Project Completed...well sorta...

[Left Coast Guy 24]

I've found in the past that taking on project watches for repair is both a fun hobby and a great way to collect reps on the cheap. I buy what amount to a tick above junk, fix it up, and end up with a decent watch. I've now done a handful, but decided a few months back to undertake my first 7750. This hot mess:

 

 

I used an extra large pic, just so you could really soak in how fucked up this watch was when it showed up. The Seller claimed it had been dropped from 4 feet on a concrete floor. As you can see, the crystal shattered, but if you look closely, you'll see the subdial hand @12 and @9 popped off and are resting inside the crystal. Also, not clear in the pic, the GMT hand was bent and the marker @4 was loose/falling out (out when it arrived).

 

I originally thought the movement would be salvageable, because the balance wheel moved freely and actually ran well out of the case. But lo, upon inspection, the original owner had totally tore apart the keyless works, I'm guessing trying to test if the movement was working after the fall, and even then the minute counter @12 had been pushed in by the fall and would need to be replaced entirely.

 

So I scrapped the whole movement and found a replacement 7750 on Ebay (for under $100 btw); I originally attempted to mod to get the GMT hand to work, but the baseplate cutout wasn't large enough for the GMT wheel, so I scrapped that and gave up on the GMT function altogether. I then had to separate the dial and sub-dial plates of the face, as they were askew (likely from the fall), then went about installing the hands. It was only then that I found the subdial @12 had not been depressed, but the pinion had broke off inside the hand, and that hand was essentially worthless. Rather than seeking a new handset, I decided to paint an extra hand I had red and mount that instead @9 -- Given its the seconds hand, I figure it wouldn't look out of place. Anyway, all back together, the movement ran really strong, but the quickset date doesn't seem to work -- turns over around 2AM manually, but won't quickset. I thought about opening it up to sniff around, but decided I didn't have the appetite for it with as much tinkering as went into this.

 

I finally got the crystal earlier this week and finished it off. Here's the final product:

 

All-in-all, I'm pretty happy with the finished product. On the wrist, it certainly looks good and you can't really notice any of the faults I know are there -- the jacked up marker @4, the red seconds hand, or the center seconds being a hair right of center. The movement runs really strong and the time set is the smoothest of any rep I have.

 

I will say, I gained a new respect for 7750 mov'ts though. I completely rebuilt the original movement and got it running and that was a massive pain in the ass. It probably took 16 hours all in. And it was really crazy to see the difference between the original mov't, the replacement mov't and the ETA from the videos I watched to learn the rebuild. Many of the parts were significantly different than the ETA, and from each other, making the work really difficult -- something that would be simple with the ETA mov't would take me 30 min because the fit of the part on the asian mov't was so poor.

[TheInthusiest 0]

Awesome stuff!

[Ishmael 92]

That's impressive. Some very valuable skills you've developed there. And I love the 'ling! Just bought a Navi Cosmonaut.

[Hornet 1]

Well done on persevering with. It looks good.

[nyckid 0]

That's a beautiful B

Mine is for sale, though

[jackygor 0]

How did you break it? Awesome craftsmanship btw.

[SSTEEL 0]

Seller dropped it.

 

Great job mate, looks awesome now

[Left Coast Guy 24]

Thanks, guys. Lot more respect for Mickey and Joran now! Don't know how you guys service 7750's...so tedious; thinking I'm sticking to non-chronos for refurb...