An Offer I Could Not Refuse.

A neighbour told me his son buys and sells watches and had left a Seiko for me to check out.

I am trying to save up for a leather stitching machine that will go though 3/4 inches of material. Not buying watches right now.

I told my neighbour that I would come look at the watch and give him my best advice.

I left my wallet home.

The watch: Seiko Bellmatic with a nice blue accent. Never really paid attention to these so I had no idea of the complications (an extra button?)

I took some photos and went home.



Once home I did some Googling. Alarm watch. I have a Cricket, I don’t need another alarm.

I messaged the seller and told him that it is very nice but to take it to auction to maximize his profit.

I also had not tried the alarm and the date wheel is off. I figured the service would be more than the price of the watch.

Then he made me an offer I could not resist. I rushed over before he changed his mind.



Outside photo (above) and more photos (below) following a bit of Polywatch.



The alarm works and true to it’s model name, sounds like a bell.

Keeping time for at least four hours now.

Awesome! The 4006 is a REALLY complicated movement. I had a watchmaker tell me on a different forum he charges more for this than for a chronograph!

I have one apart on my bench right now + one in the mail that needs fixing. They are REALLY cool movements, and significantly cooler/nicer design than the ASchild alarm watches, though I find myself wishing an Omega Memomatic would fall into my hands someday 😀

Nice to have the original bracelet with it.

And a little bag with extra links.

Also, check out: https://www.thewatchsite.com/forums/bellmatics-forum.44/

They have a reasonably active forum on them!

A bunch of folks did some cool research on history/configs too: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yHcU-A--EWiivGl8HU3W3cT0lxOweii5bJxBLn8aZvc/edit?usp=sharing

So you can check exactly what you'd expect to see on one!

Thank you. The alarm sure sounds nice.

I heard my mother say "Go check the oven to see if it's done."

That cleaned up nicely!

Since we're doing pictures of bellmatics, here are mine 😀



BOTH of them arrived as non-workers in rough shape (because I'm cheap and wanted a project!).

Here's the first one (left side above). Its a 4006-6040 with the integrated bracelet. Arrived as a total non-runner and a broken crystal. The last watchmaker ended up putting the WRONG balance jewel in, so once the balance was running the jewel was just wobbling around like crazy. Also, the main bridge's non-jeweled bearings were both pretty wollowed out. I had a jewel that 'works' that I put in place but it had low amplitude, so waiting on parts.




THIS is the second one, arrived last night. 4006-7002. The bracelet it came with has a missing end-link-mount, so I'm likely going to have to either source a new one, or just switch this to leather. The crystal is perhaps savable, but I'll order a new one. This one was FILTHY, inside and out! There was crud it in that was stopping it from running (like huge hunks, no idea how it got in, the case back was SILLY tight, and it was like a small piece of gravel in the gears!).

ALSO, the previous watchmaker managed to lose the one of the alarm-ring clamps & screw, so I get to try to track one of those down, they seem basically unobtainable.

I am beginning to understand why people like these. This case shape is very nice and the fit is excellent.

It’s still running after two days. I better let it rest since it probably needs servicing.