Chinese automatic Rolex clone with a stuck second hand

[drjesse]

My name is Jesse and I've been collecting watches for 15 years or so and have recently begun working on the insides of them. I am a professor biology and Anatomy and also make silver jewelry. I can share more if it's necessary, but would like to get on with my question.  I recently purchased a well-done Rolex clone.  The watch seems to work fine otherwise and I adjusted the time to make it a bit more accurate, however the watch may run for as long as several hours, but always ends up with the second hand being stuck at around 30 to 35 seconds on the dial and well start taking again after a few hard shakes. Can you please give me your best idea of what might be causing this second hand to stick. Mechanically everything else with the watch seems to be working within normal limits. Thank you for addressing my first question on this forum . I hope to learn much more from you and your site as I am incurably a "horophile".

[jdm]

Welcome here. Now, what you call "clone" isn't at all identical to the original as the term implies.
Depending from the level of sophistication of the counterfeiting it can use from a decent imitation to a very cheap and unreliable mov't. In all cases no spare parts are available, So, assuming isn't the second hand stuck on the minute, you would need first to learn how to take apart, diagnose and service a mechanical watch. To do that I suggest that you watch the video on Youtube by hour Host Mark. Sometime it can be more expeditious to replace to entire mov't, for that you would have to post a good picture.

[AndyHull]

As jdm stated, the movement in the watch is obviously not going to be as high a standard as a genuine Rolex.

You could attempt to service it yourself, assuming you are willing to take that risk, and have the patience and dexterity, tools, good lighting and good magnification necessary to do this.

If the second hand is sticking, then there are a couple of possibilities, the most obvious of which is dirt, which would probably be relatively easy to remove, if you stripped and cleaned the mechanism.

If the mechanism is damaged in some way, then replacing it entirely would be the simplest option, unless of course you can source the parts from a donor watch and are willing to fit them yourself, since most professional watch repairers will charge more for this than the watch is likely to be worth.

[Klassiker]

Could the second hand be catching the inside of the crystal? That may explain it always stopping in the same spot. For the first several hours after winding, the mainspring has enough torque to overcome the friction.

[JerseyMo]

hammers and fakes work well together....  sorry but I've seen too many coworkers loose thier jobs becuase of copyright infringment.

[clockboy]

Welcome to the forum Jesse. As JDM states some clones are just really poor movements and others are of reasonable quality. If it has not been dropped then it is highly unlikely that the seconds hand has distorted. It will need servicing.

Personally I will not touch a replica watches as matter of principle but accept there are plenty of them on the market. 

[vinn3]

   darn right;  "matter of principal" !      best buy another fake and learn about "well made watches".   vin

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

[markr]

[AndyHull]

3 hours ago, swisschronic said:

I am surprised some of the dudes here can spell 95 percent of their words correct. 

these are the morons that buy and covet these "real" Rolexes, Fake people that have more money than wit.

Im my field of work... everything is a "copy of a copy of a copy" Fight club , Chuck Palanuik

Well maybe a little harsh. If offered the fake or the real McCoy, I'm sorry but gimme the Rolex. If offered the fake or the money to buy the Rolex, I would probablyl take the cash.

Having said that, I have no personal driving desire to own a Rolex. They look fine, don't get me wrong, but I probably got far more enjoyment of the Chairman Mao smoking watch than I would out of a Rolex. I'd only go and loose or break the darned thing anyway, so gimme the genuine Rolex, but the first thing I'm going to do is flog it and buy a bunch of other stuff that I actually want. 

There is a rather nice looking Omega down in a certain Stirling jewelers that gets the occasional sideways glance as I go past though, so my steely resolve to stick to sensible or affordable purchases cannot be absolutely guaranteed. 

The fake Rolex would however make a very fine member of the 404 club of course.

Edited October 24, 2019 by AndyHull

[jdm]

4 hours ago, markr said:

You've just crushed the watch of my dreams. What a Rolexist person you are.

[AndyHull]

Just now, jdm said:

You've just crushed the watch of my dreams. What a Rolexist person you are.

Don't worry, he's going to pop it up on ebay, and throw in the hammer for free, in case it needs further delicate adjustments.

[yankeedog]

It could be that the hand is bent. or more likely the axle it rides on. if it is not perpendicular to the dial the distance between the hand and the dial will be different depending on its location.in your case low at 6 but probably high at 12. a little bend upward might help.

[yankeedog]

Just now, yankeedog said:

It could be that the hand is bent. or more likely the axle it rides on. if it is not perpendicular to the dial the distance between the hand and the dial will be different depending on its location.in your case low at 6 but probably high at 12. a little bend upward might help.

it could also be that the dial is not perfectly seated or flat.

[AndyHull]

@drjesse A few pictures might take out a lot of the guess work. Closeups of the dial and hands, from an angle, and closeups of the mechanism would be worth a thousand words.