Hi all

[Trebor]

Hi,

 

Just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Rob and I live in The Bay Area in California.

I am keen to try my hand a repairing a mechanical watch, being an engineer at birth, ;-), I just can’t help myself. I refuse to strip my watch down, but I was given a broken Seiko 5 to play with, it was dropped, shattering the display back getting shards of glass in the movement, stopping it.

So far I have opened the case and removed the movement, just waiting for a few tools before I proceed further with the strip-down, cleaning, oiling and reassembly.

Rob

[Nucejoe]

Welcome to the forum Rob.

 

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

Do you have a watch cleaning machine? If not how will you go about cleaning the movement? 

[watchweasol]

Hi Rob and welcome to the forum.   If you can supply us with pictures of the movement front and back and also the calibre number of the watch (under or near the balance) we may be able to help a bit more.

[Trebor]

Well thanks for the warm welcome.

I was looking at ultrasonic cleaners, but $80 new is a small investment I might not be happy to make right now, for 1 watch. But if I continue maybe. I did see 2nd hand units on fleabay for anywhere from $10. I would want to avoid the cheap plastic looking consumer units, I presume.

Photo’s of the movement? I hadn’t expected such a positive reply actually, so thanks! I’ve attached some photo’s, from and rear of the movement, I also included the “ring” of the watch back without the shattered glass, as I noticed it had a number on it too.

 

 

[jdm]

6 hours ago, Trebor said:

I was looking at ultrasonic cleaners, but $80 new is a small investment I might not be happy to make right now, for 1 watch.

You don't need an U/S to perfectly clean watch parts. There are many other tools, proper lubricants, timegrapher that are needed first.

[Trebor]

6 hours ago, jdm said:

You don't need an U/S to perfectly clean watch parts. There are many other tools, proper lubricants, timegrapher that are needed first.

Thanks, if all else fails I was considering brake cleaner as a degreaser, a water rinse, followed by isopropanol alcohol as a drying agent before air drying.

Yes, I’ve ordered some “generic oil’, I.e Moebius 8000, and 8030, I didn’t want to invest in a full compliment of synthetics, also not knowing what exactly to buy anyway.

 

I was also planding to buy a Timegrapher, one of them generic Chinese ones, if nothing else I can use it to check my other watch when it come back from it’s service.

 

Rob

[watchweasol]

Hi Rob    As jdm says U/sonic at this stage is not really needed as hand cleaning using the brake cleaner, Naptha, Isopropyl,  method will work well enough. The Tgrapher oils and appropriate tools, tweezers, loupes ,screwdrivers are the first items on the list.

What you have there is a seiko 7S26C, a good solid movement.  I Have attached the tech sheet  and the user manual for the watch.

7S26C, 7S36C.pdf 7S26 seiko user manual.pdf

[jdm]

1 hour ago, Trebor said:

Thanks, if all else fails I was considering brake cleaner as a degreaser, a water rinse, followed by isopropanol alcohol as a drying agent before air drying.

Personally I think petroleum ether (refned naptha) is better, and is an horological product.

1 hour ago, Trebor said:

Yes, I’ve ordered some “generic oil’, I.e Moebius 8000, and 8030, I didn’t want to invest in a full compliment of synthetics, also not knowing what exactly to buy anyway.

We have ample discussions on the subject. When bought in 5cc quantity there is nor much price difference to synthetic, which is to be preferred. I recommend that you get 9010, 9514, and HP-1300. You will also nee a graphite-loaded for the Seiko lever pawls. 

[Trebor]

Wow, thanks a lot for the tech sheet, I was looking for something like that online.

I’ll source some naphtha, and look into the oils you recommend, thanks for that too.

I realize this isn’t exactly a high end time piece, but still a nice piece to play with and practice on.

Rob

[Trebor]

Thanks for all the advise so far.

I’m just pricing up oils...

Graphite loaded oils, I have some graphite powder for locks, it seems pretty fine, can I mix this with one of the heavier weight oils?

9514, is that a Moebius oil or some other brand/ I’m not able to find it.

I’m referencing this sheet, it’s possible it’s not complete? I also looked on the Moebius site but couldn’t find it. I’ll do a little more googling.

Moebius Technical Data Chart

Rob

 

 

[watchweasol]

Hi Rob    I would not mix the graphite with the oil , might work in locks etc but watches a different matter. The graphite based oils use specific base oils to stop the graphite living in suspension in the mix... 

Tooo riskey  

[jdm]

The graphite grease is 9301, alternative to Seiko S-6, which is also available from Cousins UK. 

And the other I had misspelled is 9415. special for pallet stones. One can of course use 9010 for that and only lose a bit of amplitude. 

All that and much more is well covered on

 

[Trebor]

Thanks JDM, I’ve started reading the oils thread. I’ve stripped down my Seiko 5, my dad thought splintered glass was jamming up the works, I found out the real reason it’s not running. It looks like the drop did more damage than first thought.

The following item is called a balance staff, is it? Is this replaceable on this movement? It looks like a greater challenge for a first timer than I first thought! ;-)

[CaptCalvin]

Must've been quite the shock to snap the balance staff in half like that. Who knows what else could be damaged. Almost anything is replaceable on a watch with enough effort. But imo the effort in this case is far from worth the cost of just replacing the whole balance complete, or even the entire movement. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by CaptCalvin

[Trebor]

Thanks, that’s kinda the conclusion I was coming too as well with some googling of part no’s...

I might try source a replacement balance wheel and hair spring though, as I’m not doing this for anything other than the fun of the challenge.

Rob

[Klassiker]

That's what I would do, to satisfy my curiosity. If nothing else is damaged you'll have your first success and a nice watch in good condition. If there is more damage you keep on learning.

[jdm]

56 minutes ago, Trebor said:

I might try source a replacement balance wheel and hair spring though,

That is called "balance complete". Check topic below about the availability of cheap Chinese ones Vs. genuine.
However the real issue for a beginner is fitting the end stud to the arm without damage, we have many discussions on the subject.
Being straightforward, that aspect added to all other of service make the learning curve a bit too steep, I understand that you want the challenge but  considered that with less than $30 you can get a nice NH36 wich adds manual winding and hacking seconds, I'd recommend you go that route. You will find that even casing work when done to perfection is an engaging task, and keep the spare mov't for further relaxed exercise.