@fudd with the greatest respect though you service your own watches whereas most of us have to pay for that service?

Makes a difference…

My planet ocean is 10 years old now. It runs at+1spd. I don’t want to send it for a service when it’s so reliable but I’ve do appreciate a few hundred for a clean and oil up is probably a good thing soon ish.

The CW C60 Elite I acquired is presently running 1-2 seconds slow. Twelve days after I set it. Or better than 0.1667 seconds per day.

That’s not too shabby.

Nothing to do with the watch servicing conversation, I just worked it out and had to say.

The CW C60 Elite I acquired is presently running 1-2 seconds slow. Twelve days after I set it. Or better than 0.1667 seconds per day.

One minute per year?

Very nice! It’s largely luck I reckon, to get better than a couple of secs per day. The important bit is low variance. That let’s you trust a watch as a good time keeper.

Oh and that accuracy beats my snr035…. which is spring drive! 8sp month for that.

I’ve been wearing my SPORK now for a couple of months or so, probably the longest unbroken period since a while after I bought it, and because of the faffing around to try to set the time exactly, I wasn’t sure how far out it was. I managed to set it dead on, using the hack of slightly winding the hands back to hold the second-hand still, and that was on Monday morning and it’s now 10 seconds fast, which isn’t too shabby. It’s about ten years old, I think.

The CW C60 I have is the COSC one.

Which comes with a test certificate.

The watch natural loses about 1-2 seconds a day if I just wear it and leave it overnight the way I’ve always left watches.

But the certificate effectively tells me the “fast”position to leave it in overnight to bring it back in line.

(Face down, so there’s a microfibre cloth gone on the dresser)

@CZ – yep, I think I’d take that too.

I have buyers remorse again, and I took some time to think about why that is. I’ve learned enough to know that a generic movement, piece of sapphire and ceramic bezel or polished dial – for example – does not make a relationship with a watch.

At a point, the “special” starts to look expensive; free learning like that video about omega movements, watching the refurbs, fudds assemblies, owning a true compressor or piece of history is more important. It can be enjoyed for free or awaited to be very expensive for a legacy time piece purchase, but the generic mid range is a whole net of sparkling jewellery ready to empty your wallet with a few exceptions of horological excellence or differentiation. Of course most people know this but I needed to remind myself.

Anyway…

On to more pressing matters…….

Did you buy a battery for the Kooogah yet?

Or are you researching if a watch winder can be retro engineered to keep the battery topped up?

Did you buy a battery for the Kooogah yet?

Now we are crossing streams 🙂

No, had a second opinion confirmed as the instrument cluster issue which could also be causing battery drain, one thing at a time. The same garage tested the battery and didnt think it needed replacing and its not the OEM battery although we don’t know when it was replaced. Trying to contact the guy in the video that was posted, as a more local firm let me down this week.

We have driven it, twice cut into limp mode in traffic so its garaged for now.

Have you looked at the newish high end Citizen Series 8 automatics?

They look very nice to me

Kryton57
Full Member

@fudd with the greatest respect though you service your own watches whereas most of us have to pay for that service?

Makes a difference…

Not really – oils still deteriorate, gaskets harden and moving parts will eventually wear out.

If it’s any consolation I’ve seen 50 year old watches that’ve never been serviced that appear to be running just fine and needing just an overhaul and new gaskets to be running like new again, but then I’ve also seen 10-15 year old watches in for their first service and the bill more than doubles due to the amount of parts required.

But enough about that, here’s my latest arrival –

Another non-running Seiko via Yahoo Japan in the shape of a 7549-7010 ‘Tuna’.

This is the first Quartz Tuna Seiko released alongside the 600m 7549-7009 in 1978, this one being built in August the following year. JDM model so you’ve got Professional on the dial rather than the SQ branding the rest of the world got plus the Kanji day wheel.

It’s a bit battered looking but the dial and hands appeared perfect and I knew it would scrub up well. I ordered a new crystal and Hexad bracelet from Strapcode at the same time and hoped that the only other thing it would need would be a battery, but upon arrival I could see the coil was damaged, so while I was waiting for that to arrive I did the usual –

Flip it over to the back side and you can see why it was listed as a junk item –

When a quartz watch dies it’s usually because of the battery, but if someone with fat fingers, two left hands and crap tools replaces the battery and the screwdriver slips… No biggie as a good s/h coil is only £25 and you need to expect these things when buying a non-runner. Sometimes the circuit can die for no reason, and when an old battery leaks it can be catastrophic but there were no more surprises with this one.

You can see the old crown gasket vs new where the old one has compressed into an almost square section –

And then ten minutes after the new coil arrived this –

I also fitted the MM300 ratcheting clasp that was on my SKX –

At 47mm it’s a beast and the chunky bracelet adds to that, but with the relatively short lug to lug it’s surprisingly wearable, even with my skinny 6.75″ wrist. I just need to regulate it now as it was running over 1m fast per day and I don’t have the equipment for measuring quartz accuracy, so I’ll have to do it the slow way by adjusting the trim screw on the movement and timing it each day. I might end up sending it to my mate who has the kit to do it properly but we’ll see how it goes.

Great work Fudd, and thanks for the detailed photos!

Nice work @fudd do like the blue tuna, very cool looking piece

Awesome pics and right-up Fudd, a very enjoyable read over a post-work Friday beer. I’m going to swap to my Arnie* in tribute.

*yes I know its not the same.

Yes awesome! I shan’t be dismantling my own watches, but it’s interesting to see what you have done.

Dismantling is the easy bit.

@fudd – nice buy, and a nice, classic Seiko. Always rather fancied a proper Tuna, but I’d rather it was a mechanical than a quartz.
Your tear-downs and photos are amazing, rather easier to see details than with a video. 😎

Bravo Fudd, quality in every aspect.

Thanks chaps.

igm
Full Member
Dismantling is the easy bit.

100%. The hardest part is working out where all the left over screws are supposed to go.

CountZero
Full Member

@fudd – nice buy, and a nice, classic Seiko. Always rather fancied a proper Tuna, but I’d rather it was a mechanical than a quartz.

The only mechanical Tunas are in 600m or 1000m cases and they’re just a step too far for my wrists unfortunately. There’s a number of other Seiko’s with shrouds and auto movements but they’re not the same, even though they’ve all got that X on the dial these days (mutter, grumble etc).

Orient M-Force auto, the other shrouded diver…

Today’s ebay delivery.

A no name watch with Seiko VH31 movement and a sapphire crystal.

Not sure the lume is up to much, but less than £50 to my door.

New watch day.
SPB255J1 Black Series.

That looks nice, I thought it was my snr035 for a moment. What’s the strap and lug width? The strap might find its way here.

@twohats

New watch day. SPB255J1 Black Series.

That’s very nice, really like the strap – it’s a seichu strap IIRC, did look at buying it separately for one of my divers but it’s quite expensive.

Full disclosure I do have one of the previous run of seiko black edition diver specials and whilst I do love mine, I do really like the new run.

I keep looking longingly at the captain Willard one.

Anyone got any idea of how durable the dark coating on the Seiko cases is? Been eyeing one up but it would have a rough n tumble life, so maybe plain stainless would be better….

My Seiko is my mountain biking watch, been absolutely fine. I posted it a couple of pages back. It’s used extensively for day to day duties and it’s not overly noticeable. I have a lot of posher watches that get used a lot less looking a fair bit more neaten up.
(Not sure if mine is the type you are thinking of so apologies if it’s now)

Thts exactly whats I wanted to hear! Cheers.

@neilnevill
Lug and strap width is 20mm.
As mentioned above the strap material is Seichu which is a traditional Japanese weave used on belts for kimonos.
Apparently the strap by itself retails north of $200!!!!!

Nice that twohats

The only mechanical Tunas are in 600m or 1000m cases and they’re just a step too far for my wrists unfortunately. There’s a number of other Seiko’s with shrouds and auto movements but they’re not the same, even though they’ve all got that X on the dial these days (mutter, grumble etc).

🤣 Yes, the Prospex thing annoys me, too. I think I could live with the hefty monocoque case on the mechanical Tunas, in fact I would, just to have what are pretty much a Grand Seiko movement in a tool watch! I might even go as far as the gold TiN coating, for the subtle added bling…

@richpips – that’s a nice looking field watch you’ve got there, very much a Sinn-styled face, like my SP043RK1, yours has the military 12 o’clock marker with the triangle and two dots, though. For £50 that’s a daily beater of a watch, it looks great and a lot more expensive than it has any right to.
Mine for comparison of the face:

Just tried to get a shot of the lume, this is the best I could get, in full dark I couldn’t get a good focus:

I just climbed Mount Taygetos but forgot the obligatory wrist shot at summit. Should I climb again? Sat at Xirocambi plateia with a frappé now…

Well…. I did not climb again but I did visit two archaeological sites (that’s my job). And am now back in plateia, really quite missed. Oh, and the Oris Propilot performed admirably

Enjoyed this vid…

WoW!

an interesting story BUT £80,000 – for a watch, even one that unusual? That’s a very different reality to the one in which I live :o)

I get the ‘investment’ angle but even so…

…I’m struggling to spend £1500 on something as frivolous as a watch.

He has a few others aswell 😂

How does this work?  I’m thinking of using chrono24 to buy a watch from Japan, so I am watching the pound to yen exchange rate.   Boe increase rates today and give a positive forecast that recession will be avoided.   The pound drops 2 yen. Wtaf!

After setting the SPORK two weeks ago, I’ve just checked it, and it’s running 28 seconds fast, which I think is fairly respectable.

Latest (and last for a while) addition to the fleet! Window shopping in US turned to eBay browsing too… you know the rest.

Need some suggestions for alternative straps for it please, I love the bracelet with the t-link adjustment, but something a bit less ‘scratchy’ is needed, I’m thinking maybe black sailcloth or canvass with yellow detail to pick out the GMT hand maybe?