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Be careful what you wish for!


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As the title of this post hints at, I had been wanting to find a watch that was a challenge. I looked around and found something that I honestly thought was in better shape. It's a 1971 Seiko Lord-Matic with a 5206 automatic. It was clearly stated to be a non runner, but that's such a grey area I took it a grain of salt. There was a bit of a stain around the date window, but all in all it looked pretty clean. It arrived yesterday in the largest box I've ever received a watch in, 10 inches square, very impressive packaging skills and thoughtfulness. At first glance it looked pretty good though the bracelet was tiny, as many of the links had been removed.

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As soon as I got it home I opened the case and instantly regretted my purchase and my desire! I was absolutely aghast with what lay before me!

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Very clearly there has been a very large case of water intrusion many years ago. This had been festering in here for quite some time. The rotor was stuck solid. Thankful the hub was not and it unscrewed very easily. The bearing of the rotor is perfect and, once cleaned, should operate just fine. Under the rotor was not a pretty sight. If children are near, please, have them look away!

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Shockingly, as bad as this looks, that is the worst of it. Only 2 things were damaged from sitting in water, the mainspring arbor...

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And one gear train bridge screw...

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The entire gear train, the day/date mechanism and the keyless works were pristine. There balance is also fine. So,  hopefully, after sourcing a replacement mainspring barrel assembly and another bridge screw and some overdue attention, I'll have this on my wrist. 

One final note, I learned the hard way after eagerly scrubbing the stain on the dial that the varnish used on the dial is not impervious to rubbing alcohol. Now I have to address that, hopefully it's not ruined by my enthusiasm. Will post updates. And if anyone has a spare mainspring barrel complete and at least one bridge screw for a Seiko 5206 please let me know.

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It's amazing what can be done with something that appears to be a lost cause.

Surprising how that barrel arbor got so eaten away. I suppose because it was steel and not an alloy or brass

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20 minutes ago, Jon said:

It's amazing what can be done with something that appears to be a lost cause.

Surprising how that barrel arbor got so eaten away. I suppose because it was steel and not an alloy or brass

Amazing is an understatement. Here is what I got accomplished last night...

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I got the entire motion works back together. It actually runs great. The oscillating weight spins nice and free. The mainspring barrel is only supported on one side, but it really doesn't seem to have any adverse side effects. Everything was mostly surface rust. I scrubbed everything with a bit of peg wood and it all came off. Any pitting was very shallow, just barely under the plating. I dug out a screw from an older junk Seiko I had to replace the missing bridge screw. I'll work on the keyless works and the day/date components tonight.

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Jeez... can't believe that's the same watch! You've done a sterling job on it already. Seiko are pretty indestructible by the looks of this one.

They stopped making these in 1976, so it's got some age to it as well as the water ingress/rust issue. So you still need another barrel arbor, or am I missing something? How would it run without an arbor? Or are you giving it a wiggle to see the balance spin?

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Just now, Jon said:

Jeez... can't believe that's the same watch! You've done a sterling job on it already. Seiko are pretty indestructible by the looks of this one.

They stopped making these in 1976, so it's got some age to it as well as the water ingress/rust issue. So you still need another barrel arbor, or am I missing something? How would it run without an arbor? Or are you giving it a wiggle to see the balance spin?

The winding gear is secured into the arbor on the opposite side. This is the mainplate side. So in a sense, it is supported on one side. The winding gear end of the pinion is ok. There was plenty of material left on the body of the arbor to continue performing its function. The corrosion is just on the pivot end that would be supported by the bridge. Being that this is an automatic movement, there isn't a ton of tension on the mainspring, so there isn't a large load on the components.

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8 minutes ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

The winding gear is secured into the arbor on the opposite side. This is the mainplate side. So in a sense, it is supported on one side. The winding gear end of the pinion is ok. There was plenty of material left on the body of the arbor to continue performing its function. The corrosion is just on the pivot end that would be supported by the bridge. Being that this is an automatic movement, there isn't a ton of tension on the mainspring, so there isn't a large load on the components.

Oh right... that makes sense then. At least you've got a good idea it will work when you replace the barrel arbor and the mainspring, if that's what you intend to do. If you're going to keep it, I would definitely change the spring, for a new one with better amplitude, but that's just what I do for the sake of a tenner. It's a great looking watch! I love the classic 70's look to it. 

Edited by Jon
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Jules Borel has a complete mainspring/barrel for under $40, I'm considering it seriously. Unless one cheaper becomes available sooner, lol. I have a new found appreciation for the 70's vibe. Some things were awful (leisure suits and disco) while others were awesome, (CHiP's and this watch):thumbsu: 

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As of yesterday, the watch is completed and running. I had to back track a bit during assembly, as I forgot to install the hacking "finger". Essentially everything had to come back apart as the hacking finger sits under the gear train. Today I was able to pick up a bracelet extender so it would fit without strangling my wrist. The extender is gold tone, but I can clean that off Monday at work. I attempted to "repair" the dial with an acrylic gloss varnish, but it was sadly a dismal failure! I spent 4 hours very delicately picking the failed acrylic of the dial. In the end, it acted like a super cleaner and made it look significantly better. At the right angle you can just see the discoloration around the date window from my initial cleaning attempt. This watch is significantly smaller than any Seiko I own which is a bit disappointing. Overall I'm very happy with the watch and thrilled I was able to bring it back to life. The only other thing I want for this watch is a new crystal if I can't polish out the deep scratches with diamond paste.

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Gold tone extender, gets the job done, lol.

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For those of you with a sharp eye and a keen memory, what is significant about the serial number? And yes, this is actually the serial number on my watch, lol.

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Excellent work, really enjoyed that read. I'm actually got a LM sat on my bench that was bought as a spare/repair. I'm not petrified of opening it! Haha

Congratulations tho, unbelievable how robust yet sometimes fragile these watches can be.

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99% sure I saw that on eBay a week or two ago. Not sure if I tossed a 404 at it or not though... Better you than me. If that had shown up on my door step, it'd go straight into a drawer for when I'm better capable of taking on such a hot mess!

Edited by spectre6000
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  • 4 weeks later...

This is a really inspirational post! Thank you for sharing your photos and progress reports. I'm not yet brave enough to take on a project like this, but it's really cool to see what is possible.

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12 minutes ago, dpn said:

This is a really inspirational post! Thank you for sharing your photos and progress reports. I'm not yet brave enough to take on a project like this, but it's really cool to see what is possible.

Thank you. It was challenging and intimidating at first, but thankfully it all came together.

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