ETA 2789 deserved a hacking lever

[steve1811uk]

Hi All, just wanted to share that I added a hacking lever to an ETA 2789 movement. I used the same lever as specified for ETA 2824-2. All worked fine except the watch hacked on the date set position of the crown. I had to put a very slight bend in the lever so that there was a small gap between the lever and the balance rim in that position (as shown in photo). It was a fine adjustment as too much bend caused the lever to touch the barrel teeth in the crown pushed in position. All very doable without too much pain. Well worth it for £1.68 from Cousins. Steve.

[Nucejoe]

Unexpected as no variant of this group has a hack . 

[Geotex]

Thanks for the information. I know that the ETA 27XX and 28XX mainplates are for the most part all milled to accept a balance stop lever, but there are 3 or 4 variants of that part listed depending on the specific subfamily and beat rate. Perhaps your adjustment makes up for a small difference between two versions of the lever.

[steve1811uk]

I revisited this as the crown action wasn't right (too stiff to select the time setting position). Basically the lever was pushing too hard against the balance rim. I suspect that in time some damage could easily be caused to the balance pivots. I shortened the lever as shown filing away the wider bit at the end and then rounding it smooth (like a lolly stick). Lever is shown in the crown pushed in position. So much better now and the crown action is back to how it was. I can only conclude that ETA 2789 balance diameter is a bit larger than that of the ETA 2824-2. I don't have one to check but it sounds feasible due to the higher beat rate of ETA 2824-2. Steve.