A7750 Movement swap

[wiscrna]

I've been poking around for a few days on this, and I can't find a reassuring answer to my situation:

I have an IWC St. Exupery day/date, with an A7750 engine. The day/date switches over with the hands at midnight, but pulling crown out to 2nd position in order to change day/date doesn't work (won't engage). Can't pull out the crown to 3rd position at all, so I can't set the time. Chronos work, but sweep hand seems to go smoothly along, and then "jump" every few seconds, like it's catching up with itself. They DO reset to zero, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.

Now, I can wait a month without my watch, and have it serviced by "14060 or16610?" (his queue is at 4 weeks for repairs right now), or I can try to pick up a replacement movement and swap it out. I should say right now that I'VE NEVER EVEN OPENED A CASEBACK, LET ALONE TOUCHED A MOVEMENT. But the information I'm reading seems to indicate that simply swapping an entire movement out is easier than doing detailed work on the movement itself, and I've been considering getting into modding/tinkering with my own watches. My question is this: Is this an okay "rookie project"? Or am I just going to fubar my IWC, which would kinda suck?

If this is a decent first-timer project, does anyone have any recommendations for where I can pick up a decent A7750 replacement?

Or is this all just too big a can of worms, and maybe I should just stick to polishing my shiny watches and leave the "real fixin'" to the pros?

Thanks in advance for the education!

Will :lolcina:

 

[Maximos]

subscribed. may have to do the same thing for my new SA

 

[wiscrna]

Misery loves company, my brother. Sorry about your SA. That's probably going to be my next rep.

Where are you in Ohio? I was raised in SE Ohio (Coshocton), but I went to school in Akron/Cleveland, and lived there most of my life. We moved to Wisconsin 5 years ago, but we mangae to get back twice a year or so.

 

[Maximos]

well, my family lives in Wooster but I'm going to school at OSU currently. Not too far off!

 

[wiscrna]

Sweet. Always nice to meet another Buckeye.

 

[wiscrna]

ttt

 

[Maximos]

so, I take it you're alumni? nice

 

[wiscrna]

Nope. BS at Akron U, BS at Kent State, and MS at Akron U (and an MS in the Air Force, in Alabama)

 

[14060 or 16610?]

Swapping out the movement completely *may* be the easiest solution IF you can guarantee that the new movement doesn't have any issues of it's own. Since we are talking about an A7750 here and not a Swiss ETA 7750 you have to approach it like a used car purchase. At least the movement you currently have is a known quantity. It has issues, but you know what they are. The new movement might be an entirely different mess.

Of course if you're considering the movement swap for educational purposes then the answer is obvious.

 

[wiscrna]

(grin) well, G, the education would certainly be part of the equation. But the feeling I'm getting is that you're exactly right - it would be kind of silly to go through the process, swap everything out, and then have it continue to be nonfunctional...is the issue something I created, or something inherent in the movement itself? I think I'll just ship it out tomorrow according to your instructions, and let the expert handle it.

Thanks for the input!

Will