Hello! Seiko Bell-matic 1968 4006-7020 27 jewel model - GREAT condition

[Georg]

Hello to all Watch Repair Talk users,

For everyone who has seen my previous "welcome" post, apolagies for posting about this topic again. But here goes.

I have a 1968 4006 7020 Seiko Bell-matic which is in a really nice condition for its age. Im quite interested in fixing this up as it has been a family piece for quite a while but dont know how much it would be or where to start. I live in Australia but dont mind to send it off overseas for repair. Obviously, i would like to fix this for as cheap as possible but firstly i need to find out a rough price for the service.

Some simple aspects such as polishing of the case and glass and gasket changes i'll be able to perform myself, but the service of the movement and controls will need to be done professionally. Please find bellow some images of the current condition of the watch.

If anyone would like to contact me privately, feel free to do so via my instagram : @whildparacord or @_grandpene or reply to this Question via this forum. Thanks!

IMG_2065.HEIC IMG_2067.HEIC IMG_2068.HEIC IMG_2069.HEIC IMG_2070.HEIC

[aac58]

There's a very reputable Seiko specialist in Australia. Look for Vintage Time Australia (VTA)

 

[JohnR725]

I am slightly confused? Strangely enough I had seen your introduction which didn't have any replies which is why at least at the time it didn't? Which is why I assumed your posting your question here which yes is the appropriate place to  ask watch repair questions. This is because people like me who look at the watch repair section won't notice repair questions other places. Then other common things people do which causes them not to typically get answers is to post in either a completed question or in the middle of an existing question posting something they perceived to be similar. Personally I think each watch is unique and it deserves its own unique discussion.

Then my confusion is I see you got an answer in the introduction section found at this link here for those that are curious what the answer was

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/17574-new-user-hello-from-australia-on-the-topic-of-seiko-bellmatics/?tab=comments#comment-151336

Also for future reference if you would like your pictures to be seen attached them as a JPEG. There is a website found at the link below that will do the conversion for you then you can upload the JPEG's which I've done for you this time just because I was curious. But typically people won't do that you have to do a little work to get answers for your questions.

 

4 hours ago, Georg said:

family piece for quite a while

 

4 hours ago, Georg said:

Obviously, i would like to fix this for as cheap as possible but firstly i need to find out a rough price for the service.

Normally with family pieces they have sentimental value or are valuable to the family especially if somebody points this out like you have. Then you would like it fixed as cheap as possible this is always a interesting term because cheap doesn't always translate into good. Just as unfortunately expensive does not always translate into good either unfortunately?

4 hours ago, Georg said:

Some simple aspects such as polishing of the case and glass and gasket changes i'll be able to perform myself, but the service of the movement and controls will need to be done professionally. Please find bellow some images of the current condition of the watch.

Normally if you going to do some of the work yourself you're going to have to find a watchmaker to work with. Because typically watchmakers don't like to do a partial repair. In other words if the watchmaker repairs the movement and UK set up and it doesn't  function correctly watchmaker may not honor any sort of warranty because they did not do the complete job. So this is where if you can find somebody locally to work with they might do it perhaps

Then as far as polishing the case goes? One of the big trends when you're doing restoration work is to refinish the case the way it once looked which is considerably different then polishing a case to make it look shiny. This is where if you can find a catalog photograph of the original look at the watch you could see what it looks like. Then polishing crystals it depends on what the crystals made of. Plastic crystals you can polish but if that's a glass crystal it's best to replace it.

Now what we need access to and conveniently I don't have one in my hand I think there's still buried in the attic someplace there might be one available for download a free look which is the Seiko casing book. So if you have the casing book you can look up your case number and things like the crystal the crowns should all be in their. On the other hand you could Google the case number and find something like this link

https://www.watchmaterial.com/seiko-bellmatic-watch-crystal-with-tension-ring-silver/

So we would good news here your crystal looks like it's plastic which means you could polish it but personally I just replace it it would look better. Then it looks like all the rest the case numbers in the way they word  yet that probably all of their alarm watches of this type use the same case parts perhaps different colors because they also one of these with a gold ring. But if they're all using the same case parts of make it a lot easier to find.

 

 

 

[Georg]

Thank you for that. To not repeat myself twice, i am going to post some progress pictures of what i have done so far in the same channel that you saw this.

[Nucejoe]

A culprit on bellmatic is that bell set stem falls off and sometimes go unnoticed as it falls.

I must have about fifteen bellmatic in my collection and about 10 to restore, Sorry I am not a jobber and work on my own watches only to make sure no corner is cut.

Shipping abroad specially in covid days is unfavourable, but if it came down to shipping abroad, I can introduce you to this now a friend of mine here with life time experience working on seiko, I'll be the interpreter as he doesn't understand English.

The repair cost here would be about 25 to 35 percent of rates in Europe and he dose have good (NOS) of parts plus used parts and gurantees his work for a year.

I think your post and my reply to it, might not be unquestionable so far as forum policies. 

Regs    

Joe

[Georg]

1 hour ago, Nucejoe said:

A culprit on bellmatic is that bell set stem falls off and sometimes go unnoticed as it falls.

I must have about fifteen bellmatic in my collection and about 10 to restore, Sorry I am not a jobber and work on my own watches only to make sure no corner is cut.

Shipping abroad specially in covid days is unfavourable, but if it came down to shipping abroad, I can introduce you to this now a friend of mine here with life time experience working on seiko, I'll be the interpreter as he doesn't understand English.

The repair cost here would be about 25 to 35 percent of rates in Europe and he dose have good (NOS) of parts plus used parts and gurantees his work for a year.

I think your post and my reply to it, might not be unquestionable so far as forum policies. 

Regs    

Joe

Hi Joe, please pass this part request list onto him. I have most of it under control but am trying to source some parts for the watch. See the list bellow:

the winding stem, the push button axel (snapped), the push button itself (with the snapped axel in it), the caseback, crown and push button gaskets, the case spring and of course the crystal.

[Georg]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:16 PM, aac58 said:

There's a very reputable Seiko specialist in Australia. Look for Vintage Time Australia (VTA)

 

Yes ive checked them out. I have sent them a message now. THank you for your help!

[Georg]

Hello to you all once again,

Since my last post, i have taken the Seiko 4006-7020 Bellmatic movement out of its case and have realigned the hands (yes perhaps a bad move on behalf of an amateur like me) and ever since, the movement has been ticking away with NO ISSUES! (yay)

Since then, i have also made a list of all the parts that i will require to fix this on my own. Please find it bellow:

winding stem, push button axel, push button, gaskets for the caseback, crown and push button, the case spring and of course the crystal itself. I also have a few questions regarding the crystal. The original crystal was made of a plexiglass material and has completely worn out and deteriorated. My thoughts, were to perhaps replace it with a sapphire or a hardlex mineral glass. These would ofcourse have to fit the Seiko 7020 case but i am not sure how to determine if they would be suitable for my piece.

I live in Australia so if anyone knows where i can source the parts, locally or not, please let me know. See attached bellow some images (in JPEG) excuse the lack of containment of the movement, but I have stored it in an iphone box. The white gloves used are probably not the best for this, and i am aware of the probable multitude of dust and other particles that have entered the watch by now, which i will hopefully be able to clean out.

Thank you to everyone for showing an interest and helping me out on my journey. Special thanks to user JohnR725, a rightfully distinguished user for being very much interested in my piece and in helping me out!

Please let me know if your suggestions and if you have these parts. You can reply to this message or email me directly via email: [email protected] 

[Georg]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:18 PM, JohnR725 said:

I am slightly confused? Strangely enough I had seen your introduction which didn't have any replies which is why at least at the time it didn't? Which is why I assumed your posting your question here which yes is the appropriate place to  ask watch repair questions. This is because people like me who look at the watch repair section won't notice repair questions other places. Then other common things people do which causes them not to typically get answers is to post in either a completed question or in the middle of an existing question posting something they perceived to be similar. Personally I think each watch is unique and it deserves its own unique discussion.

Then my confusion is I see you got an answer in the introduction section found at this link here for those that are curious what the answer was

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/17574-new-user-hello-from-australia-on-the-topic-of-seiko-bellmatics/?tab=comments#comment-151336

Also for future reference if you would like your pictures to be seen attached them as a JPEG. There is a website found at the link below that will do the conversion for you then you can upload the JPEG's which I've done for you this time just because I was curious. But typically people won't do that you have to do a little work to get answers for your questions.

 

 

Normally with family pieces they have sentimental value or are valuable to the family especially if somebody points this out like you have. Then you would like it fixed as cheap as possible this is always a interesting term because cheap doesn't always translate into good. Just as unfortunately expensive does not always translate into good either unfortunately?

Normally if you going to do some of the work yourself you're going to have to find a watchmaker to work with. Because typically watchmakers don't like to do a partial repair. In other words if the watchmaker repairs the movement and UK set up and it doesn't  function correctly watchmaker may not honor any sort of warranty because they did not do the complete job. So this is where if you can find somebody locally to work with they might do it perhaps

Then as far as polishing the case goes? One of the big trends when you're doing restoration work is to refinish the case the way it once looked which is considerably different then polishing a case to make it look shiny. This is where if you can find a catalog photograph of the original look at the watch you could see what it looks like. Then polishing crystals it depends on what the crystals made of. Plastic crystals you can polish but if that's a glass crystal it's best to replace it.

Now what we need access to and conveniently I don't have one in my hand I think there's still buried in the attic someplace there might be one available for download a free look which is the Seiko casing book. So if you have the casing book you can look up your case number and things like the crystal the crowns should all be in their. On the other hand you could Google the case number and find something like this link

https://www.watchmaterial.com/seiko-bellmatic-watch-crystal-with-tension-ring-silver/

So we would good news here your crystal looks like it's plastic which means you could polish it but personally I just replace it it would look better. Then it looks like all the rest the case numbers in the way they word  yet that probably all of their alarm watches of this type use the same case parts perhaps different colors because they also one of these with a gold ring. But if they're all using the same case parts of make it a lot easier to find.

 

 

 

Hello good sir. Thank you for making these images accessible to the rest of the forum, really appreciate that! The sentimental value perhaps doesnt outweight mine and my fathers desire to fix this for a reason of, just because. I understand that sourcing certain components (especially for the movement) can sometimes be costly especially if purchasing from very reputable dealers. Most of the components i have found are genuine seiko parts from either Thailand, USA or the UK, all of which have varying prices depending on the seller. 

Since I have taken the watch apart, i have decided to go through with the restoration by myself, as only elementary components such as the gaskets, push button and its axel, the winding stem, the case spring and of course the crystal need to be replaced. Both the push button and axel were easily removed and i believe that i am able to easily replace these. The only problem that might occur is the setting of the crystal, which if not done by me, will have to be done by a local mall watch repair shop.

I have checked out the shop that you had suggested earlier, and the purchase of the parts will either have to be from there, or an eBay seller. I have made another post in the same channel, please check it out to further see my progress. I appreciate your interest and knowledge, perhaps you might have more things to share once you see what i just posted.

Kind Regards

[Nucejoe]

 I use clean transparent plastic bag as gloves dispite which you still need a puffer to blow the movement clean of tiny hair and dust, easy on hairspring cuz even air might mess up the coil. Also either drop a piece of the plastic bag on hands and dial when you are working on or removing hands.

The crystal is domed so to provide space for hands, I have not seen a domed saphire.

[jdm]

4 minutes ago, Nucejoe said:

I have not seen a domed saphire.

There are, but available in limited sizes and expensive 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001298078099.html