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Hi all, newbie here. I guess I've ended up a bit of a watch fan with a bunch of watches in my current collection (pic below), plus a few others I've sold. I haven't done that much modding of my watches, just battery changes and realigning hands on a few occasions. But I did put together a Series One watch from buildyourownwatch.com a few years (which I've actually sold since). At some point I would like to get more into building my own design, but baby steps first Anyway, my Helgray Field Officer II watch has been a trusty daily beater for some time, with a quartz Ronda 515 movement. The battery ran out a few weeks ago, so I ordered a replacement, put it in - watch didn't restart? Tried with a different battery, nada. Both were new batteries in original packaging with expiry dates years in the future. After looking around I found a few others online saying they'd had similar experiences when replacing the battery on a Ronda 515 movement. Seems like the movement is prone to dying at battery replacement time. So after a bit of hunting around at specs and seeing what I could easily get a hold of locally, I decided to give an ETA F06.111 movement a go as a replacement (https://shopb2b.eta.ch/f06-111-f06.1111597973808.html). It's shows up on the ETA website as discontinued and replaced by F06.115, but I couldn't find that locally and there didn't seem to be much difference between them. There was a 0.5mm difference in stem to dial height from the F06.111 to Ronda 515, but hand sizes etc. were all the same, and the key deciding factor was a much better battery life - 68 months using a Renata 371, as opposed to 45 months for the 515. Good news - it all worked. Switched over the hands to the new movement - even with tweezers and a hand press, I still find fitting hands the fiddliest of all! The hands maybe did get a little beat up from pinging out of my tweezers so often. The second hand isn't perfectly aligned but maybe I'll have another go some other time on that. Seems to me there's a market for a simple watch hand-friendly clamp, with a fine x-y axis adjustment to line it up to the dial and press mechanism to fit hands accurately and softly. Also needed to switch the crown onto the new stem and cut it to fit. Once the stem is in the new movement, the crown does sit at a slight angle if you look closely from the side, due to the 0.5mm difference in stem to dial height between the movements, but the actual date/time mechanism etc all works fine. I have a Renata 395 battery on the way, which the ETA movement can take and ups the battery life to 94 months! A few pics, and the Field Officer back in the working collection

I recently purchased a Longines Admiral watch that I though was an automatic. There is the link to a similar one on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-LONGINES-WITTNAUER-ADMIRAL-GOLD-FILLED-GENTS-RETRO-AUTOMATIC-WRISTWATCH-/382004003649?hash=item58f1368341:g:qUcAAOSwA3dYgFXu As you can see the one I have is identical to the automatic one on eBay (see photos).To my dissappointment I have discovered that it is has a Ronda, 1 Jewel quartz movement (labeled "Swiss Parts" that is assembled in the Far East). There is no caliber number on the movement. Also I was expecting a two piece stem but the Ronda has a one piece that i had to force out to remove the movement from the case (only comes out the front).The inside of the one-piece case states: Longines WittnauerStar W.C. CO.10k Gold Filled2951-5056912972Does anyone know the Ronda movement was a replacement for the original Longines movement? OR did Longines sell this watch with the Ronda movement in the 1970s/1980s???Does the watch have any value if the movement is not the original?

Hello! My first question / project as a new member: I have a watch with a Ronda 4438, or perhaps 4439 automatic movement. The rotor has considerable play due to wear. I have been unsuccessful at finding information about the proper rotor removal method. Referring to the attached photo - I have identified the two stake marks at the rotor hub, but I do not see any retaining components or clips (perhaps the component that I marked with arrow?). Any guidance would be much appreciated! Cheers, Neil

Hello, I'm new here. Never repaired a watch before but hope I can muddle through this one . I imagine a professional repair would cost more than the watch is worth. The stem on this watch broke. I have both pieces. I removed the remaining piece of stem from inside.( took forever ) The movement says Ronda, but no numbers. I think the crown might be permanently attached or at least very tight. I really like the watch and hope someone can help me fix it. Thanks!