- 30/8/06
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Reposted to its' own thread by request of k4jun.
TLDR:
Photo gallery with short explanations of each: https://imgur.com/a/qNBmCJC
1- The Nekton has a decorative plate that can be removed or left off with the movement still cased in the watch, which is a vast improvement from the previous 300M design.
2- This can allow a normal 2824 rotor to be used for quieter performance and less potential problems.
3- I show one way to mod the keyless works to eliminate the date set position
4- Short discussion on reattaching dial markers.
Long form:
This won’t be a review of the watch, other than to say it is beautiful. Another home run by VSF.
Also to head off the PM’s, I’m sorry but I don’t fix or service watches on commission. We’ve got great forum watchsmiths that do that professionally.
I’ve serviced several of the regular VSF 300M’s at this point, and one of my biggest complaints is that the decorative plating is attached by 3 screws on the DIAL SIDE. Which means, to even regulate the watch, the dial and hands have to come off, as well as the decorative plate. Please reference this fantastic thread by u/captainrep to show that process:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RepTime/com...ement_service/
As I started working on this new Nekton model, I began to spot differences during disassembly. The outer ring didn’t come away when the case tabs that typically hold it were removed. Something was still holding it together.
I pried the dial away next, and discovered it is now held by the outer ring, where-as in the 300M it is held by the decorative plate instead.
Finally I noticed the underside of two new screws from the dial side of the movement. Flipping the movement over I traced it to the two circled screws in the following pic. Now typically, these are all fake screwheads made to look like the screws on the A8800. I tried them anyway, and sure enough these were real screws that go through the decorative plate and into the A2824. Finally things started coming apart.
VSF wised up. They changed the construction to allow the decorative plate to be removed from the back of the watch for easy access to the automatic works and the regulation mechanism. THANK YOU!
They moved the main structural support and dial connection to the outer ring instead. The A2824 is held by three dial side screws to the outer ring shown here:
And removed:
Backside of the movement showing the outer ring holding the A2824 without the decorative plate:
And now the movement is cased with the case tabs securing everything in:
I realized another potential benefit that this presents. Given the closed caseback, the decoration can be left off, and a normal rotor from a 2824 used instead. Why would this be a benefit?
1- The decorated rotor assembly is loud IMO. It is big, heavy, and uses several parts to do the job of 1 screw. A couple drops of 9010 oil on the rotor bearings helps, but using a normal 2824 rotor will be much quieter.
2- The decorated plate and rotor use a bunch of small glued-on parts. More things to fall off and jam up the movement potentially. Removing them removes several sources of potential issues.
3- Without the decorated plate on, regulation adjustments can be quickly made.
Here is how mine looks with the normal rotor attached:
Here are the leftover parts that were not reinstalled. I’ve circled the 3 part spindle including a glued-on cog decoration that usually attaches the rotor.
The next interesting thing, is the replication of the Omega “Naiad Lock” system. Basically it has a set of 3 grooves that makes sure the caseback can only be installed a certain way, and that the decoration always is lined up in perfect orientation:
I also chose to eliminate the “date setting” position from the keyless works. As is common in no-date replicas, the factories still use a typical setting lever spring that has all three stem set positions. You can replace this part with a genuine ETA spring that has only 2 positions, but Asia does not seem to make one. I didn’t have the part handy, so I decided to modify the original part. Unfortunately I didn’t take a before shot, but essentially, I very carefully filed away the “bump” on the set lever spring that stops the stem in the date set position. This is not ideal, as the stem now has a long travel from winding to setting position, but it does mimic what I wanted it to.
The jeweler’s file I used to do the job:
Last bit of issue was that a marker fell off randomly. I don’t remember knocking it, so I’m glad it came out now and not later. I reattached with double sided dial tape. Very sticky stuff, but easy to precisely apply vs glue. I’ve seen a few dials ruined by wayward glue. You are also not supposed to use superglue on a dial, unless you let it “gass off” for several days before recasing. The glue can emit vapors as it cures, which can cloud the inside of the crystal.
Thanks for looking through the long post, and I hope this helps someone.
TLDR:
Photo gallery with short explanations of each: https://imgur.com/a/qNBmCJC
1- The Nekton has a decorative plate that can be removed or left off with the movement still cased in the watch, which is a vast improvement from the previous 300M design.
2- This can allow a normal 2824 rotor to be used for quieter performance and less potential problems.
3- I show one way to mod the keyless works to eliminate the date set position
4- Short discussion on reattaching dial markers.
Long form:
This won’t be a review of the watch, other than to say it is beautiful. Another home run by VSF.
Also to head off the PM’s, I’m sorry but I don’t fix or service watches on commission. We’ve got great forum watchsmiths that do that professionally.
I’ve serviced several of the regular VSF 300M’s at this point, and one of my biggest complaints is that the decorative plating is attached by 3 screws on the DIAL SIDE. Which means, to even regulate the watch, the dial and hands have to come off, as well as the decorative plate. Please reference this fantastic thread by u/captainrep to show that process:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RepTime/com...ement_service/
As I started working on this new Nekton model, I began to spot differences during disassembly. The outer ring didn’t come away when the case tabs that typically hold it were removed. Something was still holding it together.
I pried the dial away next, and discovered it is now held by the outer ring, where-as in the 300M it is held by the decorative plate instead.
Finally I noticed the underside of two new screws from the dial side of the movement. Flipping the movement over I traced it to the two circled screws in the following pic. Now typically, these are all fake screwheads made to look like the screws on the A8800. I tried them anyway, and sure enough these were real screws that go through the decorative plate and into the A2824. Finally things started coming apart.
VSF wised up. They changed the construction to allow the decorative plate to be removed from the back of the watch for easy access to the automatic works and the regulation mechanism. THANK YOU!
They moved the main structural support and dial connection to the outer ring instead. The A2824 is held by three dial side screws to the outer ring shown here:
And removed:
Backside of the movement showing the outer ring holding the A2824 without the decorative plate:
And now the movement is cased with the case tabs securing everything in:
I realized another potential benefit that this presents. Given the closed caseback, the decoration can be left off, and a normal rotor from a 2824 used instead. Why would this be a benefit?
1- The decorated rotor assembly is loud IMO. It is big, heavy, and uses several parts to do the job of 1 screw. A couple drops of 9010 oil on the rotor bearings helps, but using a normal 2824 rotor will be much quieter.
2- The decorated plate and rotor use a bunch of small glued-on parts. More things to fall off and jam up the movement potentially. Removing them removes several sources of potential issues.
3- Without the decorated plate on, regulation adjustments can be quickly made.
Here is how mine looks with the normal rotor attached:
Here are the leftover parts that were not reinstalled. I’ve circled the 3 part spindle including a glued-on cog decoration that usually attaches the rotor.
The next interesting thing, is the replication of the Omega “Naiad Lock” system. Basically it has a set of 3 grooves that makes sure the caseback can only be installed a certain way, and that the decoration always is lined up in perfect orientation:
I also chose to eliminate the “date setting” position from the keyless works. As is common in no-date replicas, the factories still use a typical setting lever spring that has all three stem set positions. You can replace this part with a genuine ETA spring that has only 2 positions, but Asia does not seem to make one. I didn’t have the part handy, so I decided to modify the original part. Unfortunately I didn’t take a before shot, but essentially, I very carefully filed away the “bump” on the set lever spring that stops the stem in the date set position. This is not ideal, as the stem now has a long travel from winding to setting position, but it does mimic what I wanted it to.
The jeweler’s file I used to do the job:
Last bit of issue was that a marker fell off randomly. I don’t remember knocking it, so I’m glad it came out now and not later. I reattached with double sided dial tape. Very sticky stuff, but easy to precisely apply vs glue. I’ve seen a few dials ruined by wayward glue. You are also not supposed to use superglue on a dial, unless you let it “gass off” for several days before recasing. The glue can emit vapors as it cures, which can cloud the inside of the crystal.
Thanks for looking through the long post, and I hope this helps someone.
