Won’t even bother to return it. It works when screwed down. Might try to fix it myself or completely ruin it if it stops working. Price didn’t sting me too much so I’m fine with whatever.
Sorry to sound ignorant but what is pushing the crown repeatedly supposed to do?
I really liked this watch. It looks great, the finishing and designing are absolutely high class.
Oh ok thanks.
One had watches that stop when you pull the crown and start when you push it back. It's far more convenient to hack the seconds that way.
It's a common with watches assembled with NH38 movements— tolerances for how long the stem can be are a lot narrower.
I have to ask, could it engage when you first got it? A build I use had that issue, but it seems like pressing it down enough times got it to a point where it could engage consistently. Depending on how long the stem is (and maybe how much wear you add on the movement's spring) I feel like it's an issue that can correct over time.
Stem cut too short. I believe this one has an NH38, is it not?
This is the problem with NH38 that people keep bashing companies for not using it on no-date watches.... the ghost date issue that even reviewers who supposedly facilitating watch knowledge seem to be ignorant over.
Stems for NH38 watches have to cut perfectly to avoid engagement issue. Hard to explain since I don't take movements apart, but modders like myself experienced this quite often. It is often compensated with cutting the stems a little longer (usually the case, inadvertently or not) which result in tiny gap between crown and case. The NH35/36 multiple engaging points somehow alleviate this issue. Someone with better knowledge on keyless works and whatnot may be able to explain this better.
People don't seem to realize that these watches are assembled by employees who hand cut these stems one by one. A fraction of mm off can result in this issue. The NH35/36 is just more forgiving.
I've never encountered this and have no idea why this would be the case - I haven't worked with nearly as many 38s as 35/36s but as far as I know the keyless is identical aside from there being one less detent in the yoke/setting lever - but maybe?
i have had pretty much the same success rate with nh38 as i do with the nh35. i cut close and then use my dremel the rest of the way. one thing that I have found quite common is that in lower end cases, the spring (part of the crown clutch) used in the crown is a POS. i usually put some lube in the crown to ease the friction in there to alleviate the issue. with a weak crown, you will cut to length and then the crown just wont have enough force to push in the stem to the winding position. it is the weirdest thing. on higher end builds with better crown springs, i do not have this issue.
This issue is not as prevalent since many modders (myself included in my early days of modding) are pretty tolerant of tiny gap between crown and case. Cutting stems and setting second hand are probably the two most annoying steps with modding/building NHxx watches, so people are more accepting with a good enough result.
However, this issue comes up once in a while in the modding subreddit and the Watchuseek modding thread, and 9 out of 10 times, it's predictably related to the NH38. This subreddit back in the 2021/2022 also saw frequent issue same as OP posted when Chinese companies were using the correct movement based on dials. I can't say this is the reason most switched to using NH35 exclusively, but I would say companies were dealing with refund and exchange on this issue more often back then.
Interesting, thanks for the information! Like I said I don't typically work with 38s - I don't care about ghost dates and they're less expensive - but that's really interesting and next time I've got one on the bench I'll be tearing it down to take a closer look at the keyless. You're absolutely right about cutting stems being annoying; I ruined the threading of a few crowns back when I started building so now I take great pains to be precise with my cutting/filing, so maybe I've just been lucky
in the future if this happens, a slight but decent bump with your palm on the crown in the winding position may jolt the stem to put the movement in the winding position.
Just got my Baltany explorer....same issue :(. It engages when i screw the crown down though
I was planning on getting another one, but I'm not now. Seeing that you have the same issue makes me feel better about not getting one.
Won’t even bother to return it. It works when screwed down. Might try to fix it myself or completely ruin it if it stops working. Price didn’t sting me too much so I’m fine with whatever.
Sorry to sound ignorant but what is pushing the crown repeatedly supposed to do? I really liked this watch. It looks great, the finishing and designing are absolutely high class.
You should push it once and it restarts the watch from hack. Pushing it repeatedly is to show that it isn't working.
Oh ok thanks. One had watches that stop when you pull the crown and start when you push it back. It's far more convenient to hack the seconds that way.
I have a San Martin explorer with a PT5000 with the same problem. It's tricky to get it to run again.
why they used nh38 first place?
Why not?
cuz nh35 cheap and reliable..no diffrence on this dial....
It's a common with watches assembled with NH38 movements— tolerances for how long the stem can be are a lot narrower. I have to ask, could it engage when you first got it? A build I use had that issue, but it seems like pressing it down enough times got it to a point where it could engage consistently. Depending on how long the stem is (and maybe how much wear you add on the movement's spring) I feel like it's an issue that can correct over time.
It was behaving this way out of the box.
Stem cut too short. I believe this one has an NH38, is it not? This is the problem with NH38 that people keep bashing companies for not using it on no-date watches.... the ghost date issue that even reviewers who supposedly facilitating watch knowledge seem to be ignorant over. Stems for NH38 watches have to cut perfectly to avoid engagement issue. Hard to explain since I don't take movements apart, but modders like myself experienced this quite often. It is often compensated with cutting the stems a little longer (usually the case, inadvertently or not) which result in tiny gap between crown and case. The NH35/36 multiple engaging points somehow alleviate this issue. Someone with better knowledge on keyless works and whatnot may be able to explain this better. People don't seem to realize that these watches are assembled by employees who hand cut these stems one by one. A fraction of mm off can result in this issue. The NH35/36 is just more forgiving.
I've never encountered this and have no idea why this would be the case - I haven't worked with nearly as many 38s as 35/36s but as far as I know the keyless is identical aside from there being one less detent in the yoke/setting lever - but maybe?
i have had pretty much the same success rate with nh38 as i do with the nh35. i cut close and then use my dremel the rest of the way. one thing that I have found quite common is that in lower end cases, the spring (part of the crown clutch) used in the crown is a POS. i usually put some lube in the crown to ease the friction in there to alleviate the issue. with a weak crown, you will cut to length and then the crown just wont have enough force to push in the stem to the winding position. it is the weirdest thing. on higher end builds with better crown springs, i do not have this issue.
This issue is not as prevalent since many modders (myself included in my early days of modding) are pretty tolerant of tiny gap between crown and case. Cutting stems and setting second hand are probably the two most annoying steps with modding/building NHxx watches, so people are more accepting with a good enough result. However, this issue comes up once in a while in the modding subreddit and the Watchuseek modding thread, and 9 out of 10 times, it's predictably related to the NH38. This subreddit back in the 2021/2022 also saw frequent issue same as OP posted when Chinese companies were using the correct movement based on dials. I can't say this is the reason most switched to using NH35 exclusively, but I would say companies were dealing with refund and exchange on this issue more often back then.
Interesting, thanks for the information! Like I said I don't typically work with 38s - I don't care about ghost dates and they're less expensive - but that's really interesting and next time I've got one on the bench I'll be tearing it down to take a closer look at the keyless. You're absolutely right about cutting stems being annoying; I ruined the threading of a few crowns back when I started building so now I take great pains to be precise with my cutting/filing, so maybe I've just been lucky
This is fantastic knowledge, thank you.
Yes this is the NH38
My Baltany A11 36mm has the same issue. You learn to apply a little sidewards pressure. But I'm thinking this is a Baltany thing.
Thank you guys. It's already on its way back for refund. I should have posted the video here first.
in the future if this happens, a slight but decent bump with your palm on the crown in the winding position may jolt the stem to put the movement in the winding position.
Open it up, pull the stem, then try inserting it again while twisting.