Homage Forum

Hello all,
I’m after the collective thoughts of the HF forum.
I picked up a Belkin PAM 009 on RWI a few months ago, absolutely love it . This is built around an Asian 6497.

However I was winding it this afternoon and heard a ‘ping’ sound. Now, it no longer fully winds and I can feel it slip when a certain torsion is reached. The watch is still running and seemingly keeping good time but I’m expecting the run down time has greatly reduced.

I’m pretty certain the mainspring has snapped. Now for the stupid question, I have a couple of Asian movements lying around and was wondering, can I simply swap out the barrel with a new / repurposed one from one of these or will I need to replace the mainspring in the original movement.
If I do the former and swap the barrel in its entirety is it a simple fit and forget? I’m keen to keep the watch as close to the original Belkin spec as possible.

Thanks guys

Sure you can replace the barrel from another movement. This is an easy fix. What you have there is a reliable, good movement - easiest to work on.
Just don't mix Swiss and asian parts. I never did just the barrel replacement without a full service (taking apart the whole movement) so Im not sure if you can just swap it without resetting the hands, but I guess if you are careful, you may be able to do it even without taking the hands off.
Please make sure you remove ALL tension from the spring before taking down the plates.

Many thanks for the feedback Lupo.
I realise it was a stupid question but I started second guessing myself so wanted a confirmation
A quick fix, barrel swapped out this morning and all is working well now
Fully wound, so I’ll let it run down to check the power reserve.

lupo wrote: ↑April 24th, 2025, 7:08 pm Just don't mix Swiss and asian parts

The barrel from an ST36 will work in a 6497-2 and a 6498-2. Not best practice by any means, but it works. I haven’t tried any other parts. I did it as a temporary try as I couldn’t find any 6497-2 barrels, and so far it’s been working great, about a year now.