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Friends and family have taken an interest in some of the watches I've serviced and since they've only known Quartz pieces I thought I'd fix something up for them for the holidays. So I purchased a couple of Seiko divers a few weeks back off of eBay with the intent of getting them back into spec. One came from the Philippines and the other India and both were in a bad way based on the sellers' images. The first (from the Philippines) turned out to be a pretty good deal as it the entire movement and case was salvageable. It was nothing special to look at the start, that's for sure, but it will spiff up pretty nice in the end. Unfortunately, the picture here (in the condition it arrived) hides the fact that one of the dial feet has gone missing. The correct solution to this problem is to solder the foot back in place but me being a fool with a soldering iron I opted for a strong two part epoxy instead. The dial may or may not be original but it's in fair shape and needs only to have the luminous paint removed and reapplied (I've not done this before so we'll see how it goes). The hands will be polished and replated as they are a real mess. The movement is in excellent shape and has sprung back to life with a proper cleaning. The only part of that endeavor which was out of the norm was the removal of "dial glue" from the movement with a bit of acetone. I'm currently just awaiting the replacement bezel insert and a new 2.25mm watch crystal to finish this up. Unfortunately the watch from India- well that was a whole 'other story! It was clear right off the bat that there was an issue with the dial as it sits crooked in the case. I thought this was the result of another missing dial foot but it was much worse than that- both feet are missing although it may not have mattered because the wrong movement was in the case as well. The diver should have a 7002 (17 Jewel Automatic with Date) movement but instead has a 7019 (21 Jewel, Automatic, Day-Date) fitted. Close examination revealed a bit of (ahem) over-oiling? Just when you think you've seen the worst case of excess lubrication in a watch movement a new case comes along. I'm still only about halfway through this repair so I'll follow-up with some images as they come. With the dial feet lost and the dial bathed in thick oil, I considered it a lost cause and proceeded unafraid with a cleansing using isopropyl alcohol- it actually cleaned up fairly nice but will need quite a bit of work to be considered "good enough" for daily use. Some foolish person apparently tried to remove the lime using car keys or some such tool and scratched the dial terribly. (sigh) I've since finished servicing the 7019 movement although the mainspring had failed and I'm not certainly I'll bother with a replacement as the movement will probably just be flipped to offset the cost of the proper 7002 movement. More to come soon...

Hi, just taken the course and am investigating some watch repairs on scrap flee-market materials. It all started with my destroying of an Omega 601 by just wanting to remove a bit of dirt :-) After forcefully attached the train-wheel bridge... i needed a new escapewheel ... so I learned a lot already and am happy to join the forum as well. Greetings Max

Check the position of the caseback, if it's crooked or upside down or anything like that then the groove inside isn't lining up with the stem and that can cause issues like this. Consider having a watch technician maintain this watch in the future.

Making a hairspring shorter should make the watch run faster not slower.

I've used naptha for a long time on all types of mechanical watches and have never had a problem with the pallet jewels. The pallet stones should still be cleaned in ultrasonic solution as naptha doesn't dissolve dirt or dried/caked oils. I'n my experience, naptha or VM&P naptha, is best used as a final rinse because it dries quickly and with no residue. J

those 400 degrees are the total arc. I think he means 200degrees. about the weashers - input "watch timing washers" on google

400° is way to much. One thing it can cause is over banking. Check the end shake of the balance & I presume it is the original hairspring if not is it too short.

Washers is the answer. I know you're a tinkerer so I wouldn't advise you to buy a new one. What would be the fun in that, anyway?! Good luck!

Isn't the reason why it's running fast because the hair spring is now shorter ? Can't you just get a new hair spring ? CousinsUK has them cheap. Maybe they have yours as well...

For the future, I suggest you will get a bit better multimeter that will tell you the voltage of the battery, as Ishima has mentioned "most watches will operate fine between ~1.3-1.5v", and with the tester you have gotten, you never can tell whether the battery is 1.25v or 1.35v. Check this out on AE or in the U.S. you can even get the cheap type free at Harbor Freight Stores with coupons. Here is one more inexpensive multimeter.

As has been said, at first glance you can try removing the movement and just try to wipe away the residue with the aforementioned substances on the inside. Even so, I don't think that it will look 100% correct... Is it glass, sapphire or acrylic crystal ? Regardless of what it is I'm assuming that the watch uses either a tension ring crystal (unlikely) or a press fit mineral glass or sapphire crystal in which case you're supposed to use a gasket. A watchmaker should have all sorts of these gaskets or at least order the appropriate one.

At some point the B H I got 2 and a half million from the Lottery.

Depending on where you live, they may be able to arrange an invigilator for you. I had to find one myself, which can be very difficult (I was lucky to have a professor friend at a local uni). Exams are never done remotely (i.e. skype or something), but only with an approved invigilator. For technician grade, you'd need the invigilator for D1 (theory) and D4 (quartz service). Year three exams have to be done at the BHI, which means I'm going back there next year Cheers, Rob