To send back or not? That is the question!

[samurai dave 7]

Hi there guys,

 

I got my sub about a month ago from Lay. Really happy with it, great quality and it keeps perfect time. Last month I noticed one day that the date had not full changed so I manually turned it. Since then it has got slowly worse and now it wont change date at all. However, if I turn it manualy I can get it to change date sometimes, but not all the time and when it does it does it at about 0640 and finishes turning over at about 1200. This seams strange to me and I wondered what is causing it? I have contacted Lay and like a true gent he has said if I return it to him he will sort it out.

 

So the question is do i send it back? What if it gets lost? I really like it and think that I may be able to live with the dodgy date. Would changing it every day be detrimental to the thread on the crown?

 

Would I be able to take it to a watchsmith in the Lincolnshire are and ask them if they would repair it for me? I have read about how to sound out a local watchsmith, does this really work? Would they not just look at it and say no way?

 

I value your opinion on this.

 

Dave

[KBH 7]

I would think the first question is it 21j or Eta/clone? Eta/clone would probably be easy to have repaired as the date change mechanism is relatively an easy fix for any watch smith. But lot's of them don't want to work on A21j movements.

 

Also, you could check with Brightlight and see if he can look at it for you.

[samurai dave 7]

I would think the first question is it 21j or Eta/clone? Eta/clone would probably be easy to have repaired as the date change mechanism is relatively an easy fix for any watch smith. But lot's of them don't want to work on A21j movements.

 

Also, you could check with Brightlight and see if he can look at it for you.

 

It is a 2836-2 eta clone 25j mind you I have not looked inside the back of it to check.

[samurai dave 7]

Ok so a quick update for you,

 

I have tried winding the watch backwards and it started to wind the date backwards, then when I wound it forwards it appears to now be working. I will have to leave it overnight and see how it goes when it is under its own steam and not being wound by hand. I have decided that I do not want to send it back to Lay, I am sure that he will get it fixed and back to me but I would rather keep hold of it now. My question now is who can I get to look at it/service it? Should I just wear it, accept the date is wrong and wait until later in the year and get it serviced and repaired etc then? Should I try ringing some local watchsmiths? Could anyone please guide me in what is best to do.

 

Thank you.

[samurai dave 7]

Ok so another update.

 

After the last time I posted I hoped that it had fixed itself, but alas like all these things that was not the case.

 

So I decided to do some research into the 2836-2 movement and see if I could gleam any information from that about what was wrong with my watch. So after a while I learnt that the quick date setting mechanism is on the right hand side of the watch closest to the crown and the automatic date mechanism is on the other side. The auto part has teeth and I saw a picture on line that showed these teeth jammed and that was the cause of that particular problem. I think that although mine is not jammed and I have not wound it in any way that has felt like I have damaged it I have used the quick date set when the auto mechanism was engaged, ie. when the hands are between 10 and 2. So I think that what happened was that the auto mechanism got thrown out of kilter and the teeth were not engaging as they should on the date wheel.

 

Ok so how did I fix it. I wound the hands to 6 and then set the date with the quick set function, however I wound it until the date was only half turned over. I then would the hands round to 12 and when I pushed the crown back in there was a quiet click, the date changed over and that was that. The date now changes over between 12 and 2 (I think there must be something wrong with the spring that clicks the date over but at least it changes over) it keeps great time as it did before and I wont every change the date when it is between 10 and 2 again. Remember that the date did not change at all before so this is a great improvement.

 

Hope that helps some one in the same position.

 

Dave