Korsbek – Hydro Explorer – ETA 2892-A2

Xavier brought me his watch this week, and quite frankly when I first glanced at it, I thought to myself, wow, that’s a handsome piece. Very simplistic. Very clean.
Admittedly, I was eager to get started on it. I never heard of this brand before. Even if you go to their website, there isn’t a whole lot of information about them.

Inside, sits a ETA 2892-A2 movement. In the ETA world, this is a high-end movement, some even compare this to the Rolex 3135 movement. The case is rated as waterproof to 500m.

As soon as I open the case, we can clearly see that this Korsbek should not be taken lightly. A really thick case back and 2 gaskets are utilized.

Nice logo stamped on the crown.

With the movement taken out of the case, you have to appreciate the dial. The construction is thick, heavy and very well made.

Let’s get to work, shall we. Time to remove the hands and dial.

On the flip side (bridge side) we see this gorgeous, well constructed movement. Next, the rotor is removed.

Turning the movement over to the dial side, it’s time to start removing the keyless and motion works.

Again, turning the movement over to the bridge side, it’s time to start removing the gear train. We start by removing the train wheel bridge, followed by the train gears, barrel bridge and barrel.

Next, I remove the mainspring barrel and open it up to reveal the mainspring and arbor.

The next pictures depict the automatic bridge and its gears.

Here, we see the movement completely disassembled.

A couple pictures of the ultrasonically cleaned case and then stored to keep it safe from the elements.

With having the movement cleaned in the watch cleaning machine, and new mainspring, it’s time to start assembling everything.

We start off with inserting the new mainspring in the barrel.

Followed by installing the mainspring barrel and intermediate wheel.

Next, I install the click plate, or I prefer to call it the barrel bridge, along with it’s click parts.

Next, we continue with the dial side. I grease the winding pinion, sliding pinion and the stem with Jismaa 124 grease.

Turning the movement over yet again, it’s time to treat the escape wheel and pallet fork with Epilame. And, while I’m treating gears, I may as well treat the reversing gear with Lubeta V-105. Long story short, the epilame is a treatment so that the 9515 escapement grease doesn’t spread around the movement. And the V-105 treatment is more of a convenience of treating reversing gears instead of oiling the pawls within the reversing wheel.

Not a bad start

A few bridge side pics.

Time to montage the automatic bridge

and install it on the movement.

Odd, isn’t it, that they include the whole calendar-works on the movement, although there is no day or date display on the dial.

Time to install the dial and hands.

And, install the movement in the case, and close it up.

Hope you enjoyed 🙂

Chris