[Ladd Gardner]

First of all, let me say that I am very pleased with my two LTs, an M20 and an M57. The Tungsten is my casual wear watch at home and the M57 is my work watch I use on the flight deck.

I think the the M20 Tungsten is my favorite watch of all time. I love this watch! <SNIP> What kind of accuracy are you guys getting?

Hey, Matrix,

Thanks for this post, buddy.

You're raised two of my all-time favorite subjects: 1) The ETA 6498-1 movement, and 2) Positional Adjustment of non-hacking watches.

The ETA 6498-1 is my favorite movement, yet, for exactly the reasons you describe. I'm almost afraid to cheer too loudly, for fear others will catch the fever, since we're not going to be able to get any more of them. I love the blued screws, the Geneva stripes, the positioning of the rubies and the huge balance wheel. If you're spending much time on a flight deck, you really should look at Lum-Tec's SuperCombat twins, the B1/B2. The titanium, super-rugged, super-lightweight cases of these combats, coupled with stupidly-bright lume and wonderfully legible dial markers make them my favorite LT models, by far.

I am hoping that Chris sets aside some of these movements for his upcoming bronze combats -- BRONZEBAT!! -- slated for possible 2013 production.

I can't understand why people -- ESPECIALLY folks who love/collect watches -- have a problem with mechanical movements, particularly if they're accuracy nuts, as I am. I love winding this watch, and I love its extreme accuracy. My SCB2 does EXACTLY what your does: It loses about a second a day, so, on Wednesday and Saturday nights, I take the watch off, set it on my nightstand, dial-up, and it gains back the seconds (+/- 3.5 seconds) that it lost.

If I'm working at my desk during the day (that's a big "if" and requires a loose definition of "work") I can always synchronize my watch to perfection just by laying it on its back (dial up) or by laying it dial down (to slow it), while I monitor things with my Atomix® Wave Radio clock. It's never more than a couple hours away from being brought back to "zero," and perfect time synchronization.

I set my SCB2 in early June, when it returned from an Ohio tune up (thanks, Bes!), and I haven't let it stop since. This morning, it's exactly two seconds fast, and I like it that way.

You know, it's completely irrational because I own some much more expensive Swiss watches, but I'm not a prestige snob, and I've developed a real love/friendship for this watch. I wouldn't take $10k for it, if there weren't an option to replace it with another.

In regards to the "non-hacking" limitation, I just "back-hack" my SCB2 (done it only two/three times since it arrived) by letting the movement exhaust itself, then giving the mainspring a very light charge (two/three winds) and then applying VERY SLIGHT counter-clockwise pressure to the hands while the crown/stem are in time-setting mode. The seconds hand will stop, allowing synchronization. Piece of cake (carrot/cream cheese icing...).

Thanks for your post, as it allowed me to blather about my two favorite topics. Congratulations on you M20 (also one of my favorite LTs that I covet), but check out the SuperCombats, when you get a chance. If you love the ETA 6498-1, you NEED!! a SuperCombat. :biggrin:

 

[Ladd Gardner]

Thanks Ladd & Blue for the comments!

I gather that this movement is special. I have decided that I am going to give my M57 to my son, as he is turning 14 next month and really needs to understand a man needs a nice watch. I am going to get a SB2 and that ETA 6498-1 movement! I would really love to see a bronze SB2, but to tell you the truth I if I cannot get this movement in it I would rather have the SB2.

Congratulations! Your son's a lucky guy, and I know you're going to love the SuperCombat. Please post pictures of it when you get it. :thumbup1:

 

[Ladd Gardner]

I have a question on the 6498. Since it doesn't hack, does the minute hand syncronizes with the second hand? Does the minute hit the minute mark when the second reaches 0?

My SuperCombat B2 ("SCB2") is perfectly synchronized -- seconds hand with minute hand -- and it's actually easier to do with my non-hacking watches than it is with my hacking watches.

What I've found, with my hacking watches, is that it's sometimes really hard to get the minute and second aligned properly because pulling the stem out to adjust the minute hand also stops the second hand. What I usually do -- with my Lum-Tec V1, my M28 and other hacking movements -- is I pull out the stem to freeze the seconds hand at "12," and then I adjust the minute hand to one or two minutes ahead of my reference clock. When the reference clock catches up with the stopped movement of my watch, I push the crown in, and the movement is freed, producing synchronization.

What happens in practice, however, is that I often impart a small amount of torque to the crown as I push it in -- just enough to advance/retard the position of the minute hand -- so the minute and seconds hands aren't perfectly aligned (D'oh!). This means I've got to start all over again because pulling out the stem freezes both hands in their misaligned positions...

With my SCB2, I wait until the mainspring has lost most of its charge (say a day and a half after last winding...), and then I "back-hack" the seconds hand to get it perfectly synchronized with my reference clock. I ignore the minute hand, completely. Once I'm sure the seconds hand is set properly, I give the watch a full wind. Now that the movement is fully charged, I can pull the stem out to set the minute hand, and the seconds hand is unaffected by my moving its big brother. I can tweak the minute hand as many times as I like to get the alignment perfect, and the seconds hand remains perfectly synchronized with the digital counter on my reference clock. :thumbup: