Seiko Bell-Matic 4006-6011

[Vich]

Well after some consideration I finally shelled out for a beaten up old Bell-matic.  It is probably the most complicated watch I have, up to now, that I willl have worked on.  It is not too bad I suppose but after bidding on about five of these watches i was surprised by the price they command even in poor condition.

This is the pic from the bay

Now that I have it I find the dial is not in bad condition at all, I accepted that the plexiglass was bust and it would need a new one (from Cousins) and the case has some need for buffing.  However, despite being described as being in working condition there are quite a few faults.  I found the crown was decidedly non standard and when wound backwards simply wound off and it transpires that it is in need of replacement.  I thought I was in luck when I found one for £2.88 in Cousins but my hopes were dashed when the crown supplied proved to be the wrong tap size being 10 or 11 and not Tap 9 (10/100 mm) which is needed to fit the 354805 stem. Here is a pic of the crown that came with the watch - it is patently wrong.

Here is a pic of the crown from Cousins alongside the other crown and it is obviously a better match to the tube and the gasket comes with it.

Unfortunately the tap size was wrong but to give Cousins their due they contacted Seiko who confirmed I needed a 55M22NS1 crown (now obsolete) and they had supplied the wrong part and Cousins gave an immediate refund but did not ask for return of the Crown which I consider to be good service though I have now got my fingers crossed for the Plexiglass and gaskets I bought.

Well thats my latest project. I am minded to drill out and re-tap the crown as in every other aspect it seems a perfectly acceptable crown. I may have to get some different taps though as the ones I have are a bit problematic on their lead in for the depth of metal to the dead end I will be tapping. I am in no doubt that there will be a lot of work here, the pointers look grubby and I suspect the spring for the alarm is faulted, though I heard the alarm work for a brief couple of seconds - it will need a full service but there are a few teardowns on the net - Christian has done one I could follow and I have found some more - luckily it seems to be a popular watch. Spares are available some easier to get than others but i will have to open it up and find out as I go along. That leather strap is revolting but it is the least of my jobs, date does change with pusher and the alarm ring does move and finally it does tick. Buffing the case should make a difference. Here are a final two pics - that is the best pic of the face I could manage through the bust plexi.  I joined a Bell-Matic forum in another place (SCWF) and have accessed a shedload of info and spec sheets (grateful thanks to JohnWN) that will be handy.

Just as an after thought heres a pic of some of my current favourites.

The little Gradus needs some work and has seen some knocks but I will get round to it one day.  I have a couple of cases with other stuff in ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous that I may get round to posting "some day".

Bye for now - Cheers,

Vic

 

Edited March 27, 2017 by Vich

[Neileg]

You mention taps. There are three types of taps. Mostly we use taper taps that have about ten threads of increasing depth. For through holes in sheet material or cleaning up nuts they're fine. A plug tap has a much shorter taper, 3 or 4 threads. These are used to cut a fuller thread after the taper tap has been used. For a thread to the bottom of a blind hole you need a bottom tap which may have 0 to 1.5 threads of taper.

For a crown you'll need a taper and a bottom tap but you may get away without a plug tap.

Neil


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[Vich]

Hello Neileg,

Thanks for the info. luckily in my kit now I have all three as well as a few spare cheapo 1mm taps that I was going to butcher but  hopefully I will be ok.

I am going to find out the exact threaded hole size before I start I may even need to drill it out a touch before the re tap.

Cheers,

Vic

[Jonbooker44]

Hi Vic would you be interested in fixing my bellmatic

[jdm]

16 minutes ago, Jonbooker44 said:

Hi Vic would you be interested in fixing my bellmatic

Just FYI, forum rules do not allow members to advertise sales or service, so that type of talks should be done by Private Message or even better, email.

[Jonbooker44]

Ok Jdm thank you for letting me know ,apologies. 

[jdm]

8 minutes ago, Jonbooker44 said:

Ok Jdm thank you for letting me know ,apologies. 

None is due, asking for help is OK and good luck with your bellmatic.