Background - Zodiac V-Wolf model ZO2308, L.E. Caveman Version Caveman001  July 20, 2012 03:20PM

Admin Registered: July 2012 Posts: 4,589

OK, 'fess up! I know I ain't the only one who's pulled horological blunders so egregiously stupid that, afterwards, you are thoroughly embarrased and have to say to yourself "What was I thinking? "

Here's the latest. OK, a bit of setup.

I inherited this bare case, you see..

Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

..the carcass of a Zodiac V-Wolf. A watch I've always liked, so I'm pretty keen to put it back in service. At first I thought, no problem, I'll just whip up one of my Tom Swift Photo Dials and slap in a Miyota 2000 and Bob's Your Uncle. Even went so far as to prepare a dial similar to this one..



..and test fit it. But it just didn't satisfy. The OEM Zodiac dial is beautiful, and I really wanted to re-use it. One sticky wicket, though. The V-Wolf nominally uses an off-the-shelf movement, 'tis true, a caliber HQ517. However, with a little digging you find that the day/date-at-6 version of this movement is, in fact, proprietary to Zodiac. While the standard day/date-at-3 version of the HQ517 is inexpensive and widely available, no one offers the required calendar-at-6.

So why does that make me feel like an eejit? Hang on! I ain't through!

After mulling it over, I decided that shoehorning in the standard day/date-at-3 movement might not be so bad. I even fired up GIMP and hacked up these photos to see what it'd look like...





Funky to the extreme, sure, but I decided I could live with it. You could even consider it unique and interesting, right? Of course you see the fallacy of my thinking. Right?

For the one or two that might be missing it - like I did for several hours! - here's what such a caveman mod would actually look like:


DoH!

Bright side is, at least I realized my error before I actually ordered the HQ517-D3!

The downer is, I'm back to Square One. I still want to re-use the OEM dial, and hence have dispatched this eMail..

Quote
Ricky Lee

To: customerservice@zodiacwatches.com
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:18
Subject: Inquiry for parts

Greetings,

I am an independent watchmaker, and have inherited a Zodiac V-Wolf model ZO2308 in trade. The watch had a defective movement, and I am in possession of the case, dial, and hands only - no movement. I have been able to ascertain that the OEM movement was a Harley-Ronda HQ517.

However, all replacement modules available from 3rd-party sources have the day/date at 3 O'clock, where this watch obviously needs day/date at 6 O'clock.

So my question is, is it possible to purchase the proper movement with day/date at 6 O'clock from your Parts Department? If so, please provide contact information, pricing, and instructions for ordering.

Thanks for your time, and have a great day.

-Ricky Lee

Haven't heard back from them yet* but, frankly, judging by reading others experiences with Zodiac CS, I doubt this will be a viable option. I may end up going the Photo Dial route after all..

Anyway. Back to the Subject! Have you ever made a similar gaffe? Some fundamental violation of the Horological Rules Of The Universe that left you saying "What was I thinking? "?

Come on now!

Let's hear about 'em...

Sláinte!

-Ricky

Background - Zodiac V-Wolf model ZO2308, L.E. Caveman Version	Caveman001	308	July 20, 2012 03:20PM
They are simply the worst when it comes to customer service... its sad too because they are one of my favorite brands in watches. They wont even sell you a rubber band for your watch and want you to send it in.....pathetic really. I dont know what posseses them to do this, because really its a turnoff. I seem to remember them doing the same when I requested additional links for my own vwolf......	dano0	35	July 21, 2012 01:02AM
That is sad. Quote dano0 I seem to remember them doing the same when I requested additional links for my own vwolf...... For extra bracelet links?! That's.. Well, it's crazy, no other word for it!	Caveman001	66	July 21, 2012 05:16AM

Zodiac V-Wolf model ZO2308, L.E. Caveman Version

You will recall, Dear Constant Reader, my posting of the preparation for this build. What? You missed it?

Well, scroll to the top o' the page and read up. You really need the background to follow along here.

G'head, I'll wait.

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OK. Now that you've got the set-up, I'll say this - There's good news and there bad news.

Good news first!

Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

The build actually went quite smooth. The HQ515-6 was a direct replacement for the HQ517-6ZO, just as planned. And sure I took Bro. Chris L's excellent advice about plugging up the Day Window. Well.. took it and made it me own.

Having a big blank square where the day should be just seemed.. well, boring. Racking me brain, I considered putting me initials there. A bit vain, though and, anyway, I've got that covered already. Thought about doing the PMWF logo but, again, done that, still wearing the T-shirt. But then it hit me! Flags! I've always admired flags on a watch face, so I whipped this up..


..ran down to Wal-Mart and printed it, and Bob's your uncle! What? You can't quite make out what flags they might be? Well. Being that small pushes the limits of the Wal-Mart Photo Machine's 1200 DPI max resolution, too. They're supposed to look like this..


Kudos, Bragging Rights, and a cuppa coffee for the first one what ID's all four flags.

Another view:

Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

They look ragged as hell under the 14X loupe. But to the naked eye they do look like flags, even if ye have to squint and hold yer mouth just right to positively ID them. I dunno. I reckon it's better'n having a whacking great square hole in yer dial!

Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

Photo nicked from Bro. Guido Muldoon @ WUS

Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

..without exception they have finely-minted and interesting casebacks. Mind you the interesting thing here is that, to me, that critter looks more like a frolicsome puppy than a Big Bad Wolf.

But you're still waiting on the Bad News, aren't ye? Well. Kind of a story in and of itself. And 'twas a major "WTF?!" moment for me, I assure you!

OK. Installing the crown is one of the last steps in a build, right? At least 'tis the way I go about it. When I go to fit the crown to the the stem I am DEEP into it, in "button her up" mode. So imagine my astonishment when it's a Fail. The hole in the crown is like THREE times as big as it should be to fit the Tap 10 stem of the Ronda. So I'm like "WTH?! Zodiac used a proprietary stem? A Tap 000 by the looks of it!?" Well, it took a minute or two, but I finally realized - it's a screw-down crown. There should be a spring-loaded barrel in the crown, and there ain't. Yup, the previous owner butchered that sucker, ripped the barrel out by the roots.

What to do? Well, I looked through every spare crown and donor watch I possess, looking for a suitable crown. Took a while, and a couple were close. But BzzzZZT! No cigar. I then started looking at me supply of..


..stem extender-converters. Sure enough, the large OD of one would have been a light press-fit into the Zodiac crown. I was on the verge of doing the deed and I realize, with a screw-down crown a solid stem-crown connection is NOT an option. You need the spring-loaded barrel!

So at this point I am stymied. I simply screwed the crown on to plug the hole, and there is no physical connection between crown and stem at all. Hey, being a Quartz, it ain't like I'll have to re-set the time every couple of days.* Mind you it'll be a PITA to uncase the going works to re-set the date on those short months.

I dunno. From what I understand about Zodiac CS, there's no way they'll sell me an individual crown. I suppose the fool-proof thing to do would be to bite the bullet and buy a replacement crown/case-tube assembly from Uncle Otto. But that'd run ~ $20+, more than twice what I have in the watch altogether at this point!

Anyone out there got a spare V-Wolf crown? For which I will gladly pay you $2 next Tuesday!



Still, for all the let-down at the end, it was fun! And..

Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

..it wears Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr8!

Thanks for readin', y'all.

Sláinte!

-Ricky

Zodiac V-Wolf model ZO2308, L.E. Caveman Version	Caveman001	212	July 20, 2012 03:21PM
Geez, that'd frustrate the hell out of me. (n/t)	Smaug	36	July 20, 2012 05:22PM
WHAT would?	Caveman001	30	July 20, 2012 05:31PM
Where's Scotland's flag ? (n/t)	JP	31	July 30, 2012 03:37PM
Oh, don't worry! I got it covered. It's just that.. Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for ..it's an entirely different watch. Bro. DJM built this one, actually...	Caveman001	70	July 31, 2012 11:27AM