How difficult would a movement exchange on a san martin captain willard be?

jwl249 said:

This watch has an NH35 that is messing up out of warranty. I had it regulated, but this didn't fix my issue. I figure that by the time I get down to the cause of the issue with this movement, I will have spent much more than the cost of an entirely new NH35. I consider myself pretty handy, but I have never worked on a watch before. If it would be better to have a pro do it, about how much should I expect to pay? Thanks!

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I would view some YouTube videos of movement swaps. Several from different channels. If you watch the videos and still think you are up to it, get an inexpensive practice watch (or two), pick the best video and view it again, this time working on your practice watch while you view it.

Do that a few times with your practice watch before you try it on a watch you do not want to ruin.

I had a movement swap professionally done many years ago and it was $80-$90 dollars. It was 7-9 years ago in Houston, TX.


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I’d suggest that fortune favors the bold and go for it. The watch in question is inexpensive enough that it’s worth the risk, IMO. If you screw up, you can take the bag of parts into a watchmaker and have them clean up your mess.

You will need tools to remove the hands. There should be plenty of YouTube videos of people replacing NH3x movements. It's pretty straight forward, but requires fine motor skills and good eyesight. Have you worked with really small or delicate parts in the past?

Crazy simple if you are mildly mechanically inclined. The issue as stated above is having the right WIS tools - dial protector, hand pullers/hand setter, and case back tool

If you buy the movement it's what, $65 these days?

I could do the swap in 15 minutes flat, so give a watchmaker $100 all in.

You'd spend $35 on the tools and have them forever.

Verdict? Like LAT says above, be bold and go for it!

Jwl --

i am not a watchmaker and do not play on TV; fortunately i have a colleague that is -- his family for a few generations back were NYC jewelers -- and he does all my caseback-off work (thank you BrianG).

BUT, if you go for it, i am a photographer and please, pay careful attention to dust control. We have to do that now with camera sensors: every time you a swap lens you open the sensor to an ocean of tiny, tiny, bits of dust. Similarly when the caseback is off all those tiny particles can settle in your case and will be visible on the crystal or the dial if you are not careful.

Photographic sensor pixels are sub-3 micron now so we worry about finer dust than you can see. Nevertheless you can easily experience significant dust entry when working on the average kitchen table . . . even for a simple regulation, much less a movement swap.

-- gary ray

Changing out an NH35a movement is really easy for someone that likes to tinker with watches. You will need some basic tools and you will need some training that you can get by watching some DIY YouTube video's. If you aren't interested in learning some watch making skills than it isn't worth doing. My suggestion is to buy the movement you need online and find someone to do the swap. Its not worth the frustration for the average person. You have to spend some time learning basic skills in order to do this swap correctly.