New Member with a PII Question

[Your Watch Says?]

Hey all. A further update.

My nephew wanted to try and replace the QC for me and after cutting the wires to the old QC decided the work was too intricate for his abilities and stopped before completing the project.

I've been in contact with Bruce about servicing the module.

[cte]

Ah, thst is a shame.

I have previously asked on here about changing a QC (I don't have the same module anymore and I never got the courage to do it when I still had it lol). I don't know if any of the info is relevant for you if you are going to get it serviced now though:

http://newdwf.com/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=7634

Good luck whatever you do!

[Your Watch Says?]

Another update.

I've been in contact with Ed Cantarella the previous owner of DWF and I'm going to send my now two Pulsar II watches to Ed for servicing.

I've learned a lot from Ed and appreciate his advice.

I first contacted him when I bought old stock gaskets and new quartz crystals from him. He stocks many old stock parts for anyone who needs them:

http://retroleds.com/shop-2/testing/parts-supplies/

I'll keep the forum updated on how these watches are going.

[morrison2951]

Keep us posted. I love my Tiffany P2 Astronaut and wear it regularly to this day! These watches are keepers!

[Your Watch Says?]

Well, it's been a couple of months and the watches are still with Ed. I have no idea what the progress is on the modules.

[Timecollector]

Well, it's been a couple of months and the watches are still with Ed. I have no idea what the progress is on the modules.

Sorry to hear that. Not surprising though... Once burned by him. Never again! Sadly, there are limited places to send these watches. What does one do?

[bruce wegmann]

UH, I'm still here...
BTW, I looked at the pic again, and sorry, Hanno, there is NO WAY that module left Lancaster with that crystal. I have never seen an unambiguously original P2 or P3 module that had that style crystal installed. This is clearly a non-factory replacement (look at the two solder points...the original coating of black paint is gone, but it is present on all other points). My guess is that the circuit capacitance is low, giving rise to unstable, high-frequency oscillation, when it works at all. Needs to come out, and be replaced with a proper MTQ32 or MTQ32A type. It's a five-minute swap-out. Another 30 seconds on the timing machine to trim it, and you're done.

[Brightlightredlight]

Huh, could of sworn I mentioned something about you Bruce on page one, hello, is anyone listening ?

[Your Watch Says?]

I heard back from Ed and he gave me some good news. He was able to bring back one module, oddly enough the module I thought would cause him the most trouble. The other module is dead. He's going to refurbish the case and replace the crystal on the working watch.

I've been having a lot of bad luck with watches lately, so it's nice to hear some good news

[morrison2951]

Good to hear! Report back when you've got that beauty back on your wrist!

[Your Watch Says?]

Good to hear! Report back when you've got that beauty back on your wrist!

Will do

[Your Watch Says?]

Well it's been 11 1/2 weeks and I'm still waiting for these watches. So much for that one month turn around time.

[clockace]

But in all fairness to Ed it has only been 2 weeks since you heard he had 1 mod. fixed and was going to refinish the case and replace the glass. Peter

[Timecollector]

Well it's been 11 1/2 weeks and I'm still waiting for these watches. So much for that one month turn around time.

All you can do is be patient now. From my first hand experience, this is his common M.O. The excuses get old. Trust me I know!!!!! But in defense of Ed, he is not the only Pulsar 'repairman' that has serious turn time issues. Its quite common. Frustrating but common.

[Your Watch Says?]

But in all fairness to Ed it has only been 2 weeks since you heard he had 1 mod. fixed and was going to refinish the case and replace the glass. Peter

Maybe I misinterpreted what he wrote but I was given the impression that work was going to be done on August 20 or 21.

[Your Watch Says?]

All you can do is be patient now. From my first hand experience, this is his common M.O. The excuses get old. Trust me I know!!!!! But in defense of Ed, he is not the only Pulsar 'repairman' that has serious turn time issues. Its quite common. Frustrating but common.

I can understand delays as I've been guilty of that myself a couple of times when fixing pens for friends and that usually involved trying to find parts, but I keep my friends up to date on what's happening. And the reality is sometimes life gets in the way and you can't complete a project in a timely manner. But as you wrote Timecollector, LED repair people seem to be guilty of this more so than other watch repair people. If you know it's going to take six months, then be upfront about it. Don't make promises you know you can't keep. What's frustrating to me is sending an email every couple of weeks and the emails go answered.

Needless to say I will not put myself in this situation again. Next LED watch I buy will be working and will be bought from a trusted seller who knows LED watches.

[Timecollector]

In my view and experience, if you don't buy a really Minty barely used Pulsar that needs no obvious repairs, then you will without doubt pull your hair out with long repair lead times, many times questionable reliability(multiple returns) after repairs and overall extremely frustrating service. (of coarse even the minty Pulsars will fail also but at least have been well cared for). Unlike some other watch brands that still have either factory repair stations still open for watch repair service or an abundance of qualified/trained watch repair persons with (correct) NOS parts available, its a crap shoot with these Pulsars since the lack of parts and trained people basically don't exist. The guys that have stepped up for hobbyist repairs are just that, hobbyist and it really isn't a business so quality repairs and reliable turn times for the most part don't exist since its not their primary business. That's not to say, their effects don't go unnoticed as they do help the Pulsar hobby but its not like other watch brands. Juts my thoughts.

[SASM]

Ever shipped something to let´s say any of the swiss major high priced watch brands? They will not only take their time but charge three (no, five..) times the price of any repair person in the digital watch business. With this price tag in mind there should be quite a few repair persons in the digital world (and I do not think about me as I would never quite my job for led watches) willing to run the repair work as their main business.

Take a standard SASM27 or any other replacement module for 119€ in exchange: Reduce 19% VAT, then again 33% income tax. Not sure if Pulsar (if still existing) would think about repairing their old watches for such a price.

[Timecollector]

Ever shipped something to let´s say any of the swiss major high priced watch brands?

I really don't have any high priced swiss watches. I do own an Omega Speedmaster Professional Moon watch but I really don't consider that high priced. The basic service on it cost $500-700 USD and we have several service center in the US which helps on shorter turn times. I have no issue with that price or quality service. My other major brand I own are tuning fork accutrons astronauts and I have a good repair person in Manhattan do my work. His average turn time is 10-20 days door to door and standard repair service is $185.00 USD. That part of my collection is fun. I also like all the Pulsars I currently own. A few were misrepresented in the past and have sold or scrapped out and were sold for parts. Whats left I will keep till they crap out and then sell them for parts. I have no more interest in buying a repaired module watch again or get repairs done. That's just not an experience ( and aggravation) I wish to engage in anymore.

My Omega perched on an original Life Magazine.

[Your Watch Says?]

Ever shipped something to let´s say any of the swiss major high priced watch brands? They will not only take their time but charge three (no, five..) times the price of any repair person in the digital watch business. With this price tag in mind there should be quite a few repair persons in the digital world (and I do not think about me as I would never quite my job for led watches) willing to run the repair work as their main business.

Take a standard SASM27 or any other replacement module for 119€ in exchange: Reduce 19% VAT, then again 33% income tax. Not sure if Pulsar (if still existing) would think about repairing their old watches for such a price.

My regular watchmaker used to fix LED watches. When I asked him why he no longer does, he said because they don't stay fixed. He said he got fed up with modules dying in between battery changes, during battery changes, when the weather got too hot or too cold. He says they became obsolete for a reason and doesn't understand why any collector would want to seek them out.

[bruce wegmann]

With all due respect to your watchmaker, I have to regard that as a narrow-minded and short-sighted view of the LED collector's market. He's obviously never had a working P1 on his wrist...

[Your Watch Says?]

With all due respect to your watchmaker, I have to regard that as a narrow-minded and short-sighted view of the LED collector's market. He's obviously never had a working P1 on his wrist...

When he started working professionally in 1974 he worked for a shop that sold Rolex. He saw people coming in and trading their Rolex watches for Pulsars and he was dumbfounded about it. He remembered the shop owner telling him that Pulsar was the new game in town and mechanical watches would be fondly remembered like like the horse and buggy