I’m finding that the crown on the SARB017 that I recently acquired is very tricky to operate correctly. After unscrewing and pulling it out, it takes me multiple attempts to get the crown positioned correctly to be able to adjust the time and/or date.

I have several other Seiko automatics in my collection, most with screw down crowns, and I haven’t experienced this issue with any of them.

Is the tricky crown issue normal for the SARB017, or ?

 

Well, I read the 6r15 manual, and it says to pull the crown out to the second position…when the second hand is at the 1:00 position….and set the time.

I tried it, and issue solved. Previously, I wasn’t making sure the second hand was at 1:00 while attempting to set the time. I suppose this has something to do with the hacking feature.

 

That doesn't make much sense to me...

A) The Seiko 6R15A data sheet states, "Pull out the crown to the second click when the second hand is at the 12 o’clock position.". But, this is for convenience of setting the time & getting the second hand to line up at 12 at the top of the minute, not because the crown / stem / clutch are in some way dependent on the orientation of the seconds hand.

B) The seconds hand itself is not really part of the watch movement, but the seconds pinion is, & the seconds pinion inside the watch movement has no 'awareness' of the orientation of the seconds hand up on the top-side of the dial. The seconds hand could be off pointing in any direction (or be completely absent from the watch), & the seconds pinion would not know or care.

The position/state of the winding stem is dependent on the contours of the detents on the setting lever spring. If the winding stem is having difficulty locating the setting position, then this would be a good place to start looking for for the root cause of the issue.

 

Sounds like I should have my watchmaker take a look at it then…

 

And what I'm calling the "setting lever spring" Seiko (more correctly) refers to as the "yolk spring"...

 

Come to think of it…I also own a couple other Seikos with the same 6r15 automatic movement…an SBDY051 and an SARX035.

Neither of them has any issues what so ever with the crown.

 

I brought the watch to my watchmaker this morning for a look. After inspecting it, he said there’s nothing wrong with it. He said it’s probably a little stiff from sitting unused for quite a long time, and that it will limber up the more I use it. He also said the crown can be pulled out to adjust the date and or time, regardless of the second hand’s position.

 

Oh boy I been doin mine at 6:30 setting as it’s usually the fail safe it works fine, no problem with crown

 

never had any issues with mine, worked just like any other mechanical watch I have, in terms of setting time & date