Help identifying Seiko watches

[SantyC93]

Hi everyone

Really new to this hobby and since I buy often from Yahoo Auction from Japan I figured I'd buy some very cheap Seiko watches to see if I'm able to restore them at leat a little.

I bought 4 watches and I'm having trouble finding informations on some of them, mainly on a weird and very small painted pocket watch.

This are the photos of the watch in question, which is perfectly working but could find zero info about it so anything is welcome:

 

The second watch is another pocket watch, it should be a Seiko Skyliner 6102-0010. I't seems to be working wit no issue but the case is in pretty bad shape so I was wondering what's the best way to restore it at least partially, here are some photos:

 

The third watch should be a Seiko Sportsman, seller told me the date dial was not working but I tried it out and it works no problem, the only thing is the crow is really hard to turn while setting the time, no issue while winding the watch. A couple photos here:

 

The last watch I bought is a Seiko Fairwayin pretty bad shape, on the back is engraved WP30 J13048 FW. The case is in very bad shape and I don't think I'm gonna be able to do much about it but I'd like to at least bring it back to life since I really like the dial. If I try winding the watch sometimes the seconds hand moves for a couple seconds but generally nothing happens, the weird thing is that as soon as i start setting the time the seconds hand and the balance wheel starts moving (only setting counter clock wise, nothing happens when rotating the dial clock wise). As soon as I stop rotating the crown the balance wheel stops. If someone has any idea what the problem could be it would help a lot, I really like this watch. Here are some photos:

 

Sorry for the incredibly long post and thank you to everyone that is going to participate in this post and help me start my journey into this hobby  

If you need more photos or any info just ask and I'll try to answer as soon as possible

[handwound]

Hi Santy,

glad you found your way into the watchmaking community

i can’t say a lot about the two pocket watches, but the crown of the second one doesn’t look right for the case.

 

About the Sportsman:

The friction you feel when you turn the crown in the hand-setting-position probably comes from the canon pinion. It is friction fittet to the staff of the center wheel. When the canon pinion is too tight there is a lot of friction between it and the center wheel staff and you feel that when setting the time. A solution to this would be to widen the inner diameter of the canon pinion fractionally. Maybe cleaning and relubricating both parts can help already.

 

The phenomenon of the fairwayin also comes from the canon pinion: when you turn the crown in the hand-setting-position you also turn the canon pinion. Through the friction you transmit the turning force onto the center wheel and so to the whole geartrain. This force can be enough to make the balance swing, just like a mainspring would do. If you turn the crown in the opposite direction you force the geartrain to turn against its predetermined turning direction what causes the balance wheel to stop.

I hope this was helpful for you   

[jdm]

6 hours ago, SantyC93 said:

I bought 4 watches and I'm having trouble finding informations on some of them, mainly on a weird and very small painted pocket watch.

There is not much information related to quartz or mass produced waches like these. Probably you know already that on Seiko the first four digits or letters of the reference on the caseback identify the movement, use that to search and dowload technical information. The white face watch may have had the caseback replaced. The mechanic watches should go back ti working by servicing them but be advised that if you try yourself as a beginner without knowledge, tools, or experience there are good chances that you you will damage or lose something and the watch will end to be made worse. Unfortunately having this class of watches serviced professionally would cost various times their material value. 

[SantyC93]

Thank you both for the infos  I think I'll try cleaning the canon pinion on the Fairway and the Sportsman since it doesn't seem too difficult and see if the fixes the problem. Should be able to do that without damaging the watches I think   After that I think I'll try polishing the Skyliner to see if I can get it to look a little better. Sadly I don't think I can do much for the Fairway case unless I want to try gold plating it, but I worry it could make it worse.

Edit: Almost forgot, does anyone know a good website in Europe to find glass replacements for the Skyliner, the Sportsman and the Fairway?

Edited January 27, 2022 by SantyC93

[jdm]

24 minutes ago, SantyC93 said:

Edit: Almost forgot, does anyone know a good website in Europe to find glass replacements for the Skyliner, the Sportsman and the Fairway?

There is no secret place for parts, have a read of our pinned topic:

 

[handwound]

Be careful when removing the canon pinion, you can easily tighten it even more or damage the center wheel staff, if you lever it of with tweezers. There are special tools for this job to ensure a safe removal.

before you start working on a watch movement you should learn about the mechanics of a watch to understand what you are doing. I can image that you want to start the work as soon as possible, but some theory before can safe you from damaging something  

[watchweasol]

Hi  The attached gives a good introduction to the anatomy of a watch hope you find it useful

TZIllustratedGlossary.pdf

[SantyC93]

Thank you all for the help and the infos, I watched many videos on watch maintenance but I'll study a bit more before trying to fix these watches. I'll still probably screw up but I'm gonna try to be as carefull as I can

[jdm]

18 minutes ago, SantyC93 said:

Thank you all for the help and the infos, I watched many videos on watch maintenance but I'll study a bit more before trying to fix these watches.

Especially if you're more interested in collecting or light restauration rather than full blow repair I suggest that you check SCWF (thewatchsite.com) that is fully dedicated to Japanese watches discussion.