The fist real present my wife bought me 25 years ago. Will most likely never wear it again and its not worth anything in monetary terms. It has some sentimental value. It has not been working for many years and when my wife took it in back then to replace the battery "they" said it was not the battery and it can not be repaired. I never enquired further. What could be wrong with it? The quarts "mechanism"? Is it worth checking out? Obviously don't want to spend too much. .
Could be many things...could be bad/damaged coils, bad circuit, damage from leaking battery, mechanical blockage in the train, etc., etc. Japanese watches in general (and especially Japanese quartz watches) tend to have parts discontinued quite quickly when compared to say the Swiss. So p[arts may not be available, and if so likely a new movement isn't available either. You might find a working movement in a donor watch that could be swapped in, or there may be an drop in equivalent movement out there. It will cost you some money to find out - only you can say if it's worth doing or not. The watch has nothing but sentimental value really... Cheers, Al
I have a Seiko Chronograph from when I was 18, graduation gift. Took it to a jeweler each year for cleaning. Even had a new crystal installed after I had badly scratched it. Well next thing you know, a pusher falls out and is lost forever. Bring it back and was told that the Seiko service center said the repair was more than the watch (a blatant lie by the why at that time). So fast forward to about 3 years ago. Tried a watch maker this time. Now it really could cost more to repair. So did some research on the model and movement. Found a good forum with nice pictures and thought, what's the worst that can happen, I break it? So apart it went, cheap tool kit in hand and found the board in good condition but rust on the pusher levers. A little elbow grease and $30 later with parts on order from Cousins, a plan was coming together. I am happy to say, It is working and keeping great time. So aside from the sentimental value, what is it worth to you? P.S. I only went as far as I needed to go to fix obvious issues (the rusted parts and missing pusher). It was worth $30 to me and I truly lucked out.
Unless the circuit board is fubarred, the watch should be able to be repaired. If it is fubarred, find a Seiko forum board and search for a new one. Better to try to fix it and fail, than put it back without any effort. My 2 brothers also received a nice watch for their graduations, Seiko also. I am the only one who still had it for all these years in its broken state. If you have keep it this long, there is real sentimental value in it for you. Your choice. But as long as it is a paper weight, I would not hesitate to try to fix it. Again, you can't break it more, well maybe if you throw it against a wall, but otherwise not so much.
I bought a cheap watch repair kit on eBay for under $20. It did the trick. Had a case knife, movement holder, link pusher, case wrench, spring bar tool and a couple of screw drivers. Wouldn't touch the insides of an Omega with it, but a dead SEIKO, yes.
