Seiko 6349A (23J) Movement Ring

[DanteFalcioni]

I recently purchased what I call a “Franken-watch” Seiko from a seller on eBay from India. As I’m sure many of you know by now there are hundreds of listings (see screenshot below) for cheap Seiko watches with weird dials, most likely repainted. They aren’t fully “fake” as most of them come with genuine Seiko movements. My Retro Watches has a good video where he looks at a watch he bought from a dealer similar to this if you’re curious, see link below.

https://youtu.be/G_m4b3OBEMI

Anyways I thought one of these cheap weird watches would be a fun one to play around with as my first project, and I paid $20CAD for mine which I thought to be good especially if the movement inside was genuine Seiko. First problem I noticed was the bracelet (which was cheap and terrible) was held in by shoulder-less spring bars which would be fine if the lugs had holes but they do not so I had to saw the bracelet off so I could put another one on (see wreckage below). There’s more but I won’t bore you too much..

MY MAIN PROBLEM:

The watch came with a Seiko 6349A (23J) movement which is a variation of the Seiko 6309 (17J) movement. The movement was held into the case only by the crown (see pictures below) and didn’t have a movement ring. As I understand this is bad because the movement isn’t securely held in the case by anything. I’ve tried to find one on eBay but I’ve had no luck, and I can’t find anywhere that has the ring size so I can’t try and find an aftermarket one. 
 

Does anyone know where I can get one of these movement holder rings? Is it even possible to get one off of CousinsUK or Esslinger or somewhere? Do any of you have one I could buy? I am very stuck and any help is greatly appreciated!

[bklake]

The white(ish) plastic part is the movement ring.  It's there. 

Don't be surprised if it turns out to be a 6309 with a 6349 marked bridge.  I bought several of those watches trying to get a real 6349.  The 6349 has one jewel for the barrel as well as a few Diafix jewels for the train.  You have to take if mostly apart to see for sure.

If that is your movement, on the surface it looks better than any one I ever got. 

[DanteFalcioni]

6 minutes ago, bklake said:

The white(ish) plastic part is the movement ring.  It's there. 

Don't be surprised if it turns out to be a 6309 with a 6349 marked bridge.  I bought several of those watches trying to get a real 6349.  The 6349 has one jewel for the barrel as well as a few Diafix jewels for the train.  You have to take if mostly apart to see for sure.

If that is your movement, on the surface it looks better than any one I ever got. 

Thanks for the swift reply!
I thought there was another ring that fits on top after you case the movement, before you put the back on (see photo below, this is from google images). I’m assuming since the 6309 was used for multiple kinds of watches including divers that there was variations to how it was cased? It just looks a bit empty around the edge and I was worried the crown was the only thing holding the movement in place.

I guess that leads me to another question: is there supposed to be an o-ring gasket in that empty space? The watch didn’t come with a gasket at all so I ordered one that fits around the case back like most other watches I’ve seen, I’m assuming that was correct.

I was definitely surprised at the condition when I got it, and I don’t have a timegrapher yet but it seemed to be keeping good time. I guess I’ll have to take it all apart to find out if it’s 17 or 23 jewels!

[bklake]

I think what you see in that google picture is a movement holder for working on the movement.  A caliber specific movement holder and very nice. 

It is easy to find Seiko part numbers in the Jules Borel database. http://cgi.julesborel.com/

type in CS#6349-xxxx replace the x's with the number on you case back.  The problem is, the Mumbai specials don't always have the correct case back.  The crafty devils at Seiko code their part numbers so you can derive the size and shape of the gasket from the number.  Many of the dress watches use a flat gasket. 

Now that I think about it, you may only have to take off the winding framework and ratchet wheel to see it it is a real 6349.  The barrel bridge will have a jewel in it if it is a 6349.  Sadly it is the main plate that wears worst at the barrel arbor.  Something is better than nothing I guess.  The 6309 and 6319 use a bushing on this bridge.  I would follow the tech guide and remove parts in the order given to get to this point.  These parts are step 25-26 and step 38-39 of 49 steps total.  May as well strip it down completely.  I have done just the steps 25-26 and 38-39 to get a peak at the jewel or lack of.  Nothing else is in the way. There is a nice tech guide, in color, on the internet.  It is much clearer than the grainy scan most commonly available.  Search for "Seiko Technical Guide hires and colors".  It may be here but I have it saved on my computer so I never looked.