Regulating My ETA 2824-2

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AdDaMan
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Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by AdDaMan »

Regulated one of my autos today. Its a 3 year old Certina DS Action diver. One of my favourite watches and one that has stayed in my collection despite hundreds of comings and goings.

Uses probably the most widely use Swiss auto movement, the ETA 2824-2.

Has been running fast for quite a while so thought i'd try and sort it.

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Running +24secs a day. Quite a bit fast! 0.0ms beat error which is obviously good.

Caseback off.

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Here is a pic of the regulating screw:

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Best i could get was down to +6spd.

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Time to take off the automatic framework:

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Now i can adjust the regulating arm, and then back to the screw.

Got it down to 0spd.

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Although that isn't ideal imo as you don't want it to be slow to avoid being late.

I settled on +2spd in the same position. 0spd in another, +4spd in another. Good for me!

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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by keepitsimple »

That's a very useful post.

Been there, done that but many many haven't and may be scared to try - your post might help take the fear out of it.

One of the many nice things about the 2824 and the other closely related movements is how easy they are to regulate even for an amateur.

They're often kinda dismissed as just a run of the mill movement not worth serious consideration by the watch cognoscenti, but I reckon many professional watch repairers would tell you just how good they are if properly adjusted and regulated, compared against almost any of the uber-expensive competition.

They are often put into massively over-priced watches of course.

I wear a watch on the outside of my left wrist, so try to average out the dial up/12 down/3 down rates, and then leave it a couple of seconds on the fast side, but it's always useful to know the fastest/slowest rates as well.

It's a nuisance if the rate is outside the screw adjutment range, but as you show, removing the auto winder isn't a big deal.

Of course, anyone who does it , does so at their own risk, understands that this is not any form of recommendation, makes sure they're in a clean dust free environment, and doesn't take it anywhere near water unless professionally tested afterwards etc.etc.etc.

(Phew, - how many disclaimers do you need to make these days....)
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by smegwina »

Well done and something that I would never, ever have the love spuds to do.

I might have a dabble with the regulating screw, but removing the auto gear....... Hell no.

My fat fingers would probably have the mainspring exploding within seconds and I would be picking bits of the movement out of my face for weeks.

Love it when I see the bravery of others.

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nbg
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by nbg »

An interesting post, that will hopefully give a few forumites the confidence to give it a go themselves. :thumbup:

For any who are interested, the green arrow in this pic is pointing to the bit you would need to dabble with on the regulating arm.
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by Thegreyman »

That's impressive to have both the knowledge and kahunas to attempt that on your watch :thumbup:
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by TigerChris »

Great effort that. If I tried it I’d be buying a new watch as I’d just destroy it!
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by keepitsimple »

AdDaMan wrote: Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:06 pm Regulated one of my autos today. Its a 3 year old Certina DS Action diver. One of my favourite watches and one that has stayed in my collection despite hundreds of comings and goings.

Uses probably the most widely use Swiss auto movement, the ETA 2824-2.

Has been running fast for quite a while so thought i'd try and sort it.
Just one observation I forgot earlier (and it isn't a criticism...)

Like you,I always used to position the watch on the microphone stand with the crown in the cutout of the sprung side. Then I was told by professionals that it should be the other way around, with the crown against the metal microphone side.

I don't know what, if any, difference it makes, and it begs the questions of why the cutout is there if it isn't for the crown, and what you do with watches with the crown at 4.00... :problem:

I guess it is what the translated from chinese instructions that came with mine mean by "the uplift of the watch (leader) should the sheet metal..." which makes it completely clear :?
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AdDaMan
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by AdDaMan »

keepitsimple wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:18 pm
AdDaMan wrote: Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:06 pm Regulated one of my autos today. Its a 3 year old Certina DS Action diver. One of my favourite watches and one that has stayed in my collection despite hundreds of comings and goings.

Uses probably the most widely use Swiss auto movement, the ETA 2824-2.

Has been running fast for quite a while so thought i'd try and sort it.
Just one observation I forgot earlier (and it isn't a criticism...)

Like you,I always used to position the watch on the microphone stand with the crown in the cutout of the sprung side. Then I was told by professionals that it should be the other way around, with the crown against the metal microphone side.

I don't know what, if any, difference it makes, and it begs the questions of why the cutout is there if it isn't for the crown, and what you do with watches with the crown at 4.00... :problem:

I guess it is what the translated from chinese instructions that came with mine mean by "the uplift of the watch (leader) should the sheet metal..." which makes it completely clear :?
Noted. Thankyou. :thumbup:
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StrapMeister
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by StrapMeister »

Very interesting and informative post :thumbup:
Definitely something that I would consider attempting (albeit I don't have a timegrapher or pressure tester).
Looks like your using a Weishi No 1000 timegrapher…
I'm currently looking at the Weishi No 1900 (£148.91) or, if I can justify the price hike (£219.85), the Weishi No 2000 which has the print facility.
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by H0rati0 »

Thanks for that, useful post to bookmark for future fiddlings.
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by richtel »

Great write up!
Just to note that the movement fitted to the DS Action now is the ETA 80 hour which no longer has the rate adjustment screw and uses moveable weights on a free-sprung rotor. There probably isn’t much one can do with those unfortunately.
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StrapMeister
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by StrapMeister »

AdDaMan wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:20 pm
keepitsimple wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:18 pm Just one observation I forgot earlier (and it isn't a criticism...)
Like you,I always used to position the watch on the microphone stand with the crown in the cutout of the sprung side. Then I was told by professionals that it should be the other way around, with the crown against the metal microphone side.
Noted. Thankyou. :thumbup:
I recently visited a watch repairers and had this confirmed - the crown should be against the metal microphone side.

I still haven't bought the timegrapher yet but I'm leaning towards the Weishi No 1900.
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by SIB »

Excellent post thank you. I've regulated a couple of watches myself (cheaper ones!!) and have always out the crown into the cutout part on the right hand side as that looks like what it's made for
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by richtel »

At the end of the day, you're looking for a good conduction of the movement noises into the microphone plate (the aluminium place at the end of the micrphone unit). For a dive watch with the crown screwed down snugly then there may be a similar level of vibration at the crown to that from the watch case. That might not be the case for a watch with a push/pull crown where the crown stem might present higher vibration level than the side of the watch case. In either situation, noise is easy to spot in the timegrapher trace so if a noisy trace may be cased by poor pickup it's best to either adjust the timegrapher levels or try rotating the watch.
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Re: Regulating My ETA 2824-2

Post by watchaholic »

Anybody have any experience with a Lepsi Scope? Kind of pricey but might be an alternative to the chinese instructions. Would like to get into this process of regulating but still have a lot to learn.
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