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Unitas 6497 Custom Watch


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Hey folks, I'd like to share a watch I put together for my Brother's birthday.

The movement is a pretty old Unitas 6497 which I picked up from the widow of a watchmaker a year or so back, the plates have been skeletonised and I'm pretty sure this was a once off job by the watchmaker.
The mainplate is brass, and the decorated bridge plates appear to have been plated (quite crudely, when inspected under a loupe).
The movement is keeping great time now that it is serviced.

I made an attempt at a logo using the film-free transfer technique Mark has used in a couple of recent Youtube videos.
The logo didn't adhere very well to the dial, not particularly happy with it. In person and to the naked eye it looks pretty good I think.

The case is a 41mm case I picked up from Ofrei, who I sourced the dial and hands from also.

Hope ye like it!

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Edited by JBerry
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Nice work, especially creating your own dial logo.
How have you found the ofrei case? I was considering one for my own project and would have paid the extra for the case (compared to the ones straight out of China), but Ofrei's international postage is criminal (around $80US if I remember rightly).
Here's mine, also built out of an old pocket watch.
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On 7/9/2019 at 12:56 AM, tritto said:

Nice work, especially creating your own dial logo.
How have you found the ofrei case? I was considering one for my own project and would have paid the extra for the case (compared to the ones straight out of China), but Ofrei's international postage is criminal (around $80US if I remember rightly).
Here's mine, also built out of an old pocket watch.

Thanks! Very nice watch, I love your dial.

I found the case pretty good, quality is better than I imagined for the price. I am in the US at the moment, so postage time and cost was pretty reasonable.

My only issue with the case was that it is designed to have case clamps which are fitted flush with the mainplate of the movement. Which is fine for more modern 6497-1 movements, however my old Unitas 6497 had elevated ledges on the barrel bridge which made the case clamps sit much too high within the case, so I had to file these down to fit my clamps flush with the mainplate... I hated to modify the plate like this, but otherwise the movement would just go back in the drawer indefinitely.

Here are the two styles compared:

 

 

old.jpg

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    • in general this shouldn't be any change. but in general questions like this it be nice to know the specifics of the watch in other words how was it performing before it was cased up and what is it doing now.
    • just as a reminder this watch is a Swatch group product. This will bring up a problem like spare parts and technical information. that I found some links to some information on when I talk about your watch and some of the technical and basically your watch is equivalent to 2834-2 for which I'm attaching the technical sheets. But equivalent does not mean exactly the same you want to do a search on the group for C07 as we discussed this watch before including the technical differences how it's supposed to be regulated and basically because it's watch group there is no parts availability. https://calibercorner.com/eta-caliber-c07-xxx/   https://www.chrono24.com/magazine/eta-movements-from-the-2824-2-to-the-powermatic-80-p_80840/ https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/h-10-movement-details.4636991/ eta CT_2834-2_FDE_481857_15.pdf
    • people be honest.... Swatch is evil for the watchmakers and repairers, BUT not everything in watches from Switzerland is from the Swatch-Group. As far as i know, Selitta got sacked by Swatch as a Movement-Assembler for them and they started to produce Movements in their own Name with slight Modifications. As far as i know, they sell Parts to the Market for their Movements. In most cases, if a ETA-Movement fails, it is a valid Option to replace it with a Selitta Movement, which i consider the Solution for this Mess with the Swatch-Group...... I have no Connection to anybody at Selitta, but being a Swiss-Guy, i still like to have Swiss-Made Watches, but not from the Swatch-Group.   ok ? regards, Ernst
    • Just one more greedy act by Swatch. They started a number of years ago here in the US..cutting off supplies to watchmakers that could build complications that many Swatch houses couldn't even touch. Old school masters who had gone through some of the most prestigious houses in the world. Otto Frei has some statements on their page about it. I tell all my customers to avoid new Swiss watches like the plague,..unless they just want an older one in their collection that still has some parts out on the market, or they have really deep pockets and don't mind waiting months and paying through the nose to get it back. Plenty of others to choose from..IE Seiko,..or other non-swiss brands Even a number of Chinese brands are catching up with the Swiss,..and I think that in time, their actions will be their downfall
    • Yes. If that's not what you are experiencing...start looking for something rubbing. A 1st guess is that one of the hands is rubbing against the hole in the center of the dial. Especially if you now have lower amplitude in face up/ face down positions.
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