I bought 4 figure redialled 1960’s Omega Constellation that I had to return to a shop swiftly due to it being sold as 100% original. I was jumpy so say the least. It’s a minefield out there and you are not the first or last to be caught out.

What I should have said was I can’t believe it’s worth taking a seiko and putting what looks like a correct movement in it. I don’t think I’ve seen a new 7s26 movement for £20 so the china watches must use some knock off movement, I’d guess.

Yeah I doubt the £20 fake has a Seiko movement, probably a Seagull or unbranded Chinese movement. 7S26’s were around £30 before they were discontinued and the 4R36 that replaced it is the same price.

The 4R36 ships with a day wheel for a 3 o’clock crown and you have to change the wheel for a case with a 4 o’clock crown, otherwise the day doesn’t line up in the window. I’ve seen plenty of fake Turtles where they’ve used a genuine movement but haven’t bothered to swap the day wheel so it’s easy to spot from a distance that all is not correct.

I think I’ll keep an eye out for a spares or repair one on eBay, or I wonder if the professional modding companies have a stash of spares they’d sell cheap.

Just about on topic… can anyone recommend a watch repairer / modded I can go to online?

I dug an Animal watch out of the drawer to finally change the battery and it’s working again except for the date indicator which is getting stuck part way through changing.

It’s not a valuable watch of course but it’d be nice to get it running again so I’d like to send it away for a new mechanism but don’t really know where to start as there are so many places which come up online.

The local jewellers in town stopped doing watch repairs when the last owner retired so even post-lockdown aren’t an option.

And the staying on the Animal watch theme, does anyone here own an Elliot Brown? I’ve got a Tyneham on my used watch shortlist after deciding that a Canford is probably too big for my average side wrist.

Before they took their site down (but after they closed their own service department) Animal were directing customer to these guys for repairs

https://www.lockerhullthornton.com/

I’ve not had to use them myself and the movements in them are fairly generic so I’m sure other places could help.

The Elliot brown watches are lovely(although expensive at RRP for what you get) I’ve got a canford that I picked up off eBay (and smallish wrists) it’s a nice well made watch with some lovely features. I’ve got my eye on a thynham aswell as a more day to day watch due to the smaller size but can’t face paying rrp.

I’ve got a Canford on a rubber strap and small wrists – works fine for me, the lug sweep down so it feels smaller than it looks

I’ve got a Canford, it’s a really nicely built watch and whilst it’s easy to think it’s expensive because it’s £350 for “just a quartz” I think the value is definitely there when you actually look at the watch and not just whether it’s quartz or automatic.

Thanks all.

It’s unfortunate what’s happened to Animal, I’ve used their watch repairs before and that would have been ideal of course.

I initially settled on the Canford and there are some deals about. The Tyneham is only an option S/H as at full price I’d be looking to spend some more for something completely different.

If however Timefactors ordering reopens any time soon then the next watch could well be a Baby Dreadnought.

What’re the most tell tale signs of a Tudor Pelagos being a fake?

Some images here (If it works)

The date window is in the wrong place (should be closer to the edge of the dial) and the clasp is completely wrong. Snide AF.

Quite often you don’t even need to see them, just hear the dubious backstory about how it was found in a great uncle’s clearout etc and that’ll tell you pretty much everything you need to know.

Cheers for the input. On price alone I assumed it was fake. Handy to have some advice and know where to look for the errors compared to the real thing though

Long time lurker, first time caller.

My daily – a Tudor North Flag. Not to everyone’s taste but to me it has the vibe of an Explorer but is (was) actually available to buy (without selling an organ). Three years on it’s aging well and I still enjoy it.

I like that!

There seems to be a few watches sold on here recently so I’ve stuck a few of mine rthat aren’t getting word much anymore on the Classifieds if anyone’s interested.

Nice North Flag there geolog. I can never decide if I really like them or not though, but at least they are interesting and not so derivative.
The market at the moment is all heritage inspired (which I like) but it does make more modern sports / divers seem a bit unusual.
Just been looking at a Formex Reef which looks really good, but kinda out of place in the current market as it’s really modern – That said, I think their Essence 39 is going to be a purchase at some point in the future. Outside of the Rolex Explorer 1 I think it’s one of my favourite sports watches, and looks great value too.

If you’re posting a watch within the UK, which service is best to use? Look like Royal Mail Special Delivery would cover up to £500

So my 2006 Aquaracer Chrono has gotten stiff to wind in the mornings. It seems to run ok, but does this mean I need to fork out for servicing? It’s never been serviced…

So my 2006 Aquaracer Chrono has gotten stiff to wind in the mornings. It seems to run ok, but does this mean I need to fork out for servicing? It’s never been serviced…

Think you’ve answered your own question there.
If it doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t & won’t fix itself – so sounds like a service is due, especially as it is 15 years old & never previously serviced.

If you’re posting a watch within the UK, which service is best to use? Look like Royal Mail Special Delivery would cover up to £500

RMSD covers up to £500 as standard with the option to insure up to 2.5k.

For higher value watches, people generally seem to use RM Special Delivery + Securus insurance.
That may be only for items over the £2.5k limit, or perhaps the Securus cover is just better / easier.

On a side note, I always thought RMSD was RM signed delivery until just now and so used it for sales adverts…. ooops.

If you’re posting a watch within the UK, which service is best to use? Look like Royal Mail Special Delivery would cover up to £500

I recently posted a Bell & Ross that I sold, insured up to 2.5k; was about £25/30. Arrived next day.

Slight thread hijack, sorry- has anyone regulated their automatic watch themselves? It’s a Certina with an ETA 2824 moveent, if that helps. It’s losing about 3 -4 minutes a week, I’d loike to think it could be a wee bit better than that. It was serviced about 12 months ago.

I’ve done my cheaper watches, there are plenty of YouTube clips to show how it’s done. Does that movement have the cam with the Y shaped fork adjuster? Should make it fairly easy, the ones with just a stick can be difficult, really sensative to the tiniest movement. Recommend the Clock Tuner app to make the task easier.

This guy is not a bad place to start at.

the ones with just a stick can be difficult, really sensitive to the tiniest movement.

Like the adjuster on Seiko movements? I can attest to their sensitivity, when I wanted to regulate my SPORK! Took several goes, the final adjustment was an almost unmeasurable nudge, which took it from losing a minute a week, to gaining a minute a month, which I felt was acceptable.
The new movement which I had fitted to my Heimdallr Tuna, and which I set when I got it back on the 9 of January is currently exactly 1’30” slow, which isn’t bad for a cheap Seiko movement!
I’m certainly not going to fiddle with it, too little margin for a large error.
I took a couple more photos in daylight yesterday, to show the little Torx screws I had made, and a better pic with the new face, hands and lumed ceramic bezel.

Like the adjuster on Seiko movements? I can attest to their sensitivity,

Breath on the adjuster, watch gains a minute more a day.

They are a pain. There was a guy that made an adjuster. IIRC, basically a dowel with a slot that goes over the shaft of the adjuster ‘arrow’. The dowel was inside a tube. The tube had a cardboard circle on the top the dowel had a needle through it. You hold the tube, turn the dowel, the needle shows the degree of movement. Something along those lines. Still took him a few times to get it right. Now you know why they come out of the factory at + 30s a day.

“has anyone regulated their automatic watch themselves? ”

Yes. Regulated two Vostoks. Both from being 40-50s a day fast to under +10-15s.

I moved the adjuster the absolutely smallest amount I could. Got it down to acceptable under 15s a day first time on one watch. Overdid it and needed a tiny push back with the other one.

I only wear the same watch for a couple of days in a row so accuracy isn’t a big deal. In fact as he Vostoks second hand doesn’t stop when adjusting the time I only set them approximately anyway.

ETA movements with the micro adjust regulator are easy to do, but if it hasn’t been serviced in over 12 years it’ll need more than just regulating.

Seiko can be an absolute pita to regulate, even with a timegrapher. If your watch is 20s/d out and you see the arm move then you’ve moved it too far. Trying to get it from 5s/d to 0s/d is done more on feel than vision as the required movement is so small. It is possible to do it without a timegrapher by making a single adjustment, observe after 24h, adjust again and repeat for a few weeks until it’s acceptable but life’s too short for that. Much easier to hand it over to a watchmaker or spend £150 on a timegrapher and then you’ll also know that the beat error has been adjusted correctly.

@geolog I’ve got a North Flag too and really like it. It just feels robust and doesn’t need any sort of kid gloves or care taken with it. Mine has a few scrapes and nicks along the edges of the case.

It is possible to do it without a timegrapher by making a single adjustment, observe after 24h, adjust again and repeat for a few weeks until it’s acceptable but life’s too short for that.

Ha! Amen to that! TBH, with a hackable movement, which my SPORK hasn’t got, it’s just so easy to reset the time once a week, or month or whatever, takes literally a few seconds to do.
I’ve been very tempted to get a better quality hackable movement for my SPORK, it was the first to use the 4R15 calibre, now replaced by the 4R35/36. I guess that just putting a 4R36 in would be perfectly ok, but it’s such a nice watch, and relatively rare and long discontinued, that a better calibre is tempting, but I’m not sure what’s available and reasonable with hacking and hand-winding.
Suggestions, please, from the more knowledgeable here. 😁

Now THIS is cool (hot) watch.
https://www.fesaaides.com/products/nixie-watch?fbclid=IwAR340osi91_b6njMJjKsUQqgvzgmzhLc37YHLhuRGa7_bX_j-PKDWCdtwrM

Ha! Amen to that! TBH, with a hackable movement, which my SPORK hasn’t got, it’s just so easy to reset the time once a week, or month or whatever, takes literally a few seconds to do.
I’ve been very tempted to get a better quality hackable movement for my SPORK, it was the first to use the 4R15 calibre, now replaced by the 4R35/36. I guess that just putting a 4R36 in would be perfectly ok, but it’s such a nice watch, and relatively rare and long discontinued, that a better calibre is tempting, but I’m not sure what’s available and reasonable with hacking and hand-winding.
Suggestions, please, from the more knowledgeable here. 😁

The 6R15 is an upgraded 4R36/NH36 and will work, but I personally wouldn’t pay the extra for one. Cousins have the NH36 for £30 plus vat and the 6R15 for £255 plus vat and the only difference between them is the 6r uses a different steel for the hairspring and mainspring, so the 6r is slightly more resistant to magnetism and has a few hours extra power reserve. Hardly worth it for almost 9x the cost.

‘ETA movements with the micro adjust regulator are easy to do, but if it hasn’t been serviced in over 12 years it’ll need more than just regulating’

It was serviced about 2 years ago – but the accuracy didn’t improve. So do I just gently nudge the adjuster towards the ‘+’ symbol?

Have a look at a YouTube video because there are two adjusters, one does the speed and the other the beat error. It has got the micro adjust so difficult to get it wrong, (move the screw head not the stick bit and yes, towards + to increase) but worth 10 mins of your time to be sure.
Tiny movements and as I suggested above get Clock Tuner on your phone so you’re not having to resort to multiple days of adjust/wear cycles. It works like a basic timegrapher that Fudd recommended but the free version should be OK for your purposes rather than spend £150. Hold the microphone on your phone as close to the watch as possible in a quiet room for best performance.

the only difference between them is the 6r uses a different steel for the hairspring and mainspring

That, and a Seiko service will cost you more than twice as much! I’ve an Alpinist with a 6r15 and if anything goes seriously amiss with the movement I’ll be happily downgrading to an NH36 rather than pay the 6r premium.

Ive made the mistake of counting my watches. 10.

Its not good is it…

Ive made the mistake of counting my watches. 10.

Its not good is it…

No, not good news at all. You’re going to need some finger implants.

@eddiebaby

that’s cool but the size of the thing!

63mm???

I know.
Its a comedy watch but there must be the odd occasion you could wear it. Maybe a Back To The Future convention.