Jump to content

Repairer required

SliderAl

By SliderAl
in Introduce Yourself Here

 Share

Recommended Posts

SliderAl New Member

SliderAl

Posted
Posted

Greetings WRT members! I am a new member, and I have taken up watch repairing very recently. I am, however very inexperienced!   

I live in Wirral, which is on Merseyside in the North West of England. I have a Seiko 5 Automatic which will only run if it is flat on its back! when picked up and put on my wrist, it runs for maybe 5 seconds and stops. I'll remove the watch, give it a small shake and put it down and it will run quite happily until the spring runs down. This is usually about 12-20 hours. I am reluctant to strip the watch myself, as I'm inexperienced. 

Would cleaning the movement in alcohol do more harm than good? Should I give it to a watchsmith for attention?  I would appreciate any comments from more experienced members. 

Chopin Super WRT Addict

Chopin

Posted
Posted (edited)

Recently had an ETA automatic watch with the same "issue". I cleaned it, serviced it and it works like a charm.

Seiko 5s are cheap so it depends. You can get a new one, take it to a watchmaker or try to "fix" it yourself although if you have no tools or experience I wouldn't advise it. Unless you plan on using it for training and start a watchmaking hobby or even a career.

PS: You're supposed to strip the movement and clean the parts with an ultrasonic cleaner or by hand, one by one, not drop it into a bath of various liquids.

Edited by Chopin
  • Like 1
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, SliderAl said:

Would cleaning the movement in alcohol do more harm than good? Should I give it to a watchsmith for attention?  I would appreciate any comments from more experienced members. 

I suspect you're thinking about dipping the entire mov.t in alcohol, that won't fix anything and will make things worse. Unfortunately it takes time and money to learn how to repair watches. Any decent watchmaker will ask more money than the value of the watch just to look at it. So your only practical choice is to buy a new one. You can probably sell the broken one for about 15 pound. If you want instead give it a go buy yourself buy some proper tools, and fluids lubricants (a minimum of 50 - 100 pounds total) and check Mark Lovick's 7S26 video tutorial. Then you will have to identify the fault, it could be from a loose screw to balance complete. However in full honesty the chances of getting right a very first repair attempt aren't very high. 

  • Like 1
ecodec WRT Addict

ecodec

Posted
Posted

In my lay and unqualified opinion you may have a fault in the balance, escape wheel, lever  or possibly the gear train. The oil may have deteriorated. As it is not a valuable watch you could try immersing the movement in Naphtha for a while and see if the balance runs whilst doing so. If it works you need to oil the watch very sparingly throughout. The information from Chopin  and slider Al is correct. See Mark Lovick on u tube and get a copy of Practical Watch repairing. de Carle. Good wishes for your success.

 

jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ecodec said:

The oil may have deteriorated. As it is not a valuable watch you could try immersing the movement in Naphtha for a while and see if the balance runs whilst doing so. If it works you need to oil the watch very sparingly throughout. 

Dried oil is not enough to stop a Seiko.

Once again, dropping the entire movie.t into any fluid is NOT advisable, and will NOT fix the watch. Also, oiling can ONLY be done on a disassembled movement. Can't be done 'throughout'.

ecodec WRT Addict

ecodec

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, jdm said:

Dried oil is not enough to stop a Seiko.

Once again, dropping the entire movie.t into any fluid is NOT advisable, and will NOT fix the watch. Also, oiling can ONLY be done on a disassembled movement. Can't be done 'throughout'.

OK. Thanks. Just trying to help the guy get it going, that is all.  It has worked a couple of times for me in the past.  Oiling ?  I agree  the movt has to be stripped to oil properly. He will learn to strip it when he gets a little more experience.

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.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Nucejoe
      Greetings from Whidbey Island.

      By Nucejoe · Posted

      Hello and welcome to the WRT forum.
    • JohnR725
      A lathe with indexing that won't break the bank?

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      interesting video nice to see the machine what it can do now I wonder what it costs and I'm sure it's not in my budget. Plus the video brought up questions but the website below answers the questions? What was bothering me was the size of his machine 4 mm because I thought it was bigger than that? But then it occurred to me that maybe they had variations it looks like four, seven and 10. With the seven and 10 being the best because way more tool positions in way more rotating tools. Although I bet you all the rotating tools are probably separate cost https://www.tornos.com/en/content/swissnano   Then as we been talking about Sherline. Just so that everyone's aware of this they have another division their industrial division where you can buy bits and pieces. I have a link below that shows that just in case you don't want to have the entire machine you just need bits and pieces. https://www.sherline.com/product-category/industrial-products-division/   Let's see what we can do with the concept I explained up above and bits and pieces. For one thing you can make a really tiny gear very tiny like perhaps you're going to make a watch. Then another version the center part is not separate it is all machined from one piece. Then fills gear cutting machines have gone through multiple of evolutions. A lot of it based on what he wanted to make like he was going to make a watch unfortunately eyesight issues have prevented that. Another reason why you should start projects like this much sooner when your eyesight is really good or perhaps start on watches first and then move the clocks then local we have from the industrial division? Looks like two separate motors and heads. Then it's hard to see but this entire thing is built on top of a much larger milling machine as a larger milling machine gave a very solid platform to build everything.   Then like everything else that had multiple generations are versions the indexing went through of course variations like above is one version and the one below was the last version. Now the version below I mentioned that previously and somewhere in the beginning to discussion and somebody else had one in their picture. As it is a really nice precision indexing. Then I wasn't sure if I had a the watch photos here is his unfinished watch. No he wasn't going to make a simple watch like none of his clocks were simply either what would be the challenge and that.    
    • Titanium
      Lab Coats

      By Titanium · Posted

      Use a Portwest Howie lab coat. They are the biological type so they have tapped cuffs so you don't end up getting the loose cuffs of normal lab coats catching everything. 
    • Titanium
      Chinese tools debate

      By Titanium · Posted

      Some of the Chinese tools ae great and can be purchased at a fraction of the price of Swiss ones, some are complete garbage and some I'm convinced are coming out the same factory as the branded ones.
    • caseback
      Calendar work certina 25-651

      By caseback · Posted

      I found this string about this problem. I've not gone through it all, but I believe it also mentions making a spring. If not in this string, the info is online.
×
×
  • Create New...