Marc & Sons MSD-023: problems with fast date change

In this post we will see how to repair several problems that affected this Marc & Sons MSD-023: the second hand was loose, the quick date change did not work and it did not have the ceramic insert that came as standard.

I found this "msd023" watch in the sales section of a famous watch forum. As I love divers, I was confident that the problems could be solved.

The "msd 023" from "Marc & Sons" has very interesting features: armis with solid endlinks, sapphire crystal, a missing ceramic insert as standard, and a reliable Miyota 8215 movement.

Initial inspection

As the first thing is to make an inspection to confirm the problems that were detailed in the announcement of sale. And so it was, basically there are 3 fundamental problems of the clock:

• The second hand was loose between the day and the glass, which is easy to fix.
• The ceramic insert was missing, as we will see later it was more complicated than I thought to find one of the right measures
• The quick date change didn't work.

Placing the second needle

Como es una cosa trivial, aprovechare la reparación del sistema de cambio rápido de fecha para realizar ambas cosas a la vez.

Quick date change system

The problem with the "Marc & Sons" MSD-023 was simple: once we entered the quick date change mode by pulling out the crown to position 1 and turning it, the date never changed.

One detail that caught my attention was that the date did change at 12 o'clock at night, that is, with the day change, as it should. The latter was a good sign, because in this way I knew that the system was damaged by a date change made between 9 pm and 9 am, which is problematic in automatic watches.

"Marc Sons watches" are known for their robustness, but like any mechanical device, issues can arise. If it were a watch that was used continuously, we would only have a problem with the month change of those that did not have 30 days, but since it was going to rotate its use with other watches it was a nuisance. In addition, it is an excellent opportunity to "practice" with mechanical movements, not everything will be quartz.

As always we start by removing the back cover of the box. As the opening system is a bit "different" than usual, I had to do it with a jaxa key using only 2 points, as the notches on the back cover of the watch are very close together.

Once opened, we took out the stem to position 2 of time change, and pressing the tab with the pliers, we released the crown and stem.

We remove the plastic gown and take the miyota movement out of the watch case. Now we proceed to disassemble the hands (the second hand is already disassembled ... xD). We proceed as usual, cut out a piece of paper and place it under the hands to protect the dial so that no marks are left with the hand extraction tool.

Gently remove the minute and hour hands and store them in a safe place with the second hand so that they are not damaged or bent.

The next step is to remove the dial, since the movement date change system is located underneath it. We fix two small screws on the side of the movement and loosen them, as these keep the "legs" of the dial trapped and attach the dial to the movement. We cover the dial to prevent dust from accumulating while we repair the movement.

In the following picture you can see that the quick date system is under a bridge held by 4 small screws.

Once we have removed them, we can access the quick date change system. As we can see in the following image, the end of the date corrector has come out of its correct position between the spring of the date corrector.

We place the date corrector in its correct position and screw the date change system guard back on with the 4 screws.

One detail when screwing in is that when I was removing the guard, the screws didn't look "a bit loose". To avoid this, and as a consequence, the date system guard will be a little loose, allowing the date corrector to come out of its place again, I tightened the screws a little more (without going over) and checked the operation.

Turn the crown to the date change position, turn it and ..... Luckily, I could see that the problem was solved and I made the change without any problem.

Before reassembling the dial, I put the crown in the time change position and check that it also changes the date correctly at 24h.

We continue to reassemble the dial, inserting its legs and tightening the screws that hold it in motion.

To place the hands correctly, in the time change mode, I advance until the date changes. At that point I know that I have to put the hands in at 12 o'clock. Finally, I insert the second hand with the help of the magnifying glass and that solves another problem.

As we only have to solve to find a ceramic bezel, we can insert the movement already in the box, placing again the gown and the stem and with the movement inside the box check for the last time that the date change works properly.

Search for a ceramic insert

What at first seemed to be the easiest problem to solve (finding a replacement for the original ceramic insert), was complicated by the measurements. The "marc and sons" MSD-023 includes a larger size insert than other watch models, so I spent several weeks searching for an insert that would fit what I was looking for.

Ideally, in addition to complying with the measurements, your design should remind you of the original, more than anything else because it does not clash too much. In the end I opted for this 39-millimeter ceramic insert, specifically the style 2 in black.

The insert includes a double-sided tape ring, so the first thing we will do is peel off the "ring" and stick it on the bezel avoiding any folds.

Now we will place the ceramic insert over the ring so that it is glued to the bezel. We have to take special care to place the insert triangle just over the 12h marker on the dial, so that it is correctly aligned.

Fortunately, and despite the reflexes, you can see that it has remained well centered.

I add some poor photos to see how the "marc sons watches" MSD-023 looks after the restoration... I think it is not bad at all.

If you're as passionate about watch repair as I am, be sure to check out more in the Restorations category, where you'll find in-depth articles similar to Marc & Sons MSD-023: problems with fast date change. Keep honing your craft with us!