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Will your Aquaracer break? A shocking scientific study on the calibre 5
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bpsmith
·Thanks for reporting! This is why we never never hand wind the calibro 5. I always do the 'shake the watch til' it runs' winding to start mine.
Plenty to read online if googling the issue
https://watchintyme.com/index.php?threads/sellita-sw200-helicopter-effect-spinning-rotor.745206/
https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/rotor-spinning-issues-sellita-sw200-1-eta-2824.5373297/
https://www.christopherwardforum.co...k2-yellow-le-has-a-movement-issue-t57677.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/c3qqc9/hamilton_rotor_has_started_spinning_when_watch/
etc...
I was aware before buying, but setting the time has been so positive without issues, so didn’t think twice about winding today. Will be sending back later or tomorrow, for repair, never to be hand wound again!
Makes me reconsider future purchases as I really don’t need the hassle tbh.
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bpsmith
·
Sounds like their estimated timescales are clearly not to be trusted, and that’s for polishing without anything mechanical.
Cheers for confirming.
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Jim Dollares
·I was aware before buying, but setting the time has been so positive without issues, so didn’t think twice about winding today. Will be sending back later or tomorrow, for repair, never to be hand wound again!
Makes me reconsider future purchases as I really don’t need the hassle tbh.
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Jim Dollares
·Science update, we are now almost five months into the field testing of the el calibre cinco. This bad boy Aquaracer has been through some hard times of snow, mountain hiking, endless moist showers, lake swimming, pool chillaxing and working out sessions. The watch was even dropped on the floor from a pretty high level, all in the name of science of course hrrm. The watch has been doing dive bombs in pools to record sexy slow motion wet watch videos.
I am very happy with the performance of the movement this far. It runs about 4 seconds fast per day when worn regularily, it looses time when power reserve has almost ran out. The rotor seems to wind the watch very effectively, it doesn't need many shakes to get running. Speaking of which, as mentioned above, this watch has only been hand wound twice (once scientifically by me and once by sales lady when brand new in the store).
Crown action is excellent and I have no issue finding the right position. Date is nice and centered and feels confident to change.
Compared to certain other movements made in the house, it is also a joy not having to hear a lunatic rotor going wild constantly.
We do see reports from Dr. Ben P Smith confirming that his experiment to hand wind the calibre cinco for 7 months did in fact cause the movement to break.
Stay tuned for the 12 month update.
I am very happy with the performance of the movement this far. It runs about 4 seconds fast per day when worn regularily, it looses time when power reserve has almost ran out. The rotor seems to wind the watch very effectively, it doesn't need many shakes to get running. Speaking of which, as mentioned above, this watch has only been hand wound twice (once scientifically by me and once by sales lady when brand new in the store).
Crown action is excellent and I have no issue finding the right position. Date is nice and centered and feels confident to change.
Compared to certain other movements made in the house, it is also a joy not having to hear a lunatic rotor going wild constantly.
We do see reports from Dr. Ben P Smith confirming that his experiment to hand wind the calibre cinco for 7 months did in fact cause the movement to break.
Stay tuned for the 12 month update.
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bpsmith
·I love that @Jim Dollares.
My summary of our combined findings is that you can hammer the hell out of it and it runs fine, but don’t expect to hand wind it for anything longer than 7 months, albeit I haven’t been winding it every day with some weeks not winding it at all.
Outside of the above issues, mine has never lost time, as I have confirmed that my testing this morning must account for the loss I experienced today, as been holding time on my wrist perfectly ever since. It has gained time at varying rates depending on wearing it. Most time gained was 15 secs in a day when almost run down. Least was 4 secs gain when worn for most of the day, but not overnight.
As for my date window, some dates appear more centre than others. This applies whether manually set or as part of daily running. Good excuse for them to look at this once sent back too.
I just hope it comes back better than ever and that I have missed it whilst away. Part of me just wants to punt it on and walk away at this stage though, I must admit.
My summary of our combined findings is that you can hammer the hell out of it and it runs fine, but don’t expect to hand wind it for anything longer than 7 months, albeit I haven’t been winding it every day with some weeks not winding it at all.
Outside of the above issues, mine has never lost time, as I have confirmed that my testing this morning must account for the loss I experienced today, as been holding time on my wrist perfectly ever since. It has gained time at varying rates depending on wearing it. Most time gained was 15 secs in a day when almost run down. Least was 4 secs gain when worn for most of the day, but not overnight.
As for my date window, some dates appear more centre than others. This applies whether manually set or as part of daily running. Good excuse for them to look at this once sent back too.
I just hope it comes back better than ever and that I have missed it whilst away. Part of me just wants to punt it on and walk away at this stage though, I must admit.
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abrod520
·At this point I just leave my Orange on a winder (a cheapo I bought from eBay, think it was like $60 for a 2-watch winder). Along with anything else Sellita 200/300 or ETA 2892 based.
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Jim Dollares
·At this point I just leave my Orange on a winder (a cheapo I bought from eBay, think it was like $60 for a 2-watch winder). Along with anything else Sellita 200/300 or ETA 2892 based.
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abrod520
·Really? I remember you saying that you cant resist hand winding 😝
I can't resist manual wind watches 😜
No, at this point any watch that is difficult to hand-wind I'll just put on the winder. I found that the Speedmaster Dark Side winds stiffly for instance, even though it doesn't have the same reversing-wheel problem as the Sellita. OTOH it might loosen up; my Tudor Black Bay Chrono started out graunchy to wind but is much more agreeable now. Who knows
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bpsmith
·This is weird. Have done nothing but wear it since. Was considering dropping it over the AD, but thought I would try winding it first.
There is a little bit of resistance, but it’s almost back to normal and no rotor noise anymore. Very strange.
Would you guys bother to get it looked at now, as it has happened, or would you now hold fire as they may just say it’s working fine?
There is a little bit of resistance, but it’s almost back to normal and no rotor noise anymore. Very strange.
Would you guys bother to get it looked at now, as it has happened, or would you now hold fire as they may just say it’s working fine?
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Jim Dollares
·This is weird. Have done nothing but wear it since. Was considering dropping it over the AD, but thought I would try winding it first.
There is a little bit of resistance, but it’s almost back to normal and no rotor noise anymore. Very strange.
Would you guys bother to get it looked at now, as it has happened, or would you now hold fire as they may just say it’s working fine?
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Jim Dollares
·I can't resist manual wind watches 😜
No, at this point any watch that is difficult to hand-wind I'll just put on the winder. I found that the Speedmaster Dark Side winds stiffly for instance, even though it doesn't have the same reversing-wheel problem as the Sellita. OTOH it might loosen up; my Tudor Black Bay Chrono started out graunchy to wind but is much more agreeable now. Who knows
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Aquagraph
·I read somewhere if you continue winding you wear the gears down on some wheels so perhaps this solved the issue 😁 hard to say what I would do. Perhaps start shake winding it and see if it works. Use warranty in a year or so before it expires. I remember Rob lived with a shitty crown on his 208C for a long time and got it repaired just before warranty expired.
Got it repaired, well it came back pretty much the same to be honest... and from speaking to staff at the BV store the bar for what is expected of the C5 is very low!
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Aquagraph
·Green Aquaracer definitely not the same, much nicer to change the time and date and it seems to click into place without wandering off.
The real problem was when I thought it was in the 0 position and it was actually in the 1 position. If you can't even tell then how are you supposed to not change the date at the wrong time.
The real problem was when I thought it was in the 0 position and it was actually in the 1 position. If you can't even tell then how are you supposed to not change the date at the wrong time.
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bpsmith
·I don’t have any issues with the positions. It just doesn’t pop out when first unscrewed. Pops into the right place instantly when turning clockwise.
No issue whatsoever until today. Have taken it off for this evening. Will check again in the morning.
if yours came back the same Rob, then it seems pointless sending it away for weeks/months.
No issue whatsoever until today. Have taken it off for this evening. Will check again in the morning.
if yours came back the same Rob, then it seems pointless sending it away for weeks/months.
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dtf
·At this point I just leave my Orange on a winder (a cheapo I bought from eBay, think it was like $60 for a 2-watch winder). Along with anything else Sellita 200/300 or ETA 2892 based.
wierdly my c5 aquaracer won’t charge on a winder, only on the wrist. I’ve tried a cheap winder and a fancy one, both configured per TH settings, but neither worked.
I hadn’t realised there was a link between hand winding and movement damage, I’m not fully convinced by that.
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Jim Dollares
·hadn’t realised there was a link between hand winding and movement damage, I’m not fully convinced by that.
https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/...th-break-when-hand-winding-seriously.5152251/
Plenty of articles, forum discussions and videos if you search for it. I once saw a video where a guy disassembled parts of a Sellita or ETA and explained how the gears interact and the consequence of this issue, shouldn't be too hard to find I hope.
My theory is they don't properly fix this issue because it is a constant flow of revenue as customers have to keep paying more frequently to have their watch serviced.
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dtf
·The update from SW200 to SW200-1 was supposedly to fix the issue of the gears on the ratchet wheel being worn out way too fast when hand winding. This thread on wus is where I first read about this a while back
https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/...th-break-when-hand-winding-seriously.5152251/
Plenty of articles, forum discussions and videos if you search for it. I once saw a video where a guy disassembled parts of a Sellita or ETA and explained how the gears interact and the consequence of this issue, shouldn't be too hard to find I hope.
My theory is they don't properly fix this issue because it is a constant flow of revenue as customers have to keep paying more frequently to have their watch serviced.
Interesting idea, but for the first few months my c5 barely left my wrist until it failed and went back for service, so wouldn’t have needed hand winding much. Now it’s a long way down the rotation, so gets wound everytime I wear it, but it still kinda works. Admittedly the winding action feels and sounds like trying to start a $50 Chinese chainsaw, but it does still work.
When it fails next I’ll probably either fit a cosc movement or a quartz replacement. Quartz is tempting because it’s so much that the calibre 5 isn’t: tough, reliable, anti magnetic, accurate.
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Aquagraph
·With my wife's Oris it was fine if you shook it, but if you tried to hand wind it span the rotor, so there's clearly something that's supposed to disconnect the two that failed. The watch still worked and the rotor worked to wind the watch, I think ultimately it seized up altogether and then she had to pay £200 to get it fixed.
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bpsmith
·I just checked on mine. Bang in to the second since I set it this morning, despite being off my wrist for a good few hours.
Turned the crown very gently. First half turn felt like normal, second half turn was lighter than normal and third half turn sends the rotor spinning.
I just can’t live with it being like that, as it will weigh on my mind, so will get it sent back tomorrow I think.
Will be back ready for Winter probably.
Turned the crown very gently. First half turn felt like normal, second half turn was lighter than normal and third half turn sends the rotor spinning.
I just can’t live with it being like that, as it will weigh on my mind, so will get it sent back tomorrow I think.
Will be back ready for Winter probably.