 o’clock. Continue reading