On My Bench - A Turtle

Not a real Turtle of course! 🙄

I recently received a Seiko 6309-7040 that the owner said was losing a bit of time and had a very stiff bezel, in addition to needing a service.

First thing to do is inspect it for any obvious damage, all is good and this is in very nice condition for its age, DOM January 1981, so 38 years 8 months old.

Next is to get a couple of shots of the watch.


As you can see, it has a nice original SUWA dial in good condition, nicely faded lume and very minimal corrosion on the hands.

A quick check on the Timegrapher (default settings) just to see what the situation is.



Well that isn't a good sign. Maybe magnetised? Three passes over the demagnetiser and onto the winder for 12 hours to get some power in the mainspring. Another run on the Timegrapher and not really much difference.



To check actual time (we know the Timegrapher says it's losing minutes per day) I set it to my GPS controlled Citizen quartz and let it run for 24 hours.



Needless to say, losing about 16 minutes a day isn't a good sign so next I'll open it up and check for any obvious problems/damage.



Nothing to see here, not even signs of a previous service (unless the watchmaker was very careful about scratching screw heads). For the next step, I'll disassemble it and inspect the parts before cleaning.

But that'll have to wait as it's beer o'clock here so I'll finish off until the next instalment.

I did intend to do photo journal of this project, much like the professional ones by @Archer, @ChrisN and others.
However, not having the discipline to stop in the middle of a procedure and photograph it, you will just have to rely on those places where I remember to get the cameras out.

Anyway, onwards.

Now that we have a baseline on condition and operation I can start the strip down. This is fairly easy, starting from the autowind assembly, the rotor is removed, allowing Seiko’s neat little bi-directional winding system to be exposed. These components are removed and set aside.



The hands will have to be removed, so now that the power is right down and while the stem is still in the watch, the hands are all aligned to make removal simple. The stem is then removed, the movement ring and movement taken out and the movement placed on a cushion to allow hands removal using a dial protector and hand levers. Next the dial feet screws are undone and the dial is taken off. With the dial gone I can remove the tiny circlip holding the day wheel, then the day wheel comes off allowing me to remove the plates holding the date wheel. As these items are taken off they’re placed in appropriate containers to prevent damage.



Now we can see the front with all of the parts that control the day and date functions and the time/day/date setting arrangement.



These are removed and placed in the parts tray leaving only the balance jewel assembly to be removed. This done, we can see the bare front plate. No real problems but the jewels don’t seem to have any oil and the barrel arbor area has a lot of dried out grease around it.



On to the other side. The balance assembly is removed temporarily to allow access to the pallet bridge which is removed, and then off comes the train bridge, which is also the barrel bridge, (the only thing I don’t like about this design). This exposes the full power train and allows removal of the fourth wheel (the one with four holes) and the third wheel (the three holes). Below we find the centre wheel bridge which is removed to allow the centre wheel and the click spring and the barrel to come out. The barrel and mainspring will be discussed later.



The balance assembly is now replaced on the main plate for cleaning and the inspection and further breakdown will start.

All of the parts are now safely in a holding tray and individual components can be checked.

The barrel and mainspring were "interesting". In addition to lots of hard dry caked grease on the movement where the arbor sits........



........ the interior of the barrel wasn't much better. It appears that any lube had dried out ages ago, so inhibiting the ability of the unit to deliver optimal power to the movement.



Next was a check of the mainspring, in addition to lots of dry grease, it looked tired and had a couple of kinks that shouldn't be there, so maybe a new mainspring is in order.



Until next time.

A chilly day here in Melbourne and I couldn't get out on the scoot, so spent some time on the Turtle and now sitting here with an evening Guinness while I bring you (and the owner 😁) up to date.

With all of the parts separated a preliminary inspection didn't show any big problems so it was into baskets ready for cleaning.



Using my old but trusty watch cleaning machine from the 1950s I gave the parts ten minutes in cleaning solution, then spin dry and into rinse 1, spin again and into rinse 2, spin again.



and then off to the parts dryer.



Now that all of the old oil and dirt was gone I could check everything under a microscope. Even after a good bath, some parts STILL had grease residue, notably the mainspring barrel.



So it was out with a brush, peg wood and cleaning fluid for a scrub, and then into an ultrasonic bath to remove any residue. Much better now!



One or two other bits needed the same treatment but now all movement parts are ready to be re-assembled...............as soon as the new mainspring arrives (couple of weeks 🙁).

A visual inspection of the movement plate, bridges and wheels showed no problems. All jewels are clean and sound, the bushings aren't worn or deformed (especially the barrel arbor bushings, a known 6309 issue) and there's nothing more to do on the movement.

Here's a pic I took of the main plate. You can't see much but I thought it was a nice shot.



No rest for the wicked though. I've now got time to turn my attention to the case and the stiff bezel.

TBC.

Thanks for the pointers Al. The hooks on the magic fingers look pretty good.

Push



Pull



I put the barrel in the movement and held the arbor lightly to exclude end shake and moved the side of the barrel up and down. There's very little tilt, of course when the arbor is free to move up and down there is more movement but the arbor is a good fit in the plate and the bridge.

Shot of the arbor in the bridge (barrel pushed down on one side).



I think the debris around the arbor areas was dried out grease that had hardened over time and set like cement. When I cleaned it with a brush and cleaning fluid it turned into grey soup!

The stiff bezel.

Not only was the bezel stiff, it wouldn’t rotate past 5 clockwise or about 7 anti-clockwise, so the bezel and glass and associated seals and rings were removed from the case.



The case had some small dings under the bezel path, and a major one at about 5 o’clock which probably contributed to the problem.



The crystal ring also had some corrosion around the 6 area.



and here



The bezel also had a number of dings, obviously from somebody trying to remove the bezel with a screwdriver (or a jackhammer).



The bezel dings were stoned down to the true surface and then the base of the bezel was cleaned up on a sheet of 800 polishing paper on a glass plate and finished off with 1200.



It was then chucked in a 3 jaw chuck on my power drill (like a slow lathe) and I used a soft steel rotary brush to clean the bezel notches and some rust around the 6 area. All that done, it was hand cleaned and on to the case.

The case ding was removed with a carbide graver and a stone and then the corrosion was polished off.



With all parts cleaned, the bezel and case were lightly lubed and the bezel pressed onto the case.



And Voila!


So now we just have to wait for the new mainspring and the new seals I ordered this afternoon.

😁

Love Monty, but are you a fan of Eric Olthwaite at all?

The 6309s and others used a ball detent to step the bezel as opposed to uni-directional bezel springs like the later models.

I guess that in the 1980s Seiko thought that divers wouldn't be carless enough to bump the bezel backwards 😉.

Sorry, I was going to post a couple of photos or the click ball but my Darlin' called me for dinner.

And the second time when it was announced as "It's on the table NOW!" I thought it best to leave 😁.

Here you go. The spring loaded ball is TINY and held into the case by peening.

It's great isn't it.

😉

And if it wasn't for others on our forum who selflessly shared their incredible knowledge, and demonstrated their skills, then I'd still be as much in the dark as many others.

So to the consummate professionals who have guided me for the last few years, a big thank you, and to all others who have offered tips, or simply encouragement, I thank you too.

It makes this place what it is.......a fantastic watch community.