ETA kinetic
Frank Adam
Has anyone done one of these abominations and replaced the cell with
other than the GC922 with a good result ?
The GC922 is a 2.4V cap, no longer stocked or supported by Swatch,
while the 920SW is a 1.5 battery. Dunno, maybe go with a high drain,
but even then, is the customer looking at replacing the cell every 6
months ? :-/ I'll chop the charge circuit of course and because of the
2.4V i don't think i'll even entertain trying to use a Seiko solar
battery.
Fucking ridiculous, this is not in a POS Swatch, it's a Longines two
tone case, must've cost the customer at least a grand and probably not
more than 10-15 years ago.
ps: Surprisingly, the Renata capacitor leaked. Who'd have thunk ? ;-)
--
Regards, Frank
Jack Denver
with a battery.
The 911 uses a rechargeable lithium battery MT920 - specs here:
http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-cgi/jvcr13pz.cgi?E+BA+3+AAA4012+MT920+7+WW
According to this page, the MT920 is an ersetzt den Goldcap GC920 in vielen
Solar-Uhren (z.B. Seiko 7810,7817 oder Autoquarz im ETA-Werk 205.911)
http://www.abcde.de/mt920.html
"Substitute for the Goldcap GC920 i various solar watches."
These people sell them:
http://www.master-instruments.com.au/products/54986/MT920.html
Dunno how much.
and here:
These same batteries with tabs welded on are the the rechargeables in
various Seiko/Citizen watches
"Frank Adam" <fa...@notthis.optushome.com.au> wrote in message
news:jgqjt359slej8qrup...@4ax.com...
Jack Denver
http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_mt920.htm
If all else fails you could replace the whole movment with a donor movement
from this watch:
I think the 111 and 911 are the same size movement.
But I think it is worth a shot at seeing if the watch will run on a mt920.
I know that in the Seiko kinetics it is possible to directly replace the cap
with the rechargeable lithium battery even though the nominal voltages are
different.
What was the difference between a GC920 and a 922?
Jack Denver
http://www.flyingember.com/PMCarlylePortfolio/files/bguidebefore.pdf
(see p.13)
That seems like a really safe bet.
Was GC922 a typo for GC920? Google turns up completely dry on GC922.
"Frank Adam" <fa...@notthis.optushome.com.au> wrote in message
news:jgqjt359slej8qrup...@4ax.com...
Frank Adam
<nunu...@netscape.net> wrote:
>Borel seems to still be stocking the GC920 2.4 volt cap for all of $6:
>
>http://www.flyingember.com/PMCarlylePortfolio/files/bguidebefore.pdf
>
>(see p.13)
>
>That seems like a really safe bet.
>
>Was GC922 a typo for GC920? Google turns up completely dry on GC922.
>
Yeah, probably a misremember on my part, but i've got the cell back in
the watch now and it sits in upside down so can't see the numbers.
Thanks for the links Jack, i may try that Panasonic MT920 after all.
That Borel list is from 2005, so it may be well out of date and
everything i've read or heard(from even Swatch Spares) indicates that
the GC is history.. Still, if i get the go ahead, i will drop them a
fax or email. Thanks again.
So then, after all this trouble let's see the customer pull out of the
job. ;-)
--
Regards, Frank
Jack Denver
Note that this is Jules Borel of Kansas City and not Frei & Borel of San
Francisco.
Frank Adam
<nunu...@netscape.net> wrote:
>
>"Frank Adam" <fa...@notthis.optushome.com.au> wrote in message
>news:m3vjt31qskv27r5r9...@4ax.com...
>> On Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:04:09 -0400, "Jack Denver"
>> <nunu...@netscape.net> wrote:
>>
>>>Borel seems to still be stocking the GC920 2.4 volt cap for all of $6:
>>>
>>>http://www.flyingember.com/PMCarlylePortfolio/files/bguidebefore.pdf
>>>
>>>(see p.13)
>>>
>>>That seems like a really safe bet.
>>>
>>>Was GC922 a typo for GC920? Google turns up completely dry on GC922.
>>>
>> Yeah, probably a misremember on my part, but i've got the cell back in
>> the watch now and it sits in upside down so can't see the numbers.
>>
>> Thanks for the links Jack, i may try that Panasonic MT920 after all.
>> That Borel list is from 2005, so it may be well out of date and
>> everything i've read or heard(from even Swatch Spares) indicates that
>> the GC is history.. Still, if i get the go ahead, i will drop them a
>> fax or email. Thanks again.
>>
>> So then, after all this trouble let's see the customer pull out of the
>> job. ;-)
>>
>>
>You mean I did all that googling for nothing?
>
I owe you a Googling with cherry on top. :)
I like to give very firm quotes, so i have to be certain of prices,
part availability and such. I hate nothing more than having to go back
on what i've said to the client and 90% of the time will swallow the
extra cost even if the job becomes a loss, rather than requote.
Which adds to the long list of explanations as to why i'll never be
filthy rich. :)
>Note that this is Jules Borel of Kansas City and not Frei & Borel of San
>Francisco.
>
I know. I am way past worrying about where i get the parts, as long as
i get them within a reasonable time. The spare part supply down here
is gone almost defunct. When i have to wait since November for an ETA
chrono reversing wheel, things are no longer quite kosher.
The few orders i've made over the net from places like ofrei, arrived
here within 10 days. So what, i'll tell the customer it'll take 20
days for the job, instead of saying the usual 4-6 weeks on overseas
orders, which then(in this case) turns into frigging 5 months...and
counting. :-/
Yep, i'm having a good run. I really have to find a suitable road rage
victim.. ;-)
--
Regards, Frank
Jack Denver
"Frank Adam" <fa...@notthis.optushome.com.au> wrote in message
news:8ogpt3t0vesns4kua...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:47:12 -0400, "Jack Denver"
>>
> I know. I am way past worrying about where i get the parts, as long as
> i get them within a reasonable time. The spare part supply down here
> is gone almost defunct. When i have to wait since November for an ETA
> chrono reversing wheel, things are no longer quite kosher.
> The few orders i've made over the net from places like ofrei, arrived
> here within 10 days. So what, i'll tell the customer it'll take 20
> days for the job, instead of saying the usual 4-6 weeks on overseas
> orders, which then(in this case) turns into frigging 5 months...and
> counting. :-/
>
>
I buy stuff in the other direction - I get allergy medicine from NZ, where
the price is a small fraction of the US price due to the strange
economics/politics of the pharmaceutical industry. The stuff is sent
airmail and usually it takes about a week to reach me. So 10 days seems to
be in the ballpark and seems like a reasonable time for something to reach
you from 1/2 way round the earth (it sometimes takes 5 or 6 days for stuff
to reach me from California) . Plus with the US $ now almost 1/1 with the
Oz$ ordering from the US must seem fairly reasonable and since watch stuff
is so light the postage is not excessive (especially if you order several
items - I'm sure if you look thru the Borel catalog you'll see lots of stuff
that you could use (probably too much) . US Postal Service will send up to 4
lbs. weight anywhere on earth for $11 , 6 to 10 days transit time according
to their website.
I'm not surprised that a materials house would have a hard time supporting
itself in a market the size of AU. The US, a market of 300 million, is down
to only a handful and the #'s continue to shrink- S. LaRose was very well
known and if this was still a viable field they would have stayed in
business. With the # of watchmakers (who are their customers) continuing to
shrink and most people viewing watches as disposable (though less so than
cell phones which have a lifespan of maybe 2 years) it's not surprising that
parts suppliers would be having a hard time. Other types of repair shop
(e.g. small appliance repair, electronic repair) are almost extinct - it
never pays to fix a toaster or a DVD player given what skilled labor in the
West costs nowadays - it's cheaper to make a whole new one using 50 cent/hr.
labor in China.
I pick up the slick watch magazines that are filled with ads (and articles,
which are also ads) for dozens of brands of expensive Swiss watches and you
may think, "they are going to need lots of watchmakers to fix all those
fancy watches". But then you remember that while the $ volume of sales on
these watches is high (1 $20,000 Patek is as much sales volume as 400 $50
Seiko 5's), the unit volume is fairly low - while back in the day almost
EVERYBODY (except Timex owners) wore a mechanical watch that needed a
regular clean and lube (and more often than today because the cases were
often not dustproof and the lubes were not as good), today ownership of
mechanical watches (and expensive quartz watches where repair beyond a
battery change is cost justifiable) is confined to a very small % of the
population. I don't know what the average age of US watchmakers is but I
suspect it's very old. Yes, there is a new generation coming in but their
overall #'s are small compared to what used to be.