Seiko Sportmatic

Ok so I know this is not a valuable or even particularly nice watch but it belonged to my late grandfather. My Aunt gave me this in 2008 and it has been sat in a drawer until last night when i suddenly remembered I had it. I was expecting to see some real rubbish 15 or so year old quartz but was pleasantly surprised to find this. Now speaking to my Aunt last night she has informed me that my Grandfather purchased this when he was serving in Singapore so she dates it somewhere around 1960-70. She also told me it hasn't been worn since 2004 when my Grandfather passed, but he hardly took it off, as you can tell by how beaten up it is. As soon as i picked it up and moved it it sprung into life. What i want to do is to make it usable as i know my Aunt and my Mum would love to see me wearing it, I've ditched the horrible replacement bracelet that was on it and have ordered a brown leather Hirsch for it. I'm very new to watches.... so new I've never had anything serviced, is this something i should look to do or would they laugh me out of the shop? Also the plastic is so badly scratched you can barely see the face. I'm not looking for a restoration, just to make it usable, i don't mind having to spend a few quid on it even though I know its not worth it financially. Any suggestions would be welcome, also any info on the watch in general would be greatly received.

Cheers,

Terry

Zoomed out a bit

Thanks for that @STANDY. Im really going to embarrass myself now but here goes. What is involved in a service? Is a new crystal something a decent DIYer could tackle?

A typical service by a watchmaker includes a disassembly, cleaning, re-lubing, reassembly, and timing of a watch/watch movement.

Think of it like taking apart your car's engine.

You might be able to exchange the crystal yourself, but the mechanical service will require a qualified watchmaker.

That's awesome, get it serviced regularly and it will run until your children are due to inherit it. You can find the date of manufacture right down to the month using the serial number, run a Google search for Seiko year of manufacture.

Thanks for the feedback guys, after some research I've discovered the watch was manufactured in May 1967 which ties in with when they were in Singapore.
Following the advice of STANDY yesterday I had a go at cleaning up the crystal. Again I was pleasantly surprised, it came up quite nice. I did though buy a replacement crystal and a case press from eBay for the princely sum of £16 as I wasn't 100% happy. However when I spoke to my wife she said she thinks I should leave the original in there.

Wow..... That's a lot of pieces, don't think ill be attempting that any time soon. I have just successfully removed the crown and movement so i think replacing the crystal is well within my capabilities should i choose to go that route.
Anyone know where i would get a case back o ring from? This one is a bit stretched

I would encourage you to stop messing with it. It would be very easy to damage something on the watch and you might not even realize you have done it, as many parts are very delicate. Put it back together and take it to a watchmaker.

If someone brings me a bag of parts, I charge them more than I do if they bring me an assembled watch...

Fair comment, i will take that advice. Just thought that swapping the crystal would be an easy risk free job

And that's the problem. It's not rocket science to remove a watch from the case and swap a crystal (provided you have the right tools) but it is certainly not risk free. Hand can get bent easily from mishandling the movement, balance staff can be broken, balance spring damaged...

Best to not create more work for the person who will fix this watch for you.

Cheers, Al

Cheers Al, is it feasible that this watch that is almost 50 years old has never had a service in its life? or would it have died by now?

Seikos have a reputation for running and running, despite the lack of service - of course they are chewing themselves up in the process...

50 years to me is a stretch, but who knows.

this 49 year old Seiko sat for 30 years and still runs fine .... and I know its never been serviced !

unless you have one that old that you know has never been serviced you wouldn't believe it would you

Absolutely ..... 1967 to now, never serviced and sill running perfectly !!!!