Fair warning, this is a long post!
I purchased a 'scrap' non-functioning watch off of eBay because it had a couple of parts in it that I needed for another project. It was cheaper to buy this full watch than it would've been to buy the parts individually.
Here's what I bought:
The plan was to use the balance wheel and the sweep-seconds wheel due to my other project having a damaged hair spring and a broken pinion on the seconds wheel. The plan was only to use this watch for parts, but that all changed once it arrived.
When I got the watch in, it looked pretty much like it does in the picture above. It's seen decades of abuse, neglect, and even some water damage inside but I had hopes that the parts I needed would be salvageable. When I looked at the caseback I got my first surprise. It is inscribed with "FROM 1976 STATE CHAMPS".
I thought that was pretty cool! The serial number dates this watch to 1975, so 1976 State Champs fits the timeline. The best thing was yet to come. I put the watch on the workbench and then removed the movement from the case. Once I got the movement out from behind the mangled acrylic plastic 'crystal', the dial was absolutely stunning!
Note: photo below was taken after the watch had been rebuilt. Notice that the day and date wheels are no longer mismatched colors as shown in the original photo.
Between the inscription on the back of the case, and the nearly mint condition of the 46 year old dial, I decided to switch things up and bring this watch back to life instead of the other one. The movement in my original project watch was a 6119C, this watch had a 6109A. Some of the parts are the same between the two watches, but not all of them. The 6109A movement that came in the 'scrap' watch that I had ordered is considered an 'economical' version of a 6106A, which means that several of the jeweled bearings in the 6106A movement are replaced with steel bearings in the 6109A, and a few other things that bring the cost down. The jewels in these watches are synthetic rubies (sapphire), and rank 9 out of 10 on the hardness scale, only second to a diamond. Jeweled bearings will not wear out, but the steel bearings in the original 6109A would. With it being as old as it was, there was a good amount of side-shake within the gear train from the wheels wearing out side of the steel bearings. The 6109A movement in the pictured watch above had several other problems as well. The main reason for it not running was that the lower pivot on the escape wheel was broken, and the main plate jewel for the escape wheel was all but shattered. I have an incomplete scrap 6106A movement in the parts drawer (yes, a third different watch movement!) that I used as a donor to fix a previous project. The 6106A is a bit better quality, 25 jewel movement, but has the same width, height, etc. as the 6109A in the watch shown above. This meant that if I could get that 6106A or 6109A working with parts cannibalized from the other, along with the incomplete 6119C, I would be able to fit it into the 1976 State Champs case and use that gorgeous blue/green dial.
When I came to that realization, I spent a few hours going over the parts/technical manuals to see what would and wouldn't work together between all three different movements. I finally got it running, and quite well too!
I was playing around with the music settings in YouTube when I uploaded the video, sorry!!! The video was actually longer, but in order to get free use of the song, I had to cut it down to 15 seconds. The main thing to take from the video is the lack of change in timekeeping between moving positions from dial up and dial down. This is not fully regulated yet. It was just adjusted quickly after I got it initially going to see how it was running. It will also be adjusted to the crown down position because those are the three main positions a watch is oriented in during a regular day (crown down for watch worn on the left hand) as well as while not being worn. The amplitude is a bit low, but I re-used the 42 year old mainspring from the 6119C. It will run fine as it sits, but if I can get the amplitude (degree of rotation of the balance wheel) up, it'd be a tad bit better. With the replacement mainspring it'll probably require a bit more adjusting afterwards, but that isn't a big deal at all. Vintage Seiko's, even freshly rebuilt, are known for having a low amplitude. It's just how they are designed, but I'd like to see this one around 230 degrees. I'll probably just spend the $15 on a replacement mainspring, but this thing is running regardless! The dial is misleading, as this is now a 25 Jewel hodgepodge of three different movements, but when it's all said and done it will keep better time than it ever did new.
This is my most ambitious project to date, and while the minute hand has a bit of missing lume (will be fixed later), the case needs some serious work and the glass needs to be replaced (will get sapphire in place of the acrylic plastic to avoid future scratches), I just wanted to show off what I ended up with, which I'm now dubbing 'FrankenSeiko'. I'll get the rest of the items addressed in the coming weeks, but this will be a stunner of an old watch with a cool bit of history to boot and will reliably run well for several years to come before needing to be serviced again.
I purchased a 'scrap' non-functioning watch off of eBay because it had a couple of parts in it that I needed for another project. It was cheaper to buy this full watch than it would've been to buy the parts individually.
Here's what I bought:
The plan was to use the balance wheel and the sweep-seconds wheel due to my other project having a damaged hair spring and a broken pinion on the seconds wheel. The plan was only to use this watch for parts, but that all changed once it arrived.
When I got the watch in, it looked pretty much like it does in the picture above. It's seen decades of abuse, neglect, and even some water damage inside but I had hopes that the parts I needed would be salvageable. When I looked at the caseback I got my first surprise. It is inscribed with "FROM 1976 STATE CHAMPS".
I thought that was pretty cool! The serial number dates this watch to 1975, so 1976 State Champs fits the timeline. The best thing was yet to come. I put the watch on the workbench and then removed the movement from the case. Once I got the movement out from behind the mangled acrylic plastic 'crystal', the dial was absolutely stunning!
Note: photo below was taken after the watch had been rebuilt. Notice that the day and date wheels are no longer mismatched colors as shown in the original photo.
Between the inscription on the back of the case, and the nearly mint condition of the 46 year old dial, I decided to switch things up and bring this watch back to life instead of the other one. The movement in my original project watch was a 6119C, this watch had a 6109A. Some of the parts are the same between the two watches, but not all of them. The 6109A movement that came in the 'scrap' watch that I had ordered is considered an 'economical' version of a 6106A, which means that several of the jeweled bearings in the 6106A movement are replaced with steel bearings in the 6109A, and a few other things that bring the cost down. The jewels in these watches are synthetic rubies (sapphire), and rank 9 out of 10 on the hardness scale, only second to a diamond. Jeweled bearings will not wear out, but the steel bearings in the original 6109A would. With it being as old as it was, there was a good amount of side-shake within the gear train from the wheels wearing out side of the steel bearings. The 6109A movement in the pictured watch above had several other problems as well. The main reason for it not running was that the lower pivot on the escape wheel was broken, and the main plate jewel for the escape wheel was all but shattered. I have an incomplete scrap 6106A movement in the parts drawer (yes, a third different watch movement!) that I used as a donor to fix a previous project. The 6106A is a bit better quality, 25 jewel movement, but has the same width, height, etc. as the 6109A in the watch shown above. This meant that if I could get that 6106A or 6109A working with parts cannibalized from the other, along with the incomplete 6119C, I would be able to fit it into the 1976 State Champs case and use that gorgeous blue/green dial.
When I came to that realization, I spent a few hours going over the parts/technical manuals to see what would and wouldn't work together between all three different movements. I finally got it running, and quite well too!
I was playing around with the music settings in YouTube when I uploaded the video, sorry!!! The video was actually longer, but in order to get free use of the song, I had to cut it down to 15 seconds. The main thing to take from the video is the lack of change in timekeeping between moving positions from dial up and dial down. This is not fully regulated yet. It was just adjusted quickly after I got it initially going to see how it was running. It will also be adjusted to the crown down position because those are the three main positions a watch is oriented in during a regular day (crown down for watch worn on the left hand) as well as while not being worn. The amplitude is a bit low, but I re-used the 42 year old mainspring from the 6119C. It will run fine as it sits, but if I can get the amplitude (degree of rotation of the balance wheel) up, it'd be a tad bit better. With the replacement mainspring it'll probably require a bit more adjusting afterwards, but that isn't a big deal at all. Vintage Seiko's, even freshly rebuilt, are known for having a low amplitude. It's just how they are designed, but I'd like to see this one around 230 degrees. I'll probably just spend the $15 on a replacement mainspring, but this thing is running regardless! The dial is misleading, as this is now a 25 Jewel hodgepodge of three different movements, but when it's all said and done it will keep better time than it ever did new.
This is my most ambitious project to date, and while the minute hand has a bit of missing lume (will be fixed later), the case needs some serious work and the glass needs to be replaced (will get sapphire in place of the acrylic plastic to avoid future scratches), I just wanted to show off what I ended up with, which I'm now dubbing 'FrankenSeiko'. I'll get the rest of the items addressed in the coming weeks, but this will be a stunner of an old watch with a cool bit of history to boot and will reliably run well for several years to come before needing to be serviced again.
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