Help Needed: Restoring a Unique Painted Crystal on a Vintage Seiko 5 7009-316A / omega speedmaster mark IV

[Malachite]

Hi everyone !

I recently acquired a vintage Seiko 5 7009-316A, which I’ve restored and serviced, including the restoration and repainting of the hands.This watch is quite unique in my opinion, as it features a bezel design painted directly onto the crystal.

 

Unfortunately, during the restoration process, the beautiful cream-patinated crystal cracked because it was too old...It was a real challenge to source an original Seiko replacement crystal, but I finally managed to find one. However, I feel like the watch has lost some of its charm without that gorgeous aged patina on the painted design, and now it's just plain white..

 

To try to replicate the original look, I recreated the design exactly as it was (even replicating the original font by hand!) using Adobe Illustrator. I then turned the design into a sticker. One of the biggest challenges was that the sticker needed to adhere to the inside of the crystal, not the outside. This meant the adhesive side had to be on the colored surface. I created a mirrored transparent sticker, applied it to the underside of the crystal, and the result looked promising—at first.

 

Sadly, after just a few days, the sticker started peeling off, and I realized this solution wasn’t viable long-term.

 

I’m now at a loss for how to properly recreate the painted crystal. I’d love to know how original painted crystals like those on the Seiko 7009-316A are manufactured. For example, similar designs can be seen on the Omega Speedmaster Mark IV, which has a tachymeter painted on the crystal.

 

If anyone has experience with this or knows of any professional methods to reproduce this type of crystal, I’d greatly appreciate your advice!

 

Thanks in advance!

[tomh207]

I would think that pad printing would be used for this

 

Tom

[Malachite]

1 minute ago, tomh207 said:

I would think that pad printing would be used for this

 

Tom

And do you know someone or a company that could do it for me ? I already have the design and the crystal without any paint on it.

[tomh207]

I don’t know where in the world you are and pretty much any dial restoration company would be able to do it. Something that may be worth checking is if you have a local company which personalises pens etc. for promotions, same process. I would expect the cliche engraving/etching to be somewhere around $100 then the printing cost.

 

Tom

[AndyGSi]

Isn't that just a Dial/Chapter Ring that's probably been transferred to the lens over time.

Here's an example from another Seiko.

Edit

Sorry, it is printed on the Crystal but the only one's I can find are the black version.

Have you considered just printing the label normally and sticking it on the ring?

 

38 minutes ago, Malachite said:

It was a real challenge to source an original Seiko replacement crystal, but I finally managed to find one.

Whatever you think you found it isn't an original for this watch.

Edited January 7 by AndyGSi

[Malachite]

2 hours ago, AndyGSi said:

Have you considered just printing the label normally and sticking it on the ring?

That's a good idea actually, but I'll need to make it thicker because there is a little gap between the crystal and the inner bezel 

 

2 hours ago, AndyGSi said:

Whatever you think you found it isn't an original for this watch

Well I might be wrong but I think it is 

I looked the part number according to my model (https://www.theseikoguy.com/watches/7009-316a/#google_vignette)

 

And in white the crystal number is 305W17LM02

And I found this 

Do you think it's not original ?

[AndyGSi]

1 hour ago, Malachite said:

Do you think it's not original ?

Sorry, yes that is the original and hadn't realised from your original post that you'd got the
painted crystal and then presumably removed the paint and ended up with a blank crystal .

Or have you still got this and just got a blank one for your printing exercise?

[Malachite]

7 hours ago, AndyGSi said:

Sorry, yes that is the original and hadn't realised from your original post that you'd got the
painted crystal and then presumably removed the paint and ended up with a blank crystal .

Or have you still got this and just got a blank one for your printing exercise?

I still have the original one, and a blank one for trying to reproduce the one I broke initially