Seiko 7T42-7A2A: A Nice Nos Chronograph

[GeorgeClarkson]

I am collecting, repairing and mostly interested in Seiko 7Txx and 7Axx series of watches, when it comes to quartz movements, but for the 7Txx I limit my search to the 32 and 36 series, I made a small exception, though, when I saw this 7T42-7A2A:

 

 

The watch was sold as non-working, but I thought I could repair it no problem. after all, I got some spare parts for the 7T32 movement in my spare box, so I gave it a go.

 

Actually, I found out later when it arrived that is was a NOS! And it was not working because it had no battery  :D

So I installed a new fresh battery, but nothing moved...I stripped it down, cleaned it, oiled it, reinstalled the battery and... voila! it lives!

 

 

The chronograph minute counter doubles up as a countdown second/minute counter, when the second crown is pulled out to the first position, just as you'd do to engage the alarm in all Seikos 7Txx series watches. Pressing the top left pusher you set the amount of time, in minutes, to be counted, and pressing the top right pusher starts the countdown.

 

 

I like this watch particularly, since it has basically all the functions one would expect from a modern chronograph: stopwatch and countdown, alarm and dual time. It is a complete time piece. Furthermore, the fact that it is a NOS just makes it perfect for collection.

[Andyclient]

Wow great result , nice one

[bobm12]

Excellent job George!! I've been tempted to try my hand at somre of those. How difficult to find parts?

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[GeorgeClarkson]

Bob, parts are more difficoult than the entire movement to find, actually, but even if you find 1 working movement, it will be rather expensive (well, for seiko standards, that is). You are better off to find a battered donor watch and swap the movement, like everybody does (except me, of course). I tend to try and fix these, even if it is rather hard... remember all the movement parts except some wheels are in plastic, and tend to break really easily.