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Full review of the VSF 8500 clone movement *Pic Heavy*

obrienk

Renowned Member
15/7/07
521
156
43
Is this a service that you offer in the EU (if I were to purchase a VSF 8500 clone)?
 

S.yuta

You're Saying I Can Sell?
2/5/18
52
5
0
Japan
Thank you for a wonderful post!

I have a question.
It is the 4th picture. How do you recover washer and mirror / plate?
My OMEGA is out of washer and mirror / plate ;(
 

santre22

I'm Pretty Popular
22/3/12
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Is this a service that you offer in the EU (if I were to purchase a VSF 8500 clone)?

At the moment I do not offer any service. But maybe in the future I will discuss it with the mods if I'm available to find more time for projects like this. In that case it would be EU only.

I just test to work on my own watch to get a picture of how time consuming a service like this will be. Also if there are some weak points or parts that risk to break under service. Working on reps with special movements is always a much higher risk because the spare part supply is very limited or non existing.

From my experience of the VSF 8500 clone so far is quite good and seems much more robust than many other Asian movements.

Regards
Santre
 

santre22

I'm Pretty Popular
22/3/12
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Thank you for a wonderful post!

I have a question.
It is the 4th picture. How do you recover washer and mirror / plate?
My OMEGA is out of washer and mirror / plate ;(


If you are unlucky they are somewhere inside the movement and possibly causing trouble.

To reattach them I will use dial dots or a tiny bit of dual adhesive tape cut to a small circle with a small hole in the center. I can punch out that type shape in my riveting tool.

Cheers
 
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k4jun

Ω Section Moderator
Section Moderator
Certified
25/4/15
2,945
1,235
113
Do you have the one with gen orange bezel? If so it was a really nice sample. I did also waterproof that one and it passed 5 bar without any problem.

And thanks for the positive feedback all of you!

Yes mate, we swam already:)
 

flax

You're Saying I Can Sell?
30/7/07
59
61
18
Best post ever! Many thanks for that! I hope that you will continue soon with cleaning tool description, assembly description and especially description of oiling points and type of lubes you have used...
 
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Matty369

Active Member
Supporter
Certified
24/8/16
382
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28
EU
Thank you for very detailed review ! People were waiting very long to see what's actually powering clone movement.
Thanks !
 

recoil

You're Saying I Can Sell?
6/12/18
49
11
8
This post should be a sticky. Thank you for taking the time to do this walkthrough.
 

yosimiz

Known Member
11/8/12
176
76
28
Great writeup man. This one in my list to purchase list, so it will be very handy. Thanks a lot for sharing it!
 

Mille M

I'm Pretty Popular
24/7/18
1,254
2,756
113
Amazing :D
I know some things about changing dials, hands, crystals, stems and crowns, but I envy your skills.
Did you study to be a watchmaker or you do this just for fun?

I've been training the disassembly/assembly with a 2824-2 but it's baby play compared to this...
But I am learning from foruns and YouTube :p

Keep up the good work.

Cheers
 

Champagne iH

Active Member
4/1/14
365
12
0
Perfect timing for this to be read. My Aqua Terra Spectre is acting’s up when I try and handwibd. It feels like poor lubrication rather than a keyless issue but I’ll have to tear this all out. I wish I had kept my spare A7750 around rather than sending it to a mate in Mexico.

It just feels wrong, but it does look good. I’m never a big fan of display glass, especially in replicas. But now I know what to do Monday. I’ll clean this up with my watchmaker friend. I’m sure he will scoff at what we find.

I guess it’s factories that just don’t lube properly or with even a close lubricant.

Thank you so much.

Seriously this is a Post for a sticky at the very least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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santre22

I'm Pretty Popular
22/3/12
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I've now serviced the movement. I'll edit the pictures and update asap.

The amplitude before service was about 260-270 degrees at the same lift angle. So the Swiss oils and cleaning did a lot. And it had 65+ hours of power reserve before so I'm curious how long it will run now.

Until my next update here is the Timegraph results:
IMG-7941.jpg
 

boghus

Horology Curious
27/10/18
24
7
3
Wow! Impressive! And the accuracy is just amazing! If you ever go to offer your services put me on the list!
 

numero2

I'm Pretty Popular
21/4/09
1,999
281
83
FR
Amazing job. Thanks for your time.
The result of this service, seems to be very good.
 

recoil

You're Saying I Can Sell?
6/12/18
49
11
8
Santre22, I kinda feel like an ass asking for more since you already put so much work into this but could I ask if you are going to post how to oil the movement and re-assembly the movement? Thank you for all your work!
 

psantos1091

You're Saying I Can Sell?
22/8/13
54
1
8
So I'm going to assume you'd advocate that us with this movement should get it serviced?
 

Mille M

I'm Pretty Popular
24/7/18
1,254
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Every replica movement should be serviced because they are badly lubricated and regulated.

I wish I had the skills to do this.
My Milgauss and my Omega would be serviced before even using them.
They run great (milgauss +5s/day and Omega -3s/day) but they could be better ;)

Cheers