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Comparison between the gen 4130 movement and the clean 4130 movement

flogtwo

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23/4/23
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It’s always sensible to minimise use of any Chinese clone chrono movement. My philosophy is, if you don’t have to use it… don’t.
Should you ever run the Chrono movement on these just for maintenance purposes or just don't touch it?
 

mcboom

time & patience - the two most powerful warriors
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Should you ever run the Chrono movement on these just for maintenance purposes or just don't touch it?
It's designed to be used and the 4130 clone movement is one of the best out there, I run mine regularly 😊
 
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hong999

You're Saying I Can Sell?
25/1/19
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May I know what is the power reserve for clean 4130 movement?
 

Thibault13

Horology Curious
23/4/23
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Very interesting post
As always the 4130 clean is very beautiful, but this double racket on the balance is no good and looks really really fake
 

mmaggi

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I've ready many posts from watchmakers/watchsmiths regarding the SA4130 movement and they all say to use the chrono function as often as you like.
 
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CTime

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It's designed to be used and the 4130 clone movement is one of the best out there, I run mine regularly 😊
Yes, it's totally ok to use it. One thing that you shouldn't leave the chronograph running all the time, it's bad for the movement same as gen.
 
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ASATGMURES

You're Saying I Can Sell?
23/3/20
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Very interesting post
As always the 4130 clean is very beautiful, but this double racket on the balance is no good and looks really really fake
Is not so hard to make that piece, but nobody dare to cross that line, if they do that will be raids every single day :eek:... with 1000 euros you can buy original pieces (balance + balance bridge) and install, fit very nice, this is real good movement.
 
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wildrabbit

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11/8/18
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@CTime -
For the Clean factory 4130 Clone, others have advised a full service with the recommendation to install a Gen Chronograph Wheel 4130-820-1-y1, as well as installing a Gen Second Wheel 4130-360- Y1 with a Clutch Module 4130-815.

Do you think these will improve feel and performance?
 

CTime

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@CTime -
For the Clean factory 4130 Clone, others have advised a full service with the recommendation to install a Gen Chronograph Wheel 4130-820-1-y1, as well as installing a Gen Second Wheel 4130-360- Y1 with a Clutch Module 4130-815.

Do you think these will improve feel and performance?
Can you maybe show me the pics of them? I am not sure which parts
 

dogwood

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I’m afraid this is not a common modding for us, and I don't really know if the results will increase the stability of movement or not. You can ask @dogwood if it's recommended
@wildrabbit, the reason I decided to replace the chronograph seconds wheel with the gen part is because I was interested to see if it would reduce stutter for the chronograph seconds hand. If you run the chronograph on the Dandong 4130 Daytona, the seconds counter (the large seconds hand in the middle that only runs when the chrono is engaged) will have a small amount of stutter. That is, it won't "sweep" perfectly. Technically the "sweep" of the seconds hand is actually the seconds hand ticking forward 8 times per second (the 4130 movement runs at 28800 beats per hour, which is 8 movements per second). The reason that you get stutter is because of something called "backlash" which happens in any geared system. Basically backlash is the result of the tiny amount of free space (or play) that's needed between gear teeth to prevent them from binding.

If you look at the picture below, you'll see the gen Chronograph seconds wheel on the left, and the Dandong 4130 version on the right. The Dandong version is basically just a normal brass gear wheel, but the gen part has teeth that are composed of two incredibly thin metal pieces which act like flexible arms to grab the tooth of the gear that the wheel is engaged with. The flexibility of those spring arms means that the chronograph seconds wheel can engage with the wheel on the vertical clutch without any gaps between the gear teeth. No gaps between the gear teeth means no backlash. No backlash means no stutter.



Is this a problem? No... backlash is only an issue if you need to time things with a precision of 1/8th of a second. And if you're using your Dandong clone 4130 movement (or even a gen 4130 movement) to time anything that needs to be precise down to 1/8th of a second, you're doing things wrong. Use your smartphone (or some kind of digital system) if you need to measure something that precisely.

And finally, there's the question of why Dandong decided not to bother making the chronograph seconds wheel with the two little spring arms per tooth like the gen part. The reason for this is that Rolex doesn't actually machine the part like that, they grow it. The springy arms are too high profile (too tall vs. too thin) to be machined. So Rolex uses a process called LIGA, the German acronym for Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung (“lithography, electroplating, moulding”). For anyone curious, there's a good article linked below about why Rolex does this for the chronograph seconds wheel.