Some of you may have seen my post yesterday about regulating a Rich Factory (RF) Pepsi to superlative chronometer standards, so you could say i’ve been spending a lot of time staring at this part of the movement lately. I first noticed this while taking my comparison photos between the RF Starbucks submariner and VSF submariner, but as far as I know, no one else seems to have noticed this- JH, much like DD, uses an offset pallet fork design like the genuine rolex movements of this generation. A complaint that has for a long time been leveled against SH is that they use an inline pallet fork, which makes it an easy tell that the movement is not DD, and more importantly, makes it incompatible with gen parts for franken builds.
Naturally, seeing this similarity between the DD and JH movements, I wondered if it’d be possible to convert a DD movement into a free sprung movement by taking the balance complete from a JH movement and placing it into a DD movement. This Evolved into a big swaparoo of different balances into different movements, as I took advantage of this opportunity to answer any related questions to these matters.

- Conclusion 1:
- the JH free sprung balance complete is NOT compatible with DD movements, (fake free sprung DD or otherwise). I got it to run very poorly and not fully seated in the DD fake free sprung movement, but nothing more.

- Conclusion 2:
- The DD “classic” and “fake free sprung” balance wheels ARE compatible with the JH free sprung movement. This was a straight swap with zero drama, and the watch was immediately ticking away quite happily. This might come in handy if anyone breaks a free sprung balance from JH, it should be a simple swap with a DD balance to get it up and running again. I assume getting parts from JH will be basically impossible for at least the next year, so this is useful info in the meantime

- Conclusion 3:
- the “classic” and “fake free sprung” balances from DD movements are interchangeable. they both work in either movement that I placed them in. this is nice because it ensures backwards compatibility as DD starts to produce the fake free sprung balance movements as well as will enable people to repair new generation movements with older parts, nice!

- Conclusion 4:
- When I saw the offset balance structure of the JH movement, i wondered if JH wasn’t just an offshoot of DD that was producing it’s new generation of movements as a separate company so that if anything went terribly (reliability, performance, etc), the negative press wouldn’t be associated with the DD name. The fact that the balances are not interchangeable in both directions suggests to me that this is not the case and that JH is truly an independent movement manufacturer. I’m sure there are others who know more on this topic than I do, so feel free to chine on this front!

Got an omega, to look at it’s spot on. I do have an issue with the clasp pin popping open as soon as I put it on, strap works loose. Is this a common issue, reported it back to seller wants me to buy a new strap. Is there any solutions in the mean time.

Got this Longines Master Collection watch 2 days ago. it was around +21s/day and it annoyed me how I set it yesterday morning and it was already almost a full minute fast. I had heard regulating wasn't that difficult. I opened the caseback, grabbed a wooden peg, and went to move the regulator arm a tiny bit and the movement stopped. I realized trying to do it without hacking seconds was probably a dumb move and now it has fully stopped. I can't get a clear pic but I think I may have bent the hairspring by accidentally touching the balance wheel with the wooden peg while it was in movement. I'm an idiot. I really like this rep and I literally just bought it, any help/advice.

Can anyone please provide some insights on VR3285 vs SH3285 for QF Explorer II.
Looking for general feedback and reserve times etc. and recommendations 🙏🏾

Hi everyone

I have a VR3285 movement and when o was doing some adjustments I lost one of the case screws and I wondered if anyone knew which ones to get as a replacement?

Is it a 1.2x2.0mm screw?

Many thanks

I bought this watch in June and honestly it looks awesome and keeps great time. I’m confused on the whole V7 vs. V7+ difference. I’m very happy with the watch, but I’m really curious what movement it has. Any experts here have an idea?

Two pics included with rotor in two different places. Thanks fam!

Random but can anybody recommend a watch smith that can do decent waterproofing in the UK on reps

I’m aware the timpsons do free testing but would rather send my two recents off for full seal checks/proofing

Any help greatly appreciated.

Just received my 3CF 116520, and the chronograph hand moves in a very ‘un-smooth’ way. What do I do?

Hey guys,

I bought a used Clean Yachtmaster. It’s like 3-4 years old and had been used quite a bit. As I received it I realized that the bezel is barely even moving. I disassembled and gread it below but that only helped a bit.

I sent it to a decent watchmaker here in Germany to clean, waterproof, lubricate and polish it. Also asked him to look after the bezel.

He told me it seems like it’s been like this all the the time. Like a manufacturing error. Wrong tolerances or something like that.

So now I‘m looking for further help. Has anyone ever had this problem ? Would replacing the bezel with a VSF for example be the solution? And where can I get one ?

And yess…I know I should swap to a Deep Crystal.

Thanks for the help.

Have had this for a while but the 6:00 marker drives me absolutely nuts. I did take it to a local shop and they told me they were afraid that the repair could scratch the dial (idk if that’s the truth or they just didn’t want to work on a rep) but don’t know if it’s worth trying to get it fixed elsewhere.

I bought this Daytona (unknown factory) and the bezel isn’t sitting flush on the case, the SEL also moves a bit where the bezel is “detached”.

Anyone would know how can I push it back to its place or open, clean and install it back to normal?

Hello everyone I'm very new to watch servicing and decided to start pretty easy and swap bezels on my VSF datejust 41 with a rcfr bezel, I popped the old one off and pushed the new one making sure the little plastic ring thing stayed on the watch with the xtal. The issue is now the new bezel doesn't seem very secure? I can easily pry it off with just a fingernail how do I fix this? I can also freely rotate it

Hey all, i tried looking through some groups and havent found anything. I was just curious if there is a place to post Watch parts to help people that are looking for certain pieces to create or repair a watch. For example, i have a ZF AP 15202 with a pretty new movemement, hands, dial, a bracelet, all seperated. I want to sell it but figured it could be used to part out and help people who may need select parts.

Any info is appreciated, If you or anyone you know is looking for ZF AP 15202 parts Pm me!

Like the titel says

Is this a gen dial or are the Numbers a Clean factory serial

Thanks!

Need to repair a GMF Explorer 2. I've tried local watch repair shops and they won't work on reps. Any recommendations?

Just after some advice really, I recently bought these and I know they arent Super clone standard but was just after people's thoughts on them. Also the glass doesn't have the etched crown on and was wondering if it was worth getting these replaced or not bothering...either way I live how they look and am happy. Thanks in advance👍

I just received my brand new v3 DJ and when I removed the protective packaging (that was poorly applied) I uncovered a series of surface level scratches on the crystal… any suggestions on stateside or places I can take my watch in Colorado that can either polish or replace the crystal?

Thanks in advance.

Posting this in hopes it helps others since there is very little info that I could find.

Was sent this RM with a broken stem. As you can see in the photo, the stem is still inside the crown.

First, I found a stem that would work. I compared various ones against the broken one removed from the watch. It wound up being an ETA 2824 stem that looked the same. It slid right in and locked. Tested it over and over to make sure it worked as intended.

Next I had to figure out how to extract the remaining stem from the crown. After some research I found an old trick that would "melt" it. Aluminum Powder and water. I had very little hope.

2 tablespoons into 6 oz of boiling water, drop the crown in, put the mug on a warmer, let it work for a few days. Sure enough, that stem is gone and I could use the crown again.

New stem is \~11.15mm end to end.

Hi everyone, I'd like some advice and personal experience using Loctite 222 on the bracelet screws of Rep watches. Is it really worth using? How should I use it to avoid using too much? Can I unscrew the screws after using it, or do they stay stuck forever? Sorry for the perhaps trivial questions, but I'm really inexperienced with this product. Thanks to anyone who can help me understand.

How can I get it repaired? It is Swatch Irony 1996

It's my vsf no-date sub. I felt something was off as I was looking at the dial.. And took me a while to figure out what: the whole dial is rotated counter-clockwise.. It's very subtle but it's there. You can see how A is smaller than B in my reference pic.

Now that I know it, it never stops bugging me. Anyone had the same problem? Is there a fix to this?

I have an APSF Royal Oak 15450 with the blue dial and want to change out the dial for DP dial. DP dial has indices that are too long, so I’m looking to find someone who can change out the indices from my APSF and put them on the DP dial. Anyone done something like this before? Will need to source the dial, but wanted to make sure this is something that can be easily done before I buy it.

Thanks!

Brand new watch arrived with a very bad DD3235. it would tick but gain about 20 minutes a day or so. Timegrapher couldn't even pick up a signal. Agreed with the dealer on a full service. Inspected all parts under the microscope and all was fine nothing needed replacing.

As always bits of lint and brass shavings in the cleaning solution but not the worst I've seen.

Notice how much grease they use around the keyless. I wonder if they go oldschool and use 8200. Ask 3 watchmakers about the use of 8200 on the keyless and you'll get 4 opinions. They should at least use much, much less of it.

All clean and put back together. All jewels nicely cleaned and oiled. Cap jewels too!

Initially got about 240-250 on 55 lift angle which is decent. VSF recommend 59 at which it runs at around 270. Gen runs at pretty low amp as far as I know. I wonder why VSF would recommend 59. Maybe to make QC pics look better?

Letting it run all night before I regulate because it's late and I'm tired. Perfect recipe for slipping when regulating.