The date ring back on ready for the dial and hands. It’s no wonder the crown pulled straight out! You can see the damage to the setting lever here…. With the movement turned over I could start on the keyless work. The new crown wheel and click spring in place.Īnd the autowind bridge rebuilt and fitted. The watch was put away until the parts arrived.Ī couple of days later they were here, the list was a new crown wheel, setting lever, return bar, clutch wheel, winding pinion, click spring and stem. The mainplate took a while but cleaned up nicely in the end.Īnd this was as far as I could go as I was still waiting for the new parts to arrive. Once the parts were cleaned and inspected the rebuild began. I rinsed it after a couple of hours and was quite pleased with how it turned out, a few of the numerals have faded a little but as a new Tag one isn’t available to me it’s a big win! I placed the ring in a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar and left it to try and dissolve the rust stains. The numerals are transfer printed onto the white background and it doesn’t take much to dislodge them. Next was the date ring, these are very difficult to clean as they’re so fragile. ….then turning over and putting a tiny dab of glue in the 3 o’clock lume well…. With the parts in the cleaner I turned my attention to the dial. There was considerable time spent cleaning up the plates and components that were to be kept before it all went in the Vari-Matic. I was amazed I managed to get all the screws undone, had any been rusted into the plate it would have caused even bigger headaches. The crown wheel and click spring were toast.īut as I mentioned the wheels and pinions were still good. The motion work side wasn’t much better but at least the wheels and pinions were unaffected by corrosion. Which left the mainplate in a sorry state.
This is what was left of the winding pinion and clutch, the pinion was so corroded one of the teeth had rotted away. The keyless work looked awful, in fact most of the components were scrap. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem as a new date ring could be bought, but the date at 9 o’clock configuration of this watch means the ring is a unique Tag part.Įvery where I looked corrosion was present, even under the autowind bridge. Never mind wherever it originated from it had ruined the date ring. The reverse of the dial wasn’t looking good, where had all that rust come from? If I’d tried levering the dial up the feet would have parted company with the dial for sure. The dial did not want to be removed, it took some considerable pushing on the feet to get them to start moving. You can also see the orientation the watch was left in as it dried out as there is a rust stain on the dials periphery from 10 o’clock around to 1.30. I could also see a little staining on the date ring, lets hope it doesn’t get any worse than that. When the movement was uncased the lume from the 3 o’clock lume well had decided to drop out. With the autowind bridge removed it was obvious the crown wheel was badly rusted. With the movement spacer removed it gets worse, the dreaded rust is now making it’s presence known! This is powered by a decorated Silleta 200.1, a very capable ETA 2824 clone. With the caseback removed things started to go downhill fast, you can see there are a lot of particles on the movement. At first glance it looks in remarkably good shape considering it got waterlogged.Įven the movement didn’t look too bad through the display caseback, however the first warning of problems were that the hands were seized solid, the rotor didn’t turn and when I pulled the crown to try and put it into the time setting position it came completely out!
And the base itself is a reliable, robust watch with serious diving credentials and all the equipment you’d need from such a timepiece.This Aquaracer came in recently described as “not working as it got wet, it looks clean inside though”. This watch, which strays far from the usual motorsport-inspired creations of the brand, is also TAG’s vehicle for design experimentations with colourful dials or unusual textures. The Aquaracer is TAG Heuer’s vision of an aquatic timepiece, a no-nonsense and relatively simple dive watch with a design inspired by the Heuer 2000 and recognizable thanks to its angular bezel with 12-sided profile and its dial with horizontal grooves. Meet the new TAG Heuer Aquaracer 43mm Calibre 5 Automatic with ‘Tortoise Shell Effect’ bezels. Probably not a watch made for hardcore enthusiasts, but at least the brand dares to create something novel. Summer is a time for casual styles and today, TAG Heuer introduces something new and original.
Just in for summer… There’s nothing better than a robust dive watch to enjoy the holiday season, a watch that can look good during a dinner out next to the sea or that can follow you in the sea.
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