Where to buy movements... ?

[paulrgn]

So my first experiments in modding are going well so far – I've removed and reset hands and dial on an old Seiko a few times now for practice. Inevitably the next step is a Seiko mod (Fifty-five probably, to start somewhere) but beyond that I'm thinking about a scratch build. Finding movement suppliers is not proving as easy as I thought.

Any good tips on a trusted source for ETA movements?

[alfat33]

Hi, I'm at a similar stage to you, a bit of reasonably successful experimentation. I've bought a movement from Cousins before (cousinsuk.com) and it was fine, have you tried them? I'm also going to buy an ETA quartz movement from them soon(ish). Plenty of people here don't like them much because they can be difficult to deal with, so caveat emptor. Also one tip is to decide whether you want to buy a sealed version of the movement or not. The price is quite different but the sealed ones are apparently much more 'factory fresh'. For a bit of playing about that may not matter.

Best of luck.

[paulrgn]

Hi, I'm at a similar stage to you, a bit of reasonably successful experimentation. I've bought a movement from Cousins before (cousinsuk.com) and it was fine, have you tried them? I'm also going to buy an ETA quartz movement from them soon(ish). Plenty of people here don't like them much because they can be difficult to deal with, so caveat emptor. Also one tip is to decide whether you want to buy a sealed version of the movement or not. The price is quite different but the sealed ones are apparently much more 'factory fresh'. For a bit of playing about that may not matter.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the helpful reply. I did look at Cousins but thought they were trade only? Can hobbyists apply?

[alfat33]

Well it is supposed to be for trade and I do have a limited company that I used to setup an account although I am not a watch repairer, much as I might like to be one day. You can register as a private individual though.

That said my belief is that they are not so interested in your 'business', more that you accept that there will be none of the protection you would expect as a consumer. In other words, don't expect to return what you buy if it isn't quite right. Some have even had problems returning goods they believed to be faulty (the few items I have bought have all been perfect). Certainly I wasn't asked to provide any kind of evidence of my trade, the account setup was very straightforward.

Others on here have differing views. Worth a search of the forum under 'Cousins'. Or you could just try registering.

[me32dc]

Yes cousins only get you to accept the business rules as they probably can't afford to deal with hobbyists.
Would you rather have people who placed orders of £2k+ each week every week and never return anything and never called your sales team about parts.
Or....
Someone who calls asking if the part will be right, gets the part and finds out they got the wrong part, then return it, but they opened the packet and marked the part trying to fit it etc etc. Plus the order was one part and postage for £20.

I know those are extreme examples, but they are effectively a warehouse for parts, no watchmakers work for them so they don't have the knowledge or time/cost to talk to or advise people.

I have returned items to cousins but the people I work for are a big account holder and the parts were wrong.
If you order the wrong part and are a small account holder it's now yours. If they picked wrong or the part is obviously faulty and isn't broken from bad handling then they are fair and help you out.

[Julian]

I've dealt with Cousins a lot despite not being a business customer . They certainly have a very wide selection of stuff .Beware they don't seem to care about the Sale of goods legislation quite understandably but I've also had a bad experience when an expensive Seiko movement was delivered to me in a damaged unusable condition .They were aggressive , said they'd have a "word with their supplier" which of course is no good to me since my contract was with Cousins and the part was not fit for purpose. I let it go that time as I needed a supplier for the future.That won't happen again .
I don't know if they can supply ETA auto movements these days .

[walkerwek1958]

Try Gleaves, far easier to deal with than Cousins and their prices are usually more favourable.

Paul

[Plume]

About a year and a half ago I bought an NOS seiko movement from a seller on Ebay. One of the parts turned out to be damaged and the seller insisted on giving me a full refund and let me keep the movement.
So hit or miss as usual but a possible source (as for just about every watch related item).


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[stephan_utama]

if i may add,
i'm also looking for a Seiko movement
To be specific: NE15 movement

Couldnt get it from cousins and its been a long waiting
Hope somebody able to help me?

[me32dc]

Search under movements calibre only. The hattori ne15 is in stock.