1960s manual Seamaster winding

Station Grey · Wed. 7:05am

I've just bought a 1964 manual Seamaster 600, but am having some issues with the winding, and am a little concerned.

Firstly, the crown is very tricky to get a grip on for both winding and pulling out to adjust, though as my first Seamaster I don't know if that's normal or down to a replacement crown. Either way, that's not the main issue...

The main problem is that it doesn't appear to wind properly. There's none of the smooth winding I'm used to on my Speedy, but instead there appears to be some resistance and then it pings back a little on each wind. The resistance is not like when it's fully wound, but the crown certainly doesn't spin freely.

Is there likely something wrong, or am I just being ignorant?

Thanks

SOG53 · Wed. 7:43am

Probably needs service

Archer · Wed. 10:12am

Station Grey
there appears to be some resistance and then it pings back a little on each wind.

The crown turning back a bit after each wind is normal - that is the click letting the ratchet wheel unwind a little as it is designed to do.

The resistance you speak of is difficult to say, because it could be normal or not depending on how there is.

You just bought it, but was there any claim (with proof) offered of a recent service? If not, you should likely assume it needs one anyway.

Station Grey · Wed. 10:14am

Archer
The crown turning back a bit after each wind is normal - that is the click letting the ratchet wheel unwind a little as it is designed to do.

The resistance you speak of is difficult to say, because it could be normal or not depending on how there is.

You just bought it, but was there any claim (with proof) offered of a recent service? If not, you should likely assume it needs one anyway.

Thanks.

No service history, no, so maybe a service is called for.

I'm not sure if there's resistance as such or whether it's just very hard to get purchase on the crown as it's pretty small.

Dan S · Wed. 10:41am

Do you have any friends or acquaintances with more first-hand experience? Maybe you can meet them in-person and ask them to handle your watch.

Archer · Wed. 11:28am

Archer
The crown turning back a bit after each wind is normal - that is the click letting the ratchet wheel unwind a little as it is designed to do.

Just to illustrate this, here you can see the click (C) acting on the ratchet wheel (B), causing the crown to spin backwards via the crown wheel (A):

SOG53 · Wed. 11:31am

Archer
Just to illustrate this, here you can see the click (C) acting on the ratchet wheel (B), causing the crown to spin backwards via the crown wheel (A):

Thank you for illustrating this so clearly. My question is why some watches seem to demonstrate this more than others? I notice it quite a lot with vintage Grand Seiko

Archer · Wed. 11:49am

SOG53
Thank you for illustrating this so clearly. My question is why some watches seem to demonstrate this more than others? I notice it quite a lot with vintage Grand Seiko

There are a few things that can affect how much the crown rebounds, or if it does at all.

If the seals inside the crown or case tube are new and tight, it may prevent the crown from turning backwards.

Second, the design of the click can have a big impact on how this works. The rotating style click like in the video, is more likely to cause this than say the type of click used on many Seikos, where it's essentially a piece of wire the gets pushed out of the way by the barrel teeth, so it has very little travel relative to the style in the video.

That style of click is shown in this illustration, with the arrow pointing to the click - the flat piece of metal:

Not all Seikos are like this, but it shows that this type of click acts very differently.

Station Grey · Wed. 12:27pm

Dan S
Do you have any friends or acquaintances with more first-hand experience? Maybe you can meet them in-person and ask them to handle your watch.

Not with an early Seamaster, no.

Station Grey · Wed. 12:28pm

Archer
Just to illustrate this, here you can see the click (C) acting on the ratchet wheel (B), causing the crown to spin backwards via the crown wheel (A):

That's very interesting, thanks

Dan S · Wed. 1:01pm

Station Grey
Not with an early Seamaster, no.

I think someone who has more experience with old watches in general would be sufficient. Or maybe you can just take it to your watchmaker and ask them. Unfortunately, we can't feel the crown for you over the internet. If we could, it would probably be easy to answer your questions.

1960s manual Seamaster winding

Station Grey

SOG53

Archer

Station Grey

Dan S

Archer

SOG53

Archer

Station Grey

Station Grey

Dan S

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