Simon 'Sir Alan's services of my 7A38's

[Seiko7A38]

No doubt, many of you may recall the number of excellent informative re-build threads created by Simon Wilkinson (a.k.a. 'Sir Alan') in the old forum's Workshop section, particularly those beginning 'Inside the 7Axx'. Simon's interests have since diversified exponentially to encompass many more movements, including mechanical chronographs, which aren't covered by the limited scope of this forum, so sadly his contributions to our old forum had gradually diminished over the last few years.

In the meantime, his watch fettling skills have vastly increased, far exceeding my own abilities. My collection of 7A38s has also increased significantly, to the point where I could barely even keep up with battery replacements , so last Spring I started sending some of mine that evidently needed movement services to Simon.

I think I'd already mentioned a few of the watches I'd sent to Simon last year, in various posts in the old forum, notably the WRUW thread, usually after I'd received them back from him 'post fettling'. All were sent as 'head only', requiring movement service (nothing else). Often as not it's because they'd never been fully properly serviced before and were suffering from 'old sticky oil' syndrome. I also emailed Simon Word doc's, describing any unusual symptoms, as shown in the partial quotes in the following posts.

Those of you who've already availed yourselves of Simon's services won't need me telling you that his high standards of workmanship and attention to detail are up there with the best. You'll also have been given a link to Simon's OneDrive photo gallery of your watch's rebuild. With his kind permission, I'm posting links to his work on my watches below.

[Seiko7A38]

The first two 7A38's that I sent Simon, exactly a year ago to the day, had both been purchased from Italian eBay sellers, within the previous 6 months, as supposedly being fully functional, mint and NOS respectively. But we all know, to our cost, that all too frequently turns out to be a little wide of the truth.

7A38-713A SAA104J (s/n 8D3764)

Mostly problematic timekeeping. Very reluctant to keep running for more than a couple of hours and will always stop completely around 22:50, when it starts the day / date changeover. All chrono’ hands work and all pushers have a nice positive clicky action, but the 4 o’clock button is completely inoperative. Reset hands by pulling out the crown. Day / Date works fine (obviously with manual intervention).

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

7A38-7250 SAA080J (s/n 691290)

Problematic timekeeping with a twist. When you pull out the crown to reset the hands and push it back in, the constant second hand starts immediately. But it appears that sometimes the hour and minute hand don’t always – sometimes taking a couple of minutes to catch up. I thought I was going daft when I first saw it. This one will usually keep going once it’s started, but like the 7A38-713A, will grind to a halt completely around 22:55 when it starts the day / date changeover. All chrono’ functions work perfectly. Day / Date works fine, both on quickset, and by winding on the hands, manually.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

The cause of the unusual problem ? As shown in Simon's photo:

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The movement base-plate was missing a metal bushing (circled in yellow), which should support the third wheel in the main bridge. It's absence is presumably what was allowing the watch to randomly drop 'out of gear', when the crown stem was pushed back in. Simon duly replaced it with one from a scrap base-plate I sent him. One can only assume it had been like this since new and had apparently somehow slipped through Seiko's QA inspection. Possibly returned to the retailer under warranty, but never repaired.

[Seiko7A38]

Pleased with the results, I followed up by sending Simon four more to service in March last year, in two consignments:

7A38-6109 SAA114J (s/n 810219)

Always had problematic timekeeping and has finally ground to a halt. Tried swapping the coil, but makes no difference. Suspect old sticky oil. All chronograph functions and Day / Date work fine.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

Apart from needing a service, that one had battery acid corroded positive battery terminals, which I'd failed to spot.

7A38-7000 SAA007J (s/n 3O4011)

This one is long overdue a service (literally years). Recalcitrant sweep second hand – now barely twitches. 30 minute counter can sometimes be slow to move off its mark. It used to keep reasonable time (if kept warm), but has now completely died. Tried swapping the coils over; made no difference. All the classic symptoms of ‘old sticky oil’ syndrome.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

[Seiko7A38]

Of course, if Simon is more than capable of servicing a Seiko 7A38, he can sort an Orient J3920 with equal relative ease. These two not so speedy Racer J39's followed later in March:

Racer J39908-70 (pale green dial - no s/n)

Always had problematic timekeeping; it only ever ran sporadically if kept warm in the airing cupboard and has finally ground to a halt. Tried swapping the coil, but makes no difference. Suspect old sticky oil. All chronograph functions and Day / Date work fine.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

Racer J39914-70 (burgundy dial - no s/n)

Bought this one fairly cheaply a couple years ago. Here’s what I’ve written about it on the forum:
I fitted a new battery and initially nothing happened. It just sat there, dead as a dodo. So I had a cigarette and a cup of coffee and when I next looked at the watch a few minutes later, it had started ticking. I played with the chrono' buttons and the sub-dials sprung into life, although the sweep second hand initially remained recalcitrant. With a little gentle persuasion, by nudging it with a wooden cocktail stick, I managed to get that going. I watched it the next day. I never once noticed it stop. I didn't actually time it, but it appeared to lose seconds per minute (rather than per month); 5 minutes and sometimes more per hour and hours per day ! After leaving it on my side table for a week, it had lost nearly a day. I'm pretty sure I've used the phrase Subtitled: Big Time Loser in this thread at least once before.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

After Simon's service, that Racer J39's timekeeping was dramatically improved - it now gains 0.09 seconds per day !

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[Seiko7A38]

In April, I sent Simon a pair of stainless 7A38-7270's. I'd been swapping dial / movements between a couple of them, including a fairly recently acquired NOS example, which turned out to be virtually DOA, hence the comments.

7A38-7270 SAA093J (s/n 880968)

Movement is effectively ‘NOS’ (actually came out of another watch), but dial is slightly faded. Always had problematic timekeeping and has finally ground to a halt. Suspect old sticky oil. Chronograph functions generally appear to work OK, but don’t always reset to Zero during the self-test – meaning they’re slow off their marks. Day / Date change works fine (when wound on).

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

7A38-7270 SAA093J (s/n 830134)

This one is long overdue a service (literally years). Recalcitrant sweep second hand and 30 minute counter can frequently be reluctant to move off its mark. Timekeeping is sometimes erratic – losing time during the day / date changeover. All the usual classic symptoms of ‘old sticky oil’ syndrome. Don’t worry about slightly sticky pushers on the second one – in fact, once you’ve serviced them, both these movements are likely to end up in different (better condition) watch cases.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

As can be seen in his photo, Simon achieved perfection, in terms of timing accuracy, on the second one +0.00 sec/day !

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[Seiko7A38]

Two more 7A38's followed in May - pretty much more of the same, except I'd been a bit lazy with the second one.

7A38-7010 SAA001J (s/n 395140)

Always had problematic timekeeping and has finally ground to a halt. Suspect the usual ‘old sticky oil’. Chronograph functions generally appear to work OK, but don’t always reset to Zero during the self-test – meaning they’re sometimes slow off their marks. Day / Date change works fine (when wound on).

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

7A38-728B SAA136J (s/n 7D1996)

I’ve had this tired piece of junk for over 18 months and it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally decided it was about time I did something with it. So I’ve given it a quick cursory clean and replaced the crystal. It has suffered from a minor battery leak and moisture ingress through both the 10 o’clock pusher and case-back, but surprisingly nearly everything works, apart from the 4 o’clock reset / self test pusher, which does absolutely nothing, which appears to be a common recurring symptom of a watch in need of a service. Time keeping is generally poor and the day / date doesn’t always change over properly. Don’t worry if the pushers are slightly sticky (I haven’t bothered to strip and clean them properly) and the general grotty state of the watch case. I’ll be swapping the dial / movement and UEFA EURO 88 stamped case-back over into a much better condition two-tone 7A38-7280 when you return it to me.

Simon's photo gallery of the strip and re-build.

[Seiko7A38]

I probably could have carried on, but the warmer weather made it more difficult to select what to send Simon next. Generally speaking, watches that are suffering from 'old sticky oil' syndrome will often happily run all Summer long. It's only when Winter draws in that they can be observed starting to slow down. The recent cold snap has certainly helped me identify a few more candidates in need of attention and they'll be winging their way to Simon presently.

[Seiko7A38]

While I remember, here are the links to Simon's photo albums of his recent servicing of my two Orient J39930-70's:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArEOrf65patugdlMi_a ... w?e=K1TlUa

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArEOrf65patugdl3iiP ... w?e=ciH8TK

Neither were quite straight-forward. The gear train of the Orient J3920 movement in the 'donor' was being jammed by tiny shards of glass from its original smashed crystal. The incorrectly fitted Seiko 7A38A movement, in my almost mint example, had been well botched by the Italian eBay seller (as I'd suspected). The spigot of the main bridge (time) rotor had been snapped off and was stuck to the magnet. Also the teeth of a couple of train wheels showed minor damage. Once he'd serviced it, following my instructions, Simon fitted the Orient J3920 movement where it rightfully belonged - in the almost mint J39930-70. When he later serviced the Seiko 7A38 movement, he dropped it back into the 'donor' case, without re-fitting the hands (for transit protection). Reason being I have other plans for it. Of more anon.