H Fac Steelfish : bring it back to life

[mrsullivan]

Hi to all,

I just received this H Fac Steelfish from across the globe, bought defective with a dead movement from a fellow member on M2M.

First of all, I must confess I bought it mostly by curiosity, as I was not particularly fond of those steely massive Breitlings. But now I have it in hands, I find it absolutely brilliant. I have'nt had time to take much pics but I'll do soon.
So now the whole thing is to get it back to life.

First I have to say I am not a watchsmith in any way, just a hobbyist, but I enjoy the idea to work this watch back to functioning myself. I might need a few infos from the brands specialists around. I know very little about Breitlings so far, so big thank in advance.

A few questions first :
-For waterfproofing the watch, what about the case valve? I remember reading about sealing it on the Rolex section (for the DSSD and such He valved models), any opinions on this?

-Is the bezel pressure fit on these models?

-The movement is stated dead. I need to dig in but if it happens to be the case, I plan to get a 2836 ETA or SW220 to put in. The hands are gonna be ok for direct swap right ?

Cheer to all.

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[Eagl3]

1. Valve isn't functional on these watches. I don't think it even extends inside the case. At least I don't remember seeing it in any of my 3 steelfishies.

2. Bezel is held on by the screws

3. Direct drop in for a 2836

 

[mrsullivan]

1. Valve isn't functional on these watches. I don't think it even extends inside the case. At least I don't remember seeing it in any of my 3 steelfishies.

2. Bezel is held on by the screws

3. Direct drop in for a 2836

That's efficient .
I'll check the valve thing before waterproofing, but seems to be a no worries thing then.

Great, thank you.

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[mrsullivan]

And there it is : Oz nick your Steelfish swims again.

When opening the watch, it was a bit dirty but I was quite surprised that the overall build inside had pretty decent parts. The movement holder, even the case screws are solid, not the usual crappy little screws we find in recent reps. Good job by long gone H factory, reputation earned.

And the movement? Well, I removed and replaced the crown stem, it clicked in, a good wind, date set works, time set works. It works.
Maybe the keyless was badly set or something, but I did'nt have to do much. I'll check how the whole thing works through the next days.

Cleaning the case and bracelet, greasing and waterproofing to 5ATM, putting everything back in, and there we go. I've had it for about an hour, it keeps great time so far.

3 things :

- the bezel screws seem to be decorative only, they unscrew/screw without any purpose.

- Eagl3 you were right : the He valve does not go through the case.

- Something still maybe wrong with the movement : after setting time, at first second hand was running but minute/hour hands did'nt move. I played again with the crown positions until the hour hand had a sort'of jump, and then everything worked perfectly. Don't know what it is, I'll see if it happens again.

Now I'm gonna enjoy this beauty, it's nice to see it working again.
Good day to all!

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[thorne]

Congratulations. Great watches, these. HFac did a stellar job on the SOSF.

I had the gen and a HFac rep with ETA that was lumed by Ziggy.
Side by side they were 99.9% identical.

The only ‘tell’ between the two is that the S in Superocean on the gen dial has a gentle curve at the lower end/tail of the S, while the rep S is flat at the tail.

Aside from that it was impossible to tell the difference.

 

[mrsullivan]

I'm really impressed by the way it feels on the wrist : heavy, steely but quite confortable, and the bracelet is really superb. The white textured dial gives to what is a bulky watch a dressy kind of look, I love it.
So far it keeps great time, it's now on the table until it stops, to know what the PR's like.

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[Jack4Five]

Compliments. Very nice watch!
I have been looking for a Steelfish for a while in the m2m sales section but had no luck.

 

[Oz nick]

Brilliant work mate, looks fabulous! Super comfy on the wrist despite the size, and the bracelet is a beaut.

 

[Madcap]

Yes, the SOSF was a stellar release by HFac, i have the white dial too and love it

 

[mrsullivan]

Brilliant work mate, looks fabulous! Super comfy on the wrist despite the size, and the bracelet is a beaut.

Yes true, great presence on the wrist.
The clasp is loose, but I just found another bracelet on M2M to replace it. All in all it's a pleasure to have this watch so far, thank you for the opportunity to get it.

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[Raddave]

You would be happy replacing that movement , its most likely the POS Z2 , the dial is held on with scews , not clamps, correct ?

 

[mrsullivan]

So far it has a good 24h PR and keeps great time, I could live with it but it's low quality indeed, it shows when using the settings mostly.

So, as I want to give this beauty a good life, a proper movement just came in ;-)

I hav'nt checked the dial fixings yet but I plan to work on it next week, I'll keep updated!

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[mrsullivan]

That's it, even though the asian movement was still running, it showed weakness so the time for a transplant has come.

After a smooth surgery the Steelfish is now equiped with a proper movement : Swiss ETA 2836-2, and runs just great!
ETA upgrade is such an improvement : the watch runs perfectly and the settings feel way more solid. Swiss movement builds are just another world from asian's.

I was a bit afraid regarding movement thickness but it all fit in perfectly in the end, from dial feet to mov. holder and hands.

Raddave the dial was fixed by screws on the asian movement yes, it now is held on by the usual ETA tabs.

Thanks to all to the fellow members who adviced me to switch movement.

Pictures of the story :

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[Raddave]

Nice work !

Congratz Bro

 

[Jack4Five]

The HF Steelfish is really nice but with a Swiss ETA inside -> it is perfect !

Congratulations

 

[mrsullivan]

The HF Steelfish is really nice but with a Swiss ETA inside -> it is perfect !

Congratulations

Thank you, I really enjoy this watch. I don't know if they are produced anymore by factories but these heavy steel series are awesome.

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[jatomar]

I don't know if this watch has been released, but a TD (not from here, from RWG) is selling this from h-hactory V3.
https://www.pfc8188.com/perfect-clo...-ss-white-asian-clone-2836-special-offer.html

I remember V2 was considered a super rep, I don't know if this one will be. The strange for me is that I thought H factory was definitely closed

 

[Bombardier]

A beautiful watch this is

 

[tkingjr]

jatomar
H Factory is long gone. I bought one of the last 30 Super Avengers HF made from Perfect Clones in Sept 2017. Perfect Clones may have one. If so grab it. I had to send my SA to a watch smith but it was worth it. HF made outstanding Reps.

 

[mrsullivan]

Yes PClones (non TD here) seem to have a remaining stock (NOS somehow) of Hfac.
I don't know what they have but another fellow RWI member bought one of these Steelfish and I bought a Pam 227, just a few months ago.

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