issue with pusher alignment on 287

bgrisso · Feb 27, 2017

Hi,
I have a tri compax with 287 movement currently being serviced. The watchmaker has noted some issues with the pushers not lining up between the case and movement. The center of the pushers on the case do not line up with the center of the pushers on the movement, which causes the various pieces to hit one another at an angle, which cases wear and slop. The pushers were not working at all when I sent the watch in, he thinks he has them working now just by trading the various pushers around to see which ones fit the best in each location, and a few other minor manipulations, but he is puzzled a bit by what looks like a design flaw in terms of things just not lining up properly. He said two out of three pushers do not align correctly.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it a known issue with UG, or with the 287, or something specific to my tri compax? Any info much appreciated.
thx
Ben

bgrisso · Feb 27, 2017

photo

Oku · Feb 27, 2017

I have a cal 287 but from GP. There, everything is perfectly fine with the pushers.
Maybe your case belongs to another movement?

bgrisso · Feb 27, 2017

I don't know. I would expect any diameter case properly paired with the correct diameter movement would line up, regardless if the case was swapped out? Or would specific movements be paired to specific cases?

10H10 · Feb 28, 2017

It should match perfectly, I suppose that something must be franken 😒 Is the back cover fitting perfectly the case and does it have all the proper markings and ref matching this T-C ?

bgrisso · Feb 28, 2017

everything looked good to me, but I'm not an expert....

Moahunter · Feb 28, 2017

Can we assume you bought this recently?

bgrisso · Feb 28, 2017

6 months

Diabolik · Mar 1, 2017

Sorry to break the news buddy, but reference 42408 corresponds to a uni-compax with a 285 caliber in my books. I would say that someone took it home for a metal work project and took imperial measurements only to replay them in metric.

bgrisso · Mar 1, 2017

It's 42406
Not sure what you mean.
4=gilded
2=chrono
4=285 or 287 or 292
06= case style

All seems fine to me unless I'm missing something.

Diabolik · Mar 1, 2017

I read 42408 and yes, a uni-compax is:

4=gilded OK
2=chrono OK
4=285 or 287 or 292 OK
08= case style That is the only thing we do not agree on ...

I am wondering if that case numbering has been tampered with. That last digit does not look right. It is made to look like a six but I think it may have been an eight ... Six's are round not square ...

bgrisso · Mar 1, 2017

here it is with the contrast jacked up. Looks like a 6 to me, don't see anything weird in the last digit to my eye......

10H10 · Mar 1, 2017

Indeed 42406... I guess it is a monday morning Tri-Compax...

bgrisso · Mar 1, 2017

This watch was vetted a while back on this forum. No red flags. Doesn't mean we didn't miss something. I would need to see photos of other 287 pusher case alignments to really get a feel for what is normal. Someone just saying they should line up obviously doesn't count for a lot.

Dre · Mar 1, 2017

42406 is correct for gold plated tri-compax

Diabolik · Mar 2, 2017

fair enough ...

Just looks weird and resembled an 8 (which is a uni case). I shall put it down to lighting conditions ...

It does not mean that middle case is correct. Too many nicks and bumps. It may be an adapted part. I am certain something like a mis-aligned pusher would have been spotted at quality control, lets face it, it is a function that would be checked ...

bgrisso · Mar 2, 2017

anyone have any plausible scenarios? Clearly it seems odd to have things not line up quite right, but at the same time I'm having a hard time coming up with how it might happen. Watchmaker says that whatever the situation, it seems to have happened long ago, not recently. Seems like a lot of work to try and adapt an incorrect mid case rather just use the right one, especially back in the day when I assume it would have been easy to get a mid case?
anyhow, watchmaker says the pushers are working correctly, they are keeping it another week or so to make sure it works consistently, otherwise I'm not going to worry about it.

bgrisso · Apr 16, 2017

I was referred to a watchmaker by one of our reputable UG contributors/collectors here on OF, to weigh in on the pusher question. The watchmaker said that he sees this issue "regularly", particularly on the gold plated versions. He felt like more care was taken with the solid gold cases. He said the pushers worked fine at first, but that over time, with wear, you can have issues. So based on the photos and description he felt like this watch was completely normal. He noted that he did not claim to be an absolute authority on the subject, but this was his feedback based on personal experience and also in speaking with other watch makers much older than himself. He said the pusher position in the case can be corrected by a jeweler, but that most people don't want to do the work because it's complicated and difficult.
Anyhow, for what it's worth, I wanted to get that info back into this thread.
thx
Ben

Larry S · Apr 19, 2017

Good to know.

waXology · Apr 19, 2017

Nice dial, looks like same era as mine i posted recently with the 'SWISS' hidden.

issue with pusher alignment on 287

bgrisso

bgrisso

Oku

bgrisso

10H10

bgrisso

Moahunter

bgrisso

Diabolik

bgrisso

Diabolik

bgrisso

10H10

bgrisso

Dre

Diabolik

bgrisso

bgrisso

Larry S

waXology

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