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Buy a movement or buy a watch?

phydaux
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phydaux Watch Enthusiast

phydaux

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So I'm tentatively sticking my toe into the watchmaking hobby, and like may newbies I'm considering my first project - Sourcing a movement, case, dial, & hands and building myself a custom watch.

As I noodle around on eBay, I've noticed something - Once I price a movement, case, and accessories, it all comes to a LOT more money than just buying a cheap watch with the desired movement already inside.  And the savings gets PRONOUNCED once you start looking at automatic movements.

Am I way off here?  Am I better off buying & busting eBay watches rather than trying to part-up a collection of "custom" watches?

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Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

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Start by buying yourself some cheap movements off ebay you wont get upset if you trash them, and you will trash the first few movements you work on.

You are correct it will be more expensive buying parts to build the customised watch you want, maybe save that until you have had some practice on cheaper movements.

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yankeedog Distinguished Member

yankeedog

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Buy complete watches.stainless steel case , round crystal, swiss movements, why? crystal replacement is simple for one thing. and stainless cased watched , I think, were treated with more respect .They were a little pricier and tended to be someone's "good" watch.so they saw more drawer time.While the chrome plated cases tended to be the ones that got worn to work. when looking at watches pay close attention to pictures of the hairspring and to the condition of the screw heads.watches that are "over wound" are great candidates,they usually just need cleaning and lubrication.the AS 1187/1194 movements are very common , cheap and can be coaxed back to life with almost boring regularity..have fun.

Edited by yankeedog
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rduckwor WRT Addict

rduckwor

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I have gone both routes, though the "bust" route only once.  I bought the ugliest Swiss Legend watch I have ever seen (warning, nauseating picture attached) because I could get it for less than the costs of a "naked' movement, the ETA 2824-2.  I have yet to bust it open but I'm awaiting a dial and hands and will do just that upon arrival.  The case is in already.  I hope to find someone with even less tastes than I who will buy the titanium case and bracelet once I have robbed the movement.

 

To your question, no one ever said this was inexpensive.  Shop around and find the best price you can.

IMG_20170305_163842619.jpg

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Izzy New Member

Izzy

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There are cheap Chinese clones (st2130, st1812, st36) (that supposedly have a good quality) of popular Swiss movements (2824-2, 2892-a2, 6497), if your desired movement is one of them maybe it more cost effective to buy a watch with one of these clones inside (so maybe it will feel like you are working on the real thing?)

Personally I would probably just buy the watch that I want (or parts if it is cheaper or I don't find a watch with the design I like), buy a cheap clone movement and use the clone movement for all my bustings, this way I have a watch that I'm happy to wear and don't mind to trash, instead of a full cheap watch that I will never use cause it's ugly while I wasted money on it.

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Blixen77 New Member

Blixen77

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There are cheap Chinese clones (st2130, st1812, st36) (that supposedly have a good quality) of popular Swiss movements (2824-2, 2892-a2, 6497), if your desired movement is one of them maybe it more cost effective to buy a watch with one of these clones inside (so maybe it will feel like you are working on the real thing?)
Personally I would probably just buy the watch that I want (or parts if it is cheaper or I don't find a watch with the design I like), buy a cheap clone movement and use the clone movement for all my bustings, this way I have a watch that I'm happy to wear and don't mind to trash, instead of a full cheap watch that I will never use cause it's ugly while I wasted money on it.
Izzy do you have a reliable bay seller where to buy genuine Seagull ST2130 movement?

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Izzy New Member

Izzy

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3 hours ago, Blixen77 said:

Izzy do you have a reliable bay seller where to buy genuine Seagull ST2130 movement?

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I'm not sure, I faced the same problem, how can you know that you buy the real thing (or not  an old stock), I didn't look much into it cause I will probably end up ruining mine anyways (by tempering with it).

I have decided I will buy from this seller - 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Seagull-ST2130-Automatic-Movement-Clone-Replacement-For-ETA-2824-2-SELLITA-SW200-White-3H-Mechanical-Wristwatch/32916022505.html

From his list of products (I think only seagull watches without anything that look shady (like a scum)) and the reviews he have on his store (excellent ones) I tend to believe that the product will be real (maybe you can ask him if it fresh out the factory or an old stock)

Some things about Aliexpress - 

The sellers there are usually fine writing on the boxes that the product cost less than it actually is (not long ago they used to do this even without you asking..) it helps with the custom tax.

If you have problem with the item you can 1. contact the seller 2. open a dispute in Aliexpress, they really prefer you to contact them instead of opening a dispute (I don't know what aliexpress do to them..)  and usually helpful, the only time I opened a dispute on a 20$ toy that came broken, I got my money back after a day. 

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Blixen77 New Member

Blixen77

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I'm not sure, I faced the same problem, how can you know that you buy the real thing (or not  an old stock), I didn't look much into it cause I will probably end up ruining mine anyways (by tempering with it).
I have decided I will buy from this seller - 
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Seagull-ST2130-Automatic-Movement-Clone-Replacement-For-ETA-2824-2-SELLITA-SW200-White-3H-Mechanical-Wristwatch/32916022505.html
From his list of products (I think only seagull watches without anything that look shady (like a scum)) and the reviews he have on his store (excellent ones) I tend to believe that the product will be real (maybe you can ask him if it fresh out the factory or an old stock)
Some things about Aliexpress - 
The sellers there are usually fine writing on the boxes that the product cost less than it actually is (not long ago they used to do this even without you asking..) it helps with the custom tax.
If you have problem with the item you can 1. contact the seller 2. open a dispute in Aliexpress, they really prefer you to contact them instead of opening a dispute (I don't know what aliexpress do to them..)  and usually helpful, the only time I opened a dispute on a 20$ toy that came broken, I got my money back after a day. 
Thank you Izzy, Mark replied to the same question and suggested to buy from cousins as a true reliable seagull. If you want to buy in EU you can buy with trust on https://www.alpha-1993.com/en/Watch-parts/Movements/Seagull-ST2130-automatic-movement-clone-ETA-2824-2-SW-200.html?force_sid=cahe8o50rdmf9iilvk7cgib2b6 they send from Latvia [emoji1145]. The aliexpress seller is reliable and has the lowest price but for my experience in Italy I usually wait for postman 1 month and half... [emoji23]

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