Their finish has improved a lot and a friend was convinced they were on par with ETA. I got three regular versions and one in top execution with blck PVD finish, blued screws and the top springs and balance. The design of the Seagull is very similar to the Chinese Hangzhou movement now with a ETA like timing device.
Out of the box they all ran within 10 seconds per day with very little deviation in the different positions and constant good amplitudes, with other words they were all very well adjusted and timed. Very impressive.... but the pleasure did not last too long; three of the four movements have died, two by the same mysterious death, suddenly out of nowhere the beat increases to mad speeds, the balance looks more like a jet turbine and the secondhand spins at approx. three times the speed until the whole balance assembly falls apart, I actually watched on the PVD version: the shock jewel flew off first and then the whole balance assembly like exploded. The balance spring was in two pieces; which is like impossible. Can anyone explain what happened to these movements? The third movement died as one of the wheel jewels came out and got stuck in the movement.
In my opinion the reliability is not quite there yet. The standard versions costs less than half what the ETA equivilent and the PVD top versin only a quarter what ETA charges. Was I just unlucky?
picture of the patient:
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