Tourneau ETA 7750 - eBay nightmare to nice watch

[sstakoff]

I purchased a Tourneau 7750 a while back on eBay. The watch was a mess. For one thing, the dial was glued to the main plate - missing the dial feet and it has some discoloration. Here's how it started.

I finally got around to having the dial restored by International Dial. They didn't have the exact die, but they did find a suitable substitute. While they could have created a die to match the original I didn't want to incur the expense. Some pics of the dirty movement...

 

The watch also had a Rolex crown (I think it's a fake) and the stem was soldered to the crown. You can see it in the following pic:

Here it is on reassembly - preparing to attach the hands in my Bergeon movement holder:

 

And the finished product - note I have a new crown on order - so the fake Rolex is still on there for the time being. This watch is a gift for my son.

[oldhippy]

Well done and it looks nice. So the dial is in fact a replacement. You son should be very happy.

[clockboy]

Nice job done, nice watch.

[sstakoff]

2 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Well done and it looks nice. So the dial is in fact a replacement. You son should be very happy.

Thank you. The dial is the original brass, stripped and refinished with a substitute die. The die used was actually a Bell & Ross design, but the refinisher was able to replace the text with the Tourneau name.

Also, the post on the hour counting wheel was broken so I had to replace that item. Look at the second image above, the one with the dial removed. If you zoom in real close, you can see the old post coming through the plate at the bottom - between the "SUN" day mark and the "11" date. It appears that in order to compensate for the shorter post, someone removed a portion of the plate. This would allow them to attach a hand to the shorter post. Too bad, as a new hour counting wheel is not expensive, at least while they're still available. The hands are all new as well - purchased as a set on eBay.

[Geo]

That turned into a really nice watch, and your son's a lucky laddie.

[bobm12]

Very nice job! Great quality pictures too! Are you adopting any more sons...even if they are older? I would only ask for watches!! 

 

[Ruby2]

Wow. Good job! Looks great. 

I have a Baume & Mercier Capeland Chronograph and the case and strap looks just the same. 

Cheers 

Richard