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Posted

Hi, I'm here on behalf of my dad who seems to have trouble fixing his watch. It is called "andre belfort sapphire crystal ab-8110" and he's unable to move hands manually. He's had it to a repair shop and they were unable to fix it as they said the part they needed was obsolete. It's an automatic winder but he can't alter the time on it because it appears to be locked. 

Thanks.

Posted

Regarding the problem, the movement will have to be removed to allow the problem to be traced and rectified.  

It would be interesting to hear what obsolete part the the watchmaker said was required.  It looks like a fairly new Chinese movement to me, the part is probably not obsolete, but more than likely unobtainable.

Posted

Identifying the movement might help. There is a Citizen 8110 which is a chronograph auto. If it is this movement then the parts are indeed obsolete. As Geo suggests the movement needs to removed partly at least stripped to identify the fault. The issue for a watchmaker is when stripped and a part needs replacing but is not available he still needs paying for his time.

Posted (edited)

The movements used in these are of Chinese origin possibly a seagull ST16 I think they are made to look like chrono's but dont actually have that function

Wayne

Edited by wls1971
Posted

If its not setting more than likely striped the teeth on the hour wheel its probably been date changed at the wrong time.

Posted

Very possible. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of eventualities possible here.

I came across one watch that had very hard built up corrosion on the centre wheel and it just couldn't move past that point.

Dave

Posted

dave;  taking apart a watch like that might be a problem if you have not had one apart, BUT this forum is the right place for help.  i have had a couple "locked up" watches and  was surprised to find a "loose screw" which can be an easy fix.  those auto-winds often do that.  good luck and welcome to the forum.  vinn

Posted

Also, I hate to say it, but sometimes it's just not worth fixing. If it's a keepsake, just put it in a drawer somewhere and buy another watch. It can cost more than the watch is worth to fix it unless you can do it yourself; even that can cost quite a lot of money for parts. You can often buy an entire movement for what they want to charge for a balance wheel and hair spring.

Dave

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Posted

That'll be a chinese TY2867 then. The movement costs £25 plus postage from Cousins, and the only spare parts on sale are stems.

So I guess a watchmaker is going to charge double that, plus VAT, plus 2-3 hours labour with the fiddling of adjusting hands, dial and stem to fit (ask me how I know). Parts are unlikely to be interchangeable between movements as what is ostensibly a standard movement is made by different factories to their own tolerances and minor variations.

If you can do any work yourself then fine, and with the above info, the repair shop may (or may not) be more helpful, but these watches are available new on ebay for £150 - £200, so might not really be worth repairing.

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