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These are now readily available on the usual platforms, and even if at $25.57 the saving is not big compared to "official" SII suppliers, I wanted to check it out anyway. It arrived fairly quickly in a month. I'm posting large size pictures in case anyone wants to check on any finishing detail. Too bad I didn't got the cute Chinese day disk The first obvious question, is this a genuine item? My thinking is that somehow, it is. Even if Seiko claims that SII branded mov't are made in Japan, I would be very surprised if they weren't actually manufacturing in other Far East countries as well. The look and feel is the same as the other I've handled, however at this time I don't have another for a detailed comparison, neither the inclination to take take it dully apart to inspect lubrication and other small details. So I'm limiting this article to simple instrument verification. Below it's how it arrived. I have seen many brand new Seiko watches in similar show. After a bit of regulation at the Etachron pin I couldn't do better than this, respectively dial up and crown down. Again, that is not any different from specification and typical performances.

The actual form of the overcoil is a very highly studied subject and has a very real effect on the performance of the watch. If someone isn't used to the comparatively easy tasks of leveling and centering a flat spring, then reforming an overcoil to some sort of usable shape and getting it centered and flat is a tall order. I think that's what Frank is saying. It looks like the OP is doing well though, it could have gone waay worse!

If you want to see how this process looks, take a look at Mark's latest video, you can see him aligning the various pivots and checking them, on a Seiko movement at the point I have linked in the video below. Note that he is exercising only very gentle pressure with those tweezers. Just enough of a feather light touch to keep things from moving and no more. Furthermore, don't just watch this section of the video, it is well worth watching the whole thing, as you can also pick up tips on oiling, mainspring maintenance and a bunch of other stuff.

I began taking work from a local jeweler and finding again that fashion watches can be surprisingly hard to open and close, so I decided to refresh my weaponry a little. First, the oversize Jaxa tool. I have a bench opener but I'm too lazy to use it on every time. It is built well and tight, with no play. The screws are fine thread and allow precise adjustment. Inserts are held by a flat spring instead of a lousy ball, and include the most used square tips - which is not a given with other types. Very happy about it for $12.88, and will get the regular size from the same brand. Then the Japanese style openers, all the four types. Getting the original Seiko wouldn't have broken the bank but I decided to give these a chance for just $7.61 and receiving in the relatively short time of 2 weeks and an half. I think the rounded tips are good for safety but one may use a bit more grip by flattening it. I have more coming and will add to this thread.

one step at a time, if it is stuck - and, or not a screw back, i use P.O. first. vin

A Kienzle 21 Rubis Automatic. The lugs/strap are oddly narrow at 16mm, but that isn't obvious when it is on your wrist.

Here is my take on that watch. Dull appearance of case, poor dial quality, cheap hands, fake moonphase, the knurling on the two "crowns" don't match, the crystal is dull and looks like cheap window glass rather than sapphire, the second hand has fallen off, the dial indices are poorly formed and look like plastic, the case back is poorly engraved... the price is stupidly low, the strap looks like it is made from cardboard... save your pennies for something more appealing. Compared with this, where everything is sharp. This is either genuine, or a much higher quality fake (in this case, it is almost certainly genuine), and therein lies the real problem. Poor fakes are generally pretty easy to spot, but there are a lot of much higher quality fakes out there. Then there is this. An image straight from the manufacturer's own web site. Again you can see that everything matches, the dial face looks stunning, the indices are well applied, the whole effect is balanced and even the strap oozes quality.

I don't think what Master nickelsilver wrote is stupid at all. He made clear that is not a truly reasonable number, as well as listing some of the other tasks and overhead involved. And as watchweasol mentioned, repeated work on the same device makes one faster and better. Personally I can service a Seiko 7S/4R/6R mov't in 2 hours without too much rushing, but taking no breaks either. Fully strip with cleanable parts straight into the jar 15 mins Move parts to rinsing, in the meanwhile clean and prepare bench and tools, 10 mins Keyless 10 mins Train / main bridge 20 mins Pallet fork and balance 15 mins Balance jewels 10 mins Initial test and regulation 5 mins Addt.l keyless parts 6R15 only, 5 mins Calendar works 15 mins Add.t winding parts, 6R15 only, 15 mins Total 120 mins. I don't think the 2824 is much different. Truth is casing, rechecking, correcting, etc can take one hour when lucky. If I had to work to feed family I could do three of these per day. But I would become a stressed "professional" with no skills beside the daily routine. No thanks.

Bfg866 pin pallet. I was unfamiliar with the name but bought this because I liked the design over typical jump hour watches. Marked swiss on the dial.

Best opening tool I ever bought. Expensive but worth every penny Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm going to skip over what I think of the fantasy 1.5 hours to service a watch otherwise you're going to get several paragraphs of the stupidity of that. It only works in a theoretical situation of everything absolutely perfect and unfortunately this is watch repair other than a modern service center that just isn't going to happen. Then even a modern service center with specialized equipment conceivably several people work on that watch. Somebody will do the casing work polishing the case of that's needed casing up to verify that everything is waterproof it depends on the shop a watchmaker might do a lot of that but a lot of time several people involved. So here's a link below if you're looking for watchmaker. There is some minor problems though with their search? So the search text is based on the content found associated with each person. This means when you search for a chronograph for instance the list is tiny because people didn't list that they would do chronographs even though I know there's people that are not on the chronograph list that will do chronographs. Then you have to click on each name to find their website link at the bottom of the description but still you end up with a list of watch repair people. Then to be on this list you have to be a member of this Association which means a lot of watchmakers won't be on the list because they choose not to be a member of this Association. But still as a whole bunch of names some of them have websites very just be nice if they list the websites with the name seat enough to click on every single name and if there text descriptions were little bit better that would be helpful. https://awci.memberclicks.net/find-a-professional

Like I said, The idea that 5 a day is a realistic target is fanciful in the extreme and was really to illustrate the principal that volume throughput results in the turnover racking up quite quiikly. The real point that I was trying to make, maybe not too successfully, was that having a properly equiped, totally dedicated set up, coupled with treating it as a job rather than a hobby, makes a big difference to throughput. I'm an amateur. My work space also doubles as an office for the day job, as well as a workshop for all the other tinkering that I like to indulge in. As a result it is a compromise which means that it's not as efficient a watchmaking work space as it could be. I also treat my hobby as a hobby. I do it when I feel like it, I take a lot of pictures (far more than just reassembly reference pics), I get distracted by other stuff going on in the house, etc..... I would never make it as a pro. That being said, with the proper set up and approach, there must be enough money in it for the pros to survive, else there wouldn't be any pros left.

Not saying it's not possible to do a manual wind watch in 1.5 hours (but it would be pushing it to do it right), but on that watch there is also uncasing, cleaning and possibly polishing the case, maybe a crystal to change, timing in 6 positions, either the face time or email time with the customer, checking it a couple days later, maybe adjust, get the case out from the safe and recase, retest, box it, or contact the customer... In a service center where someone does the case work, the emails/calls, changes the solutions in the cleaning machine, orders the oil and pithwood and toilet paper, and no work needed other than cleaning and a little hit on the regulator, yes, perhaps 1.5 hours. To do 5 in a day you could take a 15 minute lunch break and one more 15 minute break if you don't have to do anything else other than sit at the bench. But then you wouldn't get 150 per watch..... I find that out of say 10 watches, I end up spending time adjusting the escapement on at least 3, dynamic poise on several as well, there's always chasing down parts from suppliers, there's always surprises. I remembering calculating how much money I could make when I was in school and was like "why isn't everyone doing this, it like free money!!". Then I started buying tools....

Professionals have a huge amount of experience, an absolutely dedicated work space, a lot of specialist equipment, often a decent stock of parts, and much more practice under their belt compared to most hobbyists. The result is that they are able to deal with much more than one watch in a day. For a standard manual wind watch with date for instance you could be looking at as little as 1.5 hours of bench time to strip, inspect, reassemble, and lubricate, provided the inspection doesn't throw up any problems. While one watch is in the cleaner the next is being stripped. So in a 7.5 hour day you could be servicing up to 5 watches provided they just require a basic service. Watch Guy charges £150 for a basic service, so that would be £750 per day, or £3750 for a 5 day week, or £180,000 for a 48 week year (4 weeks holiday). I could survive on that!!!! Obviously this is an entirely unrealistic example, and you have to cover all of your costs and overheads out of that money, but even at only 2 watches a day you're looking at £72k. It comes down to being properly set up, treating it as a job and not a hobby, and of course, having a big enough customer base to bring in the work. That being said a lot of the pros have a waiting list.

I came across this development. http://elec.otago.ac.nz/w/index.php/Timing_Measurement Is this something that can be added to the DIY amplifier circuit?