Repairer required

[SliderAl]

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]

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 December 29, 2017 by Chopin

[jdm]

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. 

[ecodec]

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]

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]

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.