what ultra-bargain shopping can lead to

[stovey]

You're looking at $14.24 worth of solid entertainment. Long story, but I feel better now.

[skywatch]

Sometimes these cheap watches are great learning tools for watch-breaking noobs like me. Let's see you put it back together now!

[stovey]

Sometimes these cheap watches are great learning tools for watch-breaking noobs like me. Let's see you put it back together now!

No problem, lemme just run that film in reverse ....

[tony1951]

Maybe you're very good at it, but having the parts in a heap like that will make it harder to know what goes where unless you are a lot cleverer than I am at re-assembling watches.

I take things off in groups and put each section's components in washed out yoghurt pots so I know what goes where. Even so, I have on occasion found screws of uneven length and not been sure without some head scratching where the long one should go.

Good luck in getting it back together and working.

[stovey]

Thanks Tony, but what I was trying to convey above was that I like it better in the heap. No reassembly was intended.

The watch had arrived with hands mis-mounted, or as it appeared to me, bent. It wouldn't move past 4:22 when the minute hand got hung up on the hour hand. I pulled out the mechanism and straightened them, and that let it run continuously, but as it turned out, about 3 minutes ahead by the next morning. A bit outside the realm of acceptability.

I've regulated a couple of watches successfully before (including an old Vostok that is has stayed within about 2 sec/day ever since) so was sure it would be no problem. I guessed at a distance to move the regulating arm, nudged it with a toothpick, put the watch back face up and set a timer; half an hour later, no appreciable change, so far so good ... another half hour, 20 seconds suddenly gained. What the...? Looked around behind and found the arm had worked itself back even farther in the other direction. Turns out there was almost no friction there. Then, while I was guessing at the best spot to put it and thinking about a drop of loc-tite to hold it in place, I got careless and must have plunked the hairspring or something. In any event, it wouldn't run at all anymore.

That's when it ceased being an "interesting project watch" and became a "demolition and photography subject." I don't care about repairing something that has lost its ethos so thoroughly in my head, although admittedly I could have learned more by sticking with it, trying to get replacement parts, whatever. More to the point, maybe I should have notified the seller right away and asked for a replacement, but to be honest I don't believe I would want a working replacement either. I've had enough fun in Soki land, and there are other things to wear.

[Luisão]

Well, then you have a very beautiful pile of parts. You never know, when they may come in handy...

With regards,
Luís M

[skywatch]

I was guessing it was a story like that. (I was joking above, of cousre.) I don't think you are alone in your frustration with such watches. Our member Seele calls those watches "penny dreadfuls"; I refer to them as "free plus shipping - and worth every penny."

[tony1951]

Thanks Tony, but what I was trying to convey above was that I like it better in the heap. No reassembly was intended.

LOL - sorry for my misunderstanding your intentions. An unfortunate tale indeed. I do like the photograph though. Very 'arty'.

If this seller is pushing out junk like that on ebay, maybe people should take the matter up with Paypal. If you buy a watch sold as a working artefact, it ought to work. I've had a couple of very cheap watches delivered for £10.98, and they work very well indeed, keeping time after some regulation better than watches costing ten times as much.

[stovey]

Well, it seems that others (including here on WUS) have had better luck with the same watch, and I don't really have a basis for complaint, since I didn't tell the seller there was a problem. I had already left positive feedback after getting the hands unstuck - I'm a little too fast with that sometimes. They probably would have been willing to make it right, if asked.

... I've had a couple of very cheap watches delivered for £10.98, and they work very well indeed, keeping time after some regulation better than watches costing ten times as much.

Sure - likewise my "Free Crane" skeleton cost not much more than this, and although it's a quirky-looking novelty design, it turned out to be a good runner, quite accurate, and solidly built. It makes me grin every time I put it on.

[J_Gamero]

Salvador Dali put it like this...

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