Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

I've just bought a Seiko chronograph that requires a few things to get it up and running. I will strip the movement and give it a good clean and lube to see if I can get it firing on all cylinders. A new stem is required, but unfortunately they seem in the same storage location as hens teeth; the hunt is on!

post-124-0-20432800-1399984199_thumb.jpg

post-124-0-97208600-1399984213_thumb.jpg

post-124-0-90609500-1399984229.jpg

Edited by Geo
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Good luck with this one, Geo - I can see the chrono mechanism lurking underneath  the rotor - just daring you to get at it! :devil:

Edited by WillFly
  • Like 1
Posted

I always wanted one when they were ultra cool back in 1970 something or other,  but the usual story,  never had sufficient funds,  Now I can have one the need is not so pressing.  That looks like a nice example and they still look cool,  whatever cool means.

 

There are a couple of videos on YouTube about the winding system, in case you are not aware of them,  if you search for seiko magic lever system,  it should find them.

Posted

Thanks for your comments Roger, like you I fancied one back then. I remember wandering through the Spanish resorts with shops full of the things.

Regarding the autowind mechanism, I have serviced a couple of non-chronograph Seikos, so that bit won't be an issue. It's the chrono I want to get my teeth into because it is different from the ones I have been working on.

An interesting aside, I just found out that this was the first type of automatic chronograph in space!

Posted

Try schillachi61 on fleabay, good bloke who stocks lots of Seiko parts. He has a stem listed on fleabay Ireland but not on the UK site as far as I can see. Definitely worth contacting.

Posted

Try schillachi61 on fleabay, good bloke who stocks lots of Seiko parts. He has a stem listed on fleabay Ireland but not on the UK site as far as I can see. Definitely worth contacting.

Many thanks for the heads up, I really appreciate it. I'll check it out tonight.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

A wee update.

I've had to get a few bits for this one; Crown, stem, balance assembly, movement retaining ring, pusher seals and springs, back gasket and bracelet.

I managed to get a new crown and stem, but I could not get one with the gear for turning the inboard bezel. Hopefully I'll pick one up in the future. When I fitted these I discovered a problem with the quickset day and date mechanism. It turned out to be an easy fix, it was diagnosing the problem that was the tricky bit. It turned out to be a distorted leaf spring, so a simple tweet with pliers sorted it.

Having sorted that, I took a look at the now running balance assembly and discovered that someone had glued the end of the spring into the cock. I've managed to buy a good second hand one for £6.00 so I'm well pleased.

Update to come!

Posted

Balance assembly arrived today. I've tried it in the watch and it's running 12 secs fast with a beat error of 2.3ms. I'm well chuffed with that because I still have to service the movement and make adjustments.

Well I've had to order a second crown..........damn! I dropped the one I just bought and it has evaporated, even on my white carpet. What amazes me is it the first thing that I have not been able to find, and I've lost and found parts that are so small they would hardly irritate you eye if it popped in. A new one has been ordered, so you can guarantee the original will turn up now.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Thumbs up on your project!

 

Just sharing...

 

Seiko 6139 aka "Pogue" 

Seiko's calibre 6139, also introduced in 1969 displayed a combination of column wheel and vertical clutch. The clutch, the vertical variety is the chronograph component that guarantees the chronograph second hand does not flutter when activated. It prevents wear on the column wheel and ensures accuracy by aiding in maintaining balance amplitude. The really innovative thing about the Seiko calibre is a proprietary innovation: a 3-pronged hammer component called the magic lever that efficiently saves room and components. According to seiko it also allows all three chronographs hands to be reset in perfect unison

 

post-235-0-23439800-1402492607_thumb.jpg

Posted

Thumbs up on your project

Thank you for that and welcome to the forum Jay.

I've been holding up completion of this project because I require the correct stem and gear assembly. If I don't find one soon, I'll have to compromise and build it without the inner bezel being capable of rotating. :-(

Posted

Thank you for that and welcome to the forum Jay.

I've been holding up completion of this project because I require the correct stem and gear assembly. If I don't find one soon, I'll have to compromise and build it without the inner bezel being capable of rotating. :-(

Where do you normally source your parts from?

Posted

He uses Andy when communicating by email, so he may well be the same person, I just assumed that he resided in UK. His speed of supply, cost of parts and communication are exemplary.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

This company have come up trumps many times for me when looking for balance staffs & stems. Takes a while for delivery as I think they are based in Holland 

 

 

 

http://www.balancestaffs.com

Many thanks for that, I really appreciate it!

Posted

Geo, that's a beautiful watch/project! What movement is it? I can't read it from the picture. Maybe I can help if I know it.

Posted

Hi Bob, the movement is a 6139B and the watch is designated Seiko 6139-6002. It would be great if you could help. :-)

I'm in currently renovating my kitchen, so it will be a while before I get back to watch projects. :-(

  • 2 months later...
Posted

7629d3ae-b28c-4060-a30c-bf6e58a963b1.jpg

Finished at last. It required a lot more than I originally thought.

1) Stem with spring, bezel gear and crown. Many thanks to Roger "Autowind" for supplying this.

2) Pusher springs. The springs were missing.

3) Balance assembly and bridge. The stud was broken off the hairspring making timing impossible.

4) Delecate repair to bezel teeth. Damaged at some pint due to stem gear not engaging properly.

5) Required movement retaining ring and spring. It had been abused at some time and was cracked.

6) Replaced minute counter hand. A replacement had been fitted but was the wrong shape.

7) Replaced and lubricated all seals.

8) Totaly re-finished case.

9) Fitted new replacement strap.

10 Enjoying wearing it!

There is slight abrasion to the coloured outer bezel, I may replace it at a later date.

  • Like 2
Posted

Sooo shiny! I can't barely look at the picture, my eyes hurt! :)

 

Excellent work! This has been quite a project Geo, congratulations on a professional watchmaking achievement!

  • Like 1
Posted

Now that is a great watch!  I am scared to try servicing a chronograph for fear that it will end up as a pile of plates, screws, levers and wheels. Seems like you already ahead of the game if a new balance got it running...even if its fast, the overhaul should remedy that! Please post a step by step with photos when you get around to the disassembly so that I can get a sense of whether it is within my skill set? Thanks Geo!!

 

JC

Posted

By ecky thump thats a 1st. class restoration,  looks like new 10/10.

Thanks for that Roger, your old Seiko didn't die in vain. :-)

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • After another long hiatus (while waiting for truing calipers to arrive), I’ve made some more progress. TRUING IN THE FLAT I was able to use the calipers I purchased to true the wheel in the flat. There’s still a very slight eccentricity in the round, but I’m going to leave it as is. It doesn’t wobble any more and I’m happy with that. Thanks for the tool recommendation @mbwatch. It worked well, though I must say it takes a delicate touch to get the balance between the calipers. Also, my calipers effectively have four different variations based on the orientation of the arms (2 sides, 2 orientations each). Some are more tapered than others, though to what end, I can’t quite tell. My first thought was that flipping them over yields arms that can be used for poising. They are K&D horizontal calipers, btw. OSCILLATION TEST @nevenbekriev @JohnR725 After truing the wheel in the flat, I carefully remounted the hairspring and did your oscillation test. Balance wheel mounted to balance cock, no pallet fork, rotate balance wheel 180 degrees, let it go, and time+count the oscillations. Results as follows for dial down orientation: Duration: 1m 15sec (to full stop) # of oscillations: About 125, though the amplitude of the oscillations decreased significantly, as one might expect I should redo the test in at least two other orientations…Forgot to do that. 🙂  In general, it’s safe to say this watch has a pretty low amplitude, likely for a variety of reasons. I haven’t oiled the balance jewels FWIW…I should probably do that, but I really don’t want to keep disassembling and reassembling the balance. Is it possible to oil those jewels (top and bottom) by just removing the capstones and putting in a tiny amount of oil, with balance in place? I can see how having the pivot in the jewel hole could change how capillary action works, and thus might pull more oil in than desired. However, those capillary forces will be in effect anyway once the balance is inserted. PRACTICE MOVEMENTS @JohnR725 I agree with your sentiment about using practice movements wholeheartedly, and I’ve done that to some degree. The watch I’m currently repairing is for a friend, and she was willing to have me treat it as a “learn-by-doing experience.” With that said,, I probably should have purchased a few more “beaters” before getting to something where I don’t want to muck things up. I’ve still got a couple of those on the bench that I used as donors, and I’ll try to rehabilitate them.
    • Hi, this is the first place I found when looking for advice so I hope someone could advise me.  Im completely new to touching watches but I’ve always wondered how they work.  I’ve bought a cheap movement, an ETA replica to take apart and rebuild.  Im thinking I’ll need some screwdrivers, tweezers, movement holder and a loop? My goal is just to have a go first and see if I enjoy it enough before buying more tools.  Do I buy cheap tools for now and get better quality tools later if I enjoy it like I think I will? or will the cheap tools be a pain and take some of the fun out of it?  With quality tools being relatively expensive I’m unsure what to buy.    Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
    • Yeah I have seen 44-56 documented for Elgin 18 size elsewhere. I have the style of gauge that's like a set of feeler gauges and I never noticed before today it is faintly stamped "Elgin". Pictured is the way I have been measuring. I am going to go to a larger jewel than the 42 that had been in there. I recently won an auction on a big set of Fitrite jewels all in the little bottles, to discover that the what's actually in the bottles bears no relation to the chart of sizes printed on the box. In most cases it seems to be all mixed so in fact I have about 24 little bottles and thousands of assorted jewels of all diameters and lengths, which is better than nothing. But since I don't have a micrometer with a table, measuring for the exact diameter will be a big job. Instead I will test a lot of them in the fork slot the same way I measure with the gauge. But this is still the next thing. I have to get the escapement to unlock first.
    • it would be nice to have the exact model of the watch the or a picture so we can see exactly what you're talking about. this is because the definition of Swiss watch could be a variety of things and it be helpful if we could see exactly the watch your dealing with then in professional watch repair at least some professionals they do pre-cleaned watches. In other words the hands and dial come off and the entire movement assembled goes through a cleaning machine sometimes I think a shorter bath perhaps so everything is nice and clean for disassembly makes it easier to look for problems. Then other professionals don't like pre-cleaning because it basically obliterates the scene of the crime. Especially when dealing with vintage watches where you're looking for metal filings and problems that may visually go away with cleaning. Then usually super sticky lubrication isn't really a problem for disassembly and typically shouldn't be a problem on a pallet fork bridge because there shouldn't be any lubrication on the bridge at all as you typically do not oil the pallet fork pivots.  
    • A few things you should find out before you can mske a decision of what to do. As Richard said, what is the crown and all of the crown components made of . Then also the stem .  The crown looks to have a steel washer that retains a gasket. So be careful with what chemicals you use to dissolve any stem adhesives or the use of heat. You might swell or melt the gasket unless you are prepared to change that also . The steel washer maybe reactive to alum. Something I've just used to dissolve a broken screw from a plate. First drilled out the centre of the screw with a 0.5mm carbide . Dipped only the section that held the broken screw in Rustins rust remover. This is 40 % phosphoric acid. 3 days and the screw remains were completely dissolved, no trace of steel in the brass threads. A black puddle left in the solution.
×
×
  • Create New...