Leaderboard

This is the 14k gold Model 877 with 15 jewels and originally sold for $110. Heres how it arrived - yes thats lead solder on the bottom right... sure you've see it all before but for me, first time but I couldn't let that stop me buying it. I had a gold smith clean up the case and remove the lugs from another case and then went and saw a laser welder who attached the replacement lugs, I did the dial swap and case polish, then sewed up the ribbon band and the end result its currently 87 years old and hopefully will last another 87 years.

When fitting new stems to watches I use these tools :- Digital calipers, Fine grade diamond lap Wire cutter Pin vice Now for fitting. (1) Hold the stem in the pin vice and screw on the crown tightly by hand. (2) With the movement fitted correctly in the case, insert the stem until it locks in place. Now measure the gap between the case and the underside of the stem. In this case it is 2.16mm. (3) Subtract 0.2mm from this size and this will give the amount to remove from the stem. In this case it will be 1.96mm which will give 0.2mm clearance below the crown when fitted to the watch. (4) Now remove the crown from the stem and hold the stem very tightly in the pin vice, then place the pin vice and stem between the jaws of the digital calipers then zero the calipers. (5) Remove the calipers and without touching the zero button set them to minus 1.96mm. THEN RE-ZERO THE CALIPERS AT THIS LENGTH The wire cutters are now used cut off the excess thread leaving a small amount to be filed to the exact length. (6) All that is required now is to dress the stem with the diamond lap a little at a time until the calipers read zero. (7) Finally screw the crown on tightly and it should be ready to fit to the watch without further adjustment. I find that this method cuts down on trial and error. FOR SCREW DOWN CROWNS. A) Screw down the crown tightly onto the case without the stem and measure the distance nbetween the bottom of the crown and the case. B ) Screw the new stem tightly into the crown, then insert into the watch until it engages and locks into the movement. C) Press the crown down firmly as far as it will go and hold it there. D) Using the vernier callipers, measure the distance between the bottom of the crown and the case. E) Subtract the size determined in (D) from the size measured in (A) then subtract a further 0.15mm from this size. This is the amount to shorten the stem by. This should allow the crown to screw full home without compressing the stem too tightly between the movement and the inside of the crown. F) Cut the stem leaving it slightly longer than the size determined in (E), and dress down to size using the diamond lap and vernier callipers as described in the original post. G) Screw the crown onto the shortened stem and check fit and function, before using a tiny spot of Loctite 221 to secure. Click here to view the article

Right, I didn't noticed that. I really don't think any gasket goes there. Glass, mother pearl and such delicate dials are directly fitted to metal. Nothing happens because the pressure is uniform and well distributed.

Thank you very much for your reply. it appears there may an insulator it appears to be a grey color around the screw hole Also I noticed the little hook as was shown in your photo

Seiko barrels are not meant to be opened although it can be done and you can see many references about that. When I tried myself to clean and lubricate one, or even just replace the mainspring, the working of the watch did not improve at all. The proper way is to replace the barrel complete, or if the timegrapher shows acceptable amplitude and pattern, leave it alone.

There are few places, one is timegraphers.com that list each model features. Also I recall SSTEEL here has recently bought a complete 3000 system.

On cleaning mainsprings. The idea is that the edges of the spring should ride smoothly over the lid and base (roof and floor so to speak) of the barrel, the coils should glide smoothly on their sides as they wind and unwind, and for autos, they should slip when fully wound. The only wear that you generally come across will be on the lid and base if the barrel. Even the hole where the barrel arbor goes never wears. So the idea of cleaning themainspring is good as it allows cleaning and assessment of the barrel inner surface followed by proper lubrication. Winding in by hand is doable and even with mainspring winders you will come across some combinations where the winders just won't work. Take it slow, face away from the work bench and wear eye protection. You need to wear gloves of finger cots as well, not only for protection but also to protect the freshly cleaned mainspring from contamination. Good luck! Anil

You have to be careful that the slip spring doesn't break away from the mainspring.

I wind automatic mainspings by hand. I use gloves and wind slowly and steadily. Just make sure you're winding in the correct direction or you'll have to re-do it. Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

That looks like a mainspring from an automatic. If you take that out you will have a hell of a job putting it back, you could even break it.

Yes that was me, but unfortunately I'm in Perth on the other side of the continent, although I had some good luck with tools tonight with a retiring watchmaker bringing some of his surplus tools into my watch repair class tonight for sale and picked myself up a jewelling tool. Welcome Jesse TAFE in Sydney runs watch repair courses, but they are only during business hours and are very expensive unfortunately.

welcome Jesse. it;s good to know something about watches as opposed to TIME ON THE CELL PHONE. VINN

Hello, your in the right place, for starters this forum is very friendly and we all help each other. You will find plenty here to get you started and we welcome photos.

Welcome to the forum! There was another guy from Australia complaining about hard to get parts and tools there. Maybe You can work together. Reducing shipping cost for example.

Hello Jesse glad to have you here its good to know the horology bug has bitten someone else. Look around ask any question you like and most of all enjoy your new hobby. Mick

Nice collection. I'm an old boy so I don't like quartz. Two I like are the Zenith and the Lanco there what I call proper watches.