So my SA3135 is now ticking away happily on my wrist, wearing a gen dial and housed in a Sean case with a Gen crystal and crown. As reported, mine DID NOT take gen hands AND my stem broke but that was pilot error and therefore was only on the threaded end. It's just too short now and I have to be careful when setting the date and threading the crown back down. I ordered two replacements but the stems that shipped were incorrect so now I have to make due with what I have for now. My initial thoughts on the movement are in line with what I anticipated they'd be: it's cool, a little shoddy in terms of fit and finish but filled the niche I needed it to. I refused to cut the feet off of my gen dial and wanted a movement that would fit my Sean case with minimal work and this certainly fit the bill. When we can get these movements in the third or fourth gen by themselves you'll have yourself a tidy little project.
Broken Stem: I broke my stem being an asshole threading it into the gen crown. I work on cars all day so sometimes the torques needed on these tiny little watch parts seem too low to me and I overdo things. In terms of everyone else's broken stems, I think a HUGE part of the problem lies with the case design: This movement (to the best of my understanding) is built with the same dimensions as the original Rolex 3135 which has a fairly high stem location. The Sub case it's being sold in has a very low crown tube, nearly to the point of looking like a slightly heavier noob case. This will put strain on the stem and in my opinion cause it to weaken or break. I installed the movement in my Sean case and had the stem and crown in and out several times over the course of the build-up and not once had the feeling that I was straining anything. I got that feeling as soon as I opened up the SA3135 case though so I removed the stem right away and left it.
I'll get some pictures in the near future and I'll report back as things progress and I get a sense for how well it runs in the long run.
Thanks for reading!
~Brendan
Edit: Adding photos...
Here's some rough "smart" phone pics just to give you an idea:
A few more pics:
Here's a few pics of the Sean case and the SA3135 case side by side so you can see the crown height difference:
Broken Stem: I broke my stem being an asshole threading it into the gen crown. I work on cars all day so sometimes the torques needed on these tiny little watch parts seem too low to me and I overdo things. In terms of everyone else's broken stems, I think a HUGE part of the problem lies with the case design: This movement (to the best of my understanding) is built with the same dimensions as the original Rolex 3135 which has a fairly high stem location. The Sub case it's being sold in has a very low crown tube, nearly to the point of looking like a slightly heavier noob case. This will put strain on the stem and in my opinion cause it to weaken or break. I installed the movement in my Sean case and had the stem and crown in and out several times over the course of the build-up and not once had the feeling that I was straining anything. I got that feeling as soon as I opened up the SA3135 case though so I removed the stem right away and left it.
I'll get some pictures in the near future and I'll report back as things progress and I get a sense for how well it runs in the long run.
Thanks for reading!
~Brendan
Edit: Adding photos...
Here's some rough "smart" phone pics just to give you an idea:
A few more pics:
Here's a few pics of the Sean case and the SA3135 case side by side so you can see the crown height difference:
