What can be the reasons for an almost non existent power reserve ?

[NaoFe4]

Hi guys!

Just bought a Seiko 5606-7000 for repair. (I mean, look at this beauty! Photo from the seller)

The watch is working properly when on the wrist (precise aswell) But the power reserve is short as hell (10 minutes)

I'm new to watch repairs, what can be the reasons for this to happen, and is it repairable by a novice ? 

Thanks  

 

[rodabod]

Hard to tell without inspection, but most likely it is barely running in the first place. 

[NaoFe4]

3 minutes ago, rodabod said:

Hard to tell without inspection, but most likely it is barely running in the first place. 

Barely running, what do you mean by that ? 

How come it is precise ? (I'm just asking, I'm really new to this :))

Thanks!

[Bearman]

Have you given it a really good wind? i.e. worn it for a day or gone on a long walk or given it a good shake for 5 mins or so. Being an automatic it'll like being used to keep the power topped up. Can you hear the rotor spinning freely?

Lovely watch by the way.

[NaoFe4]

29 minutes ago, Bearman said:

Have you given it a really good wind? i.e. worn it for a day or gone on a long walk or given it a good shake for 5 mins or so. Being an automatic it'll like being used to keep the power topped up. Can you hear the rotor spinning freely?

Lovely watch by the way.

I'm going to try it as soon as I receive it. (In the beginning of the week)

Thanks for your reply  

[watchweasol]

Hi there are several reasons for shortage of power, the possibles are. M/s not being wound properly worn rotor bearings  not engaging sufficiently, reverser gearing faulty, M/s broken but holding enough then slipping. 

When you receive it check the rotor freedom and try a manual wind using a screwdriver on the barrel and check the duration. don't forget to post picture of the movement.  There are many causes of the problem.  I have attached the tech sheet for you.

1034_Seiko5606A (2).pdf

[NaoFe4]

26 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hi there are several reasons for shortage of power, the possibles are. M/s not being wound properly worn rotor bearings  not engaging sufficiently, reverser gearing faulty, M/s broken but holding enough then slipping. 

When you receive it check the rotor freedom and try a manual wind using a screwdriver on the barrel and check the duration. don't forget to post picture of the movement.  There are many causes of the problem.  I have attached the tech sheet for you.

1034_Seiko5606A (2).pdf 499.33 kB · 2 downloads

Thanks for your detailed answer! I will definetly keep that in mind after trying the easiest things (wearing it a couple of days, manually wind the watch with the crown).
Will give this information to a a watchmaker I know personnally (which is specialized in swiss watches so I don't really know his knowledge of Seikos)

[Marc]

17 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

a manual wind using a screwdriver on the barrel

No need for the screwdriver on the arbor, the 5606 will hand wind very nicely from the crown.

When you've got the watch in hand check the power reserve yourself rather than relying on what the seller has told you, they may be right in their assessment, on the other hand they may not have sufficient understanding of the watch to make a proper judgement.

Assuming they are correct there are many potential causes ranging from faults in the autowinding system, a badly worn, broken, or incorrectly lubricated main spring, power losses in the train, etc. Once you have the watch on the bench there are a few diagnostic tests that you can do to help point in the right direction, particularly if you have a smart phone that can record slow mo video, or better still if you have a timing machine at your disposal.

That is a very nice example by the way, and if in good working order will perform very well indeed. The 5606 Lord Matics are somewhat underrated/overlooked but they are a fine watch. I personally wouldn't recommend that you use this as a learning watch though, if you can get a few really cheap watches under your belt first, then maybe a Seiko 7000 series just to familiarise youself with Seiko (although the autowind set up is different to the 5606) then that would put you in good stead to do justice to the watch that you've got there.

One thing that you should look out for with these though is the day/date function. On later examples Seiko used a date change wheel made from plastic. Over time the plastic shrinks and as a result, splits rendering the date change inoperative. Earlier examples have a steel day/date change wheel which doesn't suffer this problem, but it is worth bearing in mind that it is something that made need changing.

[rodabod]

3 hours ago, NaoFe4 said:

Barely running, what do you mean by that ? 

How come it is precise ? (I'm just asking, I'm really new to this :))

Thanks!

By barely running, I mean that the oscillation of the balance is probably very weak. 

[NaoFe4]

2 hours ago, rodabod said:

By barely running, I mean that the oscillation of the balance is probably very weak. 

Thanks! I'll also check that

[NaoFe4]

3 hours ago, Marc said:

No need for the screwdriver on the arbor, the 5606 will hand wind very nicely from the crown.

When you've got the watch in hand check the power reserve yourself rather than relying on what the seller has told you, they may be right in their assessment, on the other hand they may not have sufficient understanding of the watch to make a proper judgement.

Assuming they are correct there are many potential causes ranging from faults in the autowinding system, a badly worn, broken, or incorrectly lubricated main spring, power losses in the train, etc. Once you have the watch on the bench there are a few diagnostic tests that you can do to help point in the right direction, particularly if you have a smart phone that can record slow mo video, or better still if you have a timing machine at your disposal.

That is a very nice example by the way, and if in good working order will perform very well indeed. The 5606 Lord Matics are somewhat underrated/overlooked but they are a fine watch. I personally wouldn't recommend that you use this as a learning watch though, if you can get a few really cheap watches under your belt first, then maybe a Seiko 7000 series just to familiarise youself with Seiko (although the autowind set up is different to the 5606) then that would put you in good stead to do justice to the watch that you've got there.

One thing that you should look out for with these though is the day/date function. On later examples Seiko used a date change wheel made from plastic. Over time the plastic shrinks and as a result, splits rendering the date change inoperative. Earlier examples have a steel day/date change wheel which doesn't suffer this problem, but it is worth bearing in mind that it is something that made need changing.

Wow! It's my first time posting here and I did not expect a detail answer like this, many thanks.

Regarding the date change wheel I saw that some sellers on eBay sell a metal replacement wheel for that exact movement, I'm willing to change it if I have to do some repairs on the movement.

Hope I can fix it without some expensive watchmaker operation!

[JohnR725]

 

6 hours ago, NaoFe4 said:

I'm new to watch repairs, what can be the reasons for this to happen, and is it repairable by a novice ? 

when doing remote diagnostics like we do on this discussion group  we rely on good  technical  descriptions from the person in the field holding the watch..

new to watch repair means what exactly?

6 hours ago, NaoFe4 said:

(I mean, look at this beauty! Photo from the seller)

The watch is working properly when on the wrist (precise aswell) But the power reserve is short as hell (10 minutes)

watches have a good and a bad characteristic in that there is sealed up. the good of this is it keeps people from playing with the movement it's amazing how much damage pocket watches suffer at the hands of people playing with them. On the other hand it means we don't know what's going on inside?

if you had a timing machine you could wind it up and put it on the timing machine and have a better understanding of what's going on.

One of the reasons I played up the sealed up aspect is these watches were made roughly in the 70s that makes them about 50 years old. The gaskets do not necessarily hold up for 50 years. If you're lucky the watch was sitting in a box or somewhere for 50 years doing nothing. On the other hand if it got out into the field is always possible of moisture can leak in and you can't tell unless you take the back off. Also lubricants they don't last for 50 years either. Simplistically it means the watch could look beautiful on the outside but not look beautiful on the inside not until someone takes the back off and examines it.

4 minutes ago, NaoFe4 said:

Regarding the date change wheel I saw that some sellers on eBay sell a metal replacement wheel for that exact movement, I'm willing to change it if I have to do some repairs on the movement.

Hope I can fix it without some expensive watchmaker operation!

it would probably be best to get the watch and make diagnostics first before jumping in and replacing things. Then if you're going to replace this we might make the wild assumption the watch hasn't ever been serviced and you probably should service the entire watch.

The last line of the quote above is quite interesting?