# Resurrected Okeah - Now On Cold Steel!



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

A few members know the trouble this watch has been to me from the very start...

1- problems with my CC during payment that took almost two months to sort out;

2- seized by customs for almost a month and a huge bill to be paid;

3- date never worked, chrono hands never reseted to 0;

4- crown at 9 fell off during a meeting, so I never saw it again;

5- Draygo was kind enough to provide me with an older case from where I took the crown... different cases, different fitting systems. Dremel metal work and finally susperglue to fix the roaming chapter ring that was always moving away from 12 position and the new crown that showed signs of a big risk of falling off again.

6- never could find a strapped that I felt comfortable wearing;

7- finally decided I was fed up with it so I decided to sell it. Took it to a "watchmaker" to see if he could deal with the reseting problem before selling it - he broke it and quoted me at least â‚¬100 to fix it (don't ask...);

8- turned out one of tinny jewels from the pallet felled off;

9- spend two hours looking for it on my carpet floor;

10- tried to glue it again, which I managed to do but then I accidentally screwed the balance;

11- got a new complete movement for it with some problems on the chrono complications but usable to salvage the complete escapement;

12- fitted the new escapement and when I turned the movement on its holder 180Âº to refit the hands, the spring of the antishock unit came off by gravity and bye-bye to the balance again;

13- tried to adjust the microscopic pin that makes the date wheel move; ended up with a movement that still couldn't chance the date but could be reset... backwards.

14- ordered a couple of cheap crappy Zarias with a Pojot 3105 to use their balances;

15- refitting complete balance once again, replacing the date changing wheel, put it back together

16- subdial hands wouldn't go in

17- stem was a PIDA to refit, with me having to uncase it over and over again to reset the keyless works

18- damn lugs are 19,5mm, something I never realized so the new bracelet I bought for it (20mm straight lugs) wouldn't fit in.

19- file the end pieces a bit to fit, and brushing the sides.

It's easy to guess I hate this watch... I hate it so much that throwing it to the other side of the road and running my car over it over and over and over again would be too good for it. The only way I would win our little war was bringing it back to its domesticated state - working properly.

So after many months and all these problems, it now lives again!! For the first time on its life, the chrono hands reset exactly to 0 abd the date changes like it should. Everything works. Even the new bracelet works very well for me. From a watch that was "too blue" for my taste, it's now a cold steel watch with cold blue details on a silver dial. Beauty!! ...and they say revenge is better served cold :flex:


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)




----------



## MerlinShepherd (Sep 18, 2011)

Such a fine looking watch. I hope it pleases you from now on...


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

MerlinShepherd said:


> Such a fine looking watch. I hope it pleases you from now on...


Oh, it will... I've showed him already who's the boss around here... :comando:


----------



## Krispy (Nov 7, 2010)

Something tells me the story won't end here...


----------



## Dazzer (Dec 7, 2011)

WOW what an adventure and what a test of your patience. I'm not sure I could have kept your drive to complete it.

Is it fair to say this watch now means more to you because of this story ?

It does look really good and you should be proud of your achievement.

Far too good be shut away in a draw or cupboard.

I hope you can now enjoy it.


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

KrispyDK said:


> Something tells me the story won't end here...


Maybe  

...but I think it now knows that is not good to get me in the wrong mood...












Dazzer said:


> Is it fair to say this watch now means more to you because of this story ?


No, I absolutely hate the damn thing!!! :lol: I felt at war with this one, so much so that I didn't gave up because that would mean it would had won


----------



## Dazzer (Dec 7, 2011)

Dazzer said:


> Is it fair to say this watch now means more to you because of this story ?
> 
> No, I absolutely hate the damn thing!!! :lol: I felt at war with this one, so much so that I didn't gave up because that would mean it would had won


Ha Ha !!!

Well I never saw that coming ! 

Well by all means lock it away, don't give it an excuse for a counter attack.


----------



## tixntox (Jul 17, 2009)

More true grit than Rooster Cogburn! You beat that sucker! :victory: :notworthy:

Mike


----------



## martinzx (Aug 29, 2010)

Well Done 'R'

You did it :thumbsup: after a lot of :starwars:

How long will it last, I wonder ?


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

martinzx said:


> How long will it last, I wonder ?


What, you're doubting my watchmaker skills!!??









It'll will last me a long time, I've accumulated enough spares to make a whole new 3133 movements... with spares


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

.

.

.

.

.

:wallbash:

.

.

.

20: Main chrono hand started to randomly reset. In a way, it was the old problem but worst... it wouldn't reset to 0 but sometimes it would be a few seconds before, other times a few seconds after the 0.

Tested it over and over again and yeap, inconsistent reset all over the dial. Took it apart again and tested the hand resistance on its axle... there you go, it's not holding it tight enough and the back spring on these watches is quite strong. What happens is the hand will slip on the axle and that will make it stop anywhere.

Might be a cool feature to get random numbers for the Euro-millions lottery <_<

Just to make sure, I installed a spare needle type chrono hand and it works just fine.

So, once again, the ******** Okeah is on dry-dock waiting for a proper chrono hand... :wallbash:

There's a WTB topic if you are able to help on my saga... http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=71981&pid=720205&st=0&#entry720205


----------



## Dazzer (Dec 7, 2011)

It is a beautiful watch.

Maybe it thinks it's a super model, high maintenance ! 

He who dares...............


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Dazzer said:


> It is a beautiful watch.
> 
> Maybe it thinks it's a super model, high maintenance !
> 
> He who dares...............


But it now risks itself getting stuck on a not very good looking hand :thumbsdown:


----------



## Dazzer (Dec 7, 2011)

Kutusov said:


> Dazzer said:
> 
> 
> > It is a beautiful watch.
> ...


Stop being so modest :notworthy:

An Okean has just sold on the bay for Â£402 ! Item 170742598934

Is that a typical price or an ebay rip off ??

Daz.


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Dazzer said:


> An Okean has just sold on the bay for Â£402 ! Item 170742598934
> 
> Is that a typical price or an ebay rip off ??
> 
> Daz.


Both... that watch has been there for quite a while and there's another one in Ukraine 270878866441. It's usually the price asked for these original Okeahs. Sure they are the real deal, not like mine that is a re-edition, has it historical value and all that... but I think they are not worth that kind of money.

Update on mine... tried to fix the hand by taking off the chrono second runner and tightening the hand around its shaft. Didn't work so I am now trying to source a new hand. If I can't get an original Poljot one I'll have to go with a Valjoux one, like those from the 1968 Navitimer that are very close (or the same) to the original Okeah.


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

It's official... it's dead. Time of death: 4:05 of the post date.

Everything running just fine, bought a bag full of hands with a usable one.... second hand on the left subdial wouldn't fit. After a closer look I figured why... the mast was broken. Tried a swap but its fitted right through the train wheel bridge, tightly pressure stuck to a drive wheel above and below the bridge. Ended up braking it.... no more spares for this and I reckon the only way to fix it would be a complete train wheel bridge already fitted with the 2 drive wheels. So that's all folks.... the only way I'm going to mess with this one again is if I come across some other complete movement with this part intact. Not going to look very hard though....

*Requiescat in pace Okeah.... *


----------



## Steve's Dad (Dec 19, 2007)




----------



## bsa (Dec 23, 2010)

You may be able to rest easy now you know it is terminal.

Cheers buddy sorry, you put a lot into it.


----------



## martinzx (Aug 29, 2010)

Steve said:


>


I would have done this long ago


----------



## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I don`t suppose Renato this would be a good time to mention that I bought mine new from Roy in 2003* & that it has performed perfectly since then? :huh: 










*which lead on to me discovering the RLT Forum :rltb:

Seriously, I`m sorry you`ve had so much trouble with yours


----------



## Vaurien (Jul 19, 2010)

I'm sorry... :schmoll:

But maybe a new 3133 will appear, sooner or later.Good luck! :russian:


----------



## Krispy (Nov 7, 2010)

Are you sure it's gone for good? Maybe you should still tie it to a brick and throw it in the river....just in case...


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Thanks guys and gals.

I was about to say that I still can fix it if I come across a broken 3133 with this part intact but even those are hard to get over at evilbay.

Mach, the problem was that I didn't bought mine new. Aside from the fact that it didn't reset to 0 perfectly and the date didn't change, there was nothing apparently wrong with it. Of course appearances can be deceiving... it turned out to be a piece of junk. You fixed one thing and something else would break. What p***es me off is the fact that it should run fine now, I think I've replace about 50% of movement parts.

I'm going to rest from this one for a couple of months and then I'll look into it again.


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Just out of curiosity, the new hand...










(notice the nasty scratch I've managed to do to the left subdial - probably while removing the hands, even though I had protected the dial)

...and the unfinished work:


----------



## Dazzer (Dec 7, 2011)

Such a shame Renato, you logged a lot of hours on this watch.

But it would appear its gone to the dark side of the force.

Stick it in a box, in a cupboard and let you enthusiasm recharge.

I think your wrist was too good for it anyway.


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

That's the funny part, I never got along well with this watch! It's just something I felt (and still feel) I should own, it being an iconic Russian watch.

Well, one thing remains from all the hours working on it and looking at spare movements and pieces: I've learned a lot about movements and the 31xx in particular. This is a hard one, being a chrono and all. Still I've managed to fix a lot of things and always put it back together and running well... until something else broke, mind. Train and main spring were the only 2 things that could go wrong as they belonged to the original movement. From the two, the train was the only one I was short on spares and never had to took apart so, obviously, it had to be the one to brake :wallbash:

I don't feel too comfortable to let it die after all the work and refurbishing but I also don't feel like spending more money and time on it. I'll give it a rest and think about it in a couple of months...


----------



## Vaurien (Jul 19, 2010)

Kutusov said:


> .................
> 
> I don't feel too comfortable to let it die after all the work and refurbishing but I also don't feel like spending more money and time on it. I'll give it a rest and think about it in a couple of months...


Wise words!


----------

