Help: How to open battery hatch on Seiko 4883

[mseamaster]

So I got one of these(can post photos of the back when home if you want to see) some 15 days ago or so.

It's running, but it started being inaccurate. First week it was less than 1 s off. Now it's 0.5 s off a day. It may sound weird but that's the charm, I want it accurate since it's quartz. The movement says 1s per month. I am fine with say 4s per month. Since it came with a battery I was thinking maybe it's going bad or so and I want to replace it.

Anyhow I can't open the battery hatch.. There are two positions and rotating it to the open position makes the battery cover stick like a millimeter. But it won't fall of and I can't take it off.
(the back is already scratched btw, I am using a screwdriver through a plastic bag which works fine)

How am I supposed to take it off? 😔

Here's a front photo:

 

[mseamaster]

This is how it looks in the closed position. Rotating it, I can get it to the open position but alas the cover won't budge.

 

[mseamaster]

That's as far as I can rotate in the open direction without too much force. But I can't lift the cover.

 

[mseamaster]

Tried on a similar watch and it popped right off. Apparently I am doing it right but the cover won't pop.. I wonder what would a watchmaker with equipment do. Should I buy a new cover just in case he wants to drill it or so?

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

mseamaster

Should I buy a new cover just in case he wants to drill it or so?

Perhaps you should find a watchmaker and ask them this question.

 

[mseamaster]

Scarecrow Boat

Perhaps you should find a watchmaker and ask them this question.

Will do on Monday. But I was wondering what should I expect? And what could be the reason why the cover won't pop? If possible I would try more ideas at home.

Maybe gluing something to the cover with b-7000 so i can try pulling it off? Would that work?

I am worried that the battery might have swelled. Can't imagine another logical explanation.

Could a swelled battery still work?


Update:
Battery is fine. I glued a screwdriver and wiggled the cover free. Weirdly enough I can't say why it was stuck in the first place.

Edited: Sep 5, 2024

 

[SOG53]

mseamaster

Will do on Monday. But I was wondering what should I expect? And what could be the reason why the cover won't pop? If possible I would try more ideas at home.

Maybe gluing something to the cover with b-7000 so i can try pulling it off? Would that work?

I am worried that the battery might have swelled. Can't imagine another logical explanation.

Could a swelled battery still work?

Don't get carried away. Try just moving it back and forth a bit it may open. Mine did.

 

[mseamaster]

SOG53

Don't get carried away. Try just moving it back and forth a bit it may open. Mine did.

It did open, but on the second attempt at gluing the screw driver and screwing/unscrewing while pulling.

 

[Pip]

Where possible I remove the caseback rather than the battery cover, it's much easier (normally) to get new caseback gaskets than new battery cover gaskets 😁

 

[mseamaster]

Pip

Where possible I remove the caseback rather than the battery cover, it's much easier (normally) to get new caseback gaskets than new battery cover gaskets 😁

How would you remove it on this watch though? I don't see any notches. Is it snap? It says water resist so I thought it should be screwed on.

If it's screwed, then perhaps vacuum/suction on it?

 

[mseamaster]

Update:
Voltage was low, measured 1.45V.(per spec it should be 1.55V)

The battery was SR43, measured it around 4mm thick with a caliper.(per spec it's 4.2mm thick)

Spec for the movement says I need: SR936SW / 394, which is 3.6mm thick.

I reckon this crap happened because the battery inside was thicker than it should be. 😠 Anyhow, I will get a proper battery before proceeding.

Meanwhile I used a tiny amount of grease(I only have graphite oil, hope that's good enough) on the gasket of the cover and tried closing it without the battery just to see if it would close/open normally without a thick battery.
However the battery cover needed a press to click in there. So I pressed it and it clicked. And now I can't pop it open again. So I will have to glue again when I get the proper battery. ☹️

Is this just bad design or something? It doesn't seem damaged or anything either.

 

[Pip]

What's your actual model, is it 4883-8001 ?
And yes, not a great design imho. May have been good for the first decade or two of its life and I don't suppose they were thinking much about us trying to work on them 50 years later!

 

[mseamaster]

Pip

What's your actual model, is it 4883-8001 ?
And yes, not a great design imho. May have been good for the first decade or two of its life and I don't suppose they were thinking much about us trying to work on them 50 years later!

I don't even know what it is. 🤔 Is it 8001 or 8000? Serial says November 1976(I can pm it to you if you want to see it.). Here are some more pics:





I read that apparently there's 8000, 8001 and 8100 or so. And sometime along the way they changed the movement from 4883A to 4883B or so.

 

[Pip]

It is an 8001. It's on the caseback on Seiko, the bit where it says 4883-8001.
4883 is the movement and 8001 is the case/dial/hands variant (it's actually a bit more complicated than that but you'd need to delve into the old catalogues to find the actual model number, but we don't need that right now).
The bit on the dial means it is a dial for a 4883 and the dial model is 8000 T.

Ok, I'll have a dig into my manuals over the weekend and see if I can find anything that covers Seiko's mid 70's high end quartz!

 

[mseamaster]

Pip

It is an 8001. It's on the caseback on Seiko, the bit where it says 4883-8001.
4883 is the movement and 8001 is the case/dial/hands variant (it's actually a bit more complicated than that but you'd need to delve into the old catalogues to find the actual model number, but we don't need that right now).
The bit on the dial means it is a dial for a 4883 and the dial model is 8000 T.

Ok, I'll have a dig into my manuals over the weekend and see if I can find anything that covers Seiko's mid 70's high end quartz!

Thanks. Btw I just did additional diameter comparison on the battery specs:

So:
SR43 is 11.6mm/4.2mm
SR936 is 9.5mm/3.6mm

Considering SR43 fits perfectly diameter wise, I am thinking the watch is indeed 8001, based on 4883A and uses SR43. I think a SR936 would woble.

Btw I have two SR43s. The one I found inside the watch was at 1.45V. And then I have a new one that's 1.59V. Spec says 1.55V. Is 1.59V too much?

 

[mseamaster]

Opened again, had to glue it again first. This time it was faster I suppose. Popped in the SR43.

Now let's see if it will be accurate. I can't set it perfectly though, so right now it's off by 0.5s or so. I also wonder if the voltage would fall fast or so. Which would imply it needs servicing

Anyway, if anyone figures how to open the caseback, it would be nice. I want to see the movement and all.

 

[Pip]

Still looking as it is not in my casing guides but it is in one of my Seiko battery charts, we need to get it open and find out if it is an a or a b movement.

 

[mseamaster]

Must be an A, since the SR43 fits fine. There's an electric contact on the side. Initially I expected that it would be top and bottom, but no. So the diameter has to match. SR936 has a small diameter.

Would be interesting to learn how to open it anyway.

 

[Pip]

Nope, nothing, and I've been digging for over an hour now. Looking at it, my guess would be it is a monocoque case that the movement sits in that It would be worth taking the bezel off and seeing if the glass removes from the front to be a front-loader, but Seiko normally says that on the back of the case where it is appropriate.
I've fallen for the 4883-8001 stainless steel though and am now on the hunt for one. So thanks for that, another watch to add to the never ending list!

 

[mseamaster]

Pip

Nope, nothing, and I've been digging for over an hour now. Looking at it, my guess would be it is a monocoque case that the movement sits in that It would be worth taking the bezel off and seeing if the glass removes from the front to be a front-loader, but Seiko normally says that on the back of the case where it is appropriate.
I've fallen for the 4883-8001 stainless steel though and am now on the hunt for one. So thanks for that, another watch to add to the never ending list!

Thanks for looking

And yeah it's a nice watch. Mine has a few scratches though. And weirdly enough dirt can be observed on the dial under extreme zoom and light. Like small black particles.

The bezel has a notch(I noticed just today), so maybe it's opened from the front. Not all Seikos have that text btw(seen it on KS56, but I don't have one like this). I don't have the tools to remove the bezel and even if I had, it's hard not to scratch it.

Is there a benefit to being a frontloader? Better water resistance maybe?

The SS version is the best one since there's no gold cap. I would have wanted the gold cap because the dial on the gold plated one looks super nice.

Here's the small particles under zoom:

Edited: Sep 6, 2024