Hello all,

I've made this tutorial for a french forum and as pictures and Seiko lovers are the same world-wide ... I'm going to translate it the best I can.
So please be indulgent as some technical terms may be wrong

1.- Preface:

The goal is to try to answer most questions that are raised when someone plans to modify, or just disassemble his watch to change dial, hands or just remove a dust or correct an unalign chapter ring.

I won't go as deep as dissassemble the movement itself as my knowledge ends at the date rings level ...
I'll try to help one to avoid most traps I've been facing when moding my own watches.

2.- Introduction:

The watch I'm going to customize is the well known SKX007 from Seiko. This is "THE" ISO Diver, 200m certified, srew down crown and back,etc, ...
This is the model that comes in various flavors from seiko itself and that has one of the biggest aftermarket parts catalog.

I'm a real amateur, I can't compete with pros like Jake B or Yobokies, and that's not my goal. So the way I use to mod can be criticized (of course) and improved (for sure).

During this tutorial I'm going to learn a Diver how to fly ...



3.- Dismantling:

Before starting, it's better to have the movement fully discharged, so hands should not move. Do not wear your watch for about 2 days and you should be fine with that point.

Here are most of the tools I'll use during this customization.
A case opener, hands remover and hands setter, casespring tool, dust blower, movement holders, crystal press, sharp knife, pliers, bench vice, ... and toothpicks ! Some "rodico paste" is as well useful to clean greasem oils, finger prints on dial, hands, etc, ...

All these tools can be bought on ebay for less than $100 for all of them. It won't be top quality tools but fair enough to mod/clean your watches as an amateur.



Let's start ! First, remove the bracelet using a casespring tool or a knife or a thin screw-driver:



Now using a very thin and sharp blade, enter between the case and the bezel and apply a torsion on the blade. The bezel should "pop-out" quite easely:



Once the bezel dettached, remove the O-ring gasket inside it and the click ring which is located between the bezel and the case:



Something very important from now: Pack up your things !





Before going further, unscrew the crown and set it to position "2". Then move the hands to match noon (12:00 not 0:00). As it is dangerous for the movement to manualy move date/time during the automatic date shift, hands are placed at 12:00.
Later on when setting back the new hands, it will be at 12:00 too in order to avoid an automatic date shift at 3PM ... and to avoid to take everything apart again.
Once done, set back the crown in "0" position without screwing it.



Put the case, face down, in the vice, set your case opener to match the size of the notches on the case back and unscrew it. If it's the first time, it may be hard to unscrew it and easy to rip when forcing. So put some tape on the back to avoid to scratch it.





Put the opened case, face down, on your bench:



With a toothpick, verticaly and softly press on the stem/crown release lever in the movement and gently pull off the stem/crown. It should come without forcing.





Pack the stem/crown and use the toothpick to extract the movement from the case. Take care of the hands on the oposite side, do not put the movement face down once removed from the case.



Keep the movement away from dust and from falling, outside of the case it becomes fragile:



Using the crystal press, push the crystal out of the case. Take care when chosing the size of the die, if it is too large it will push on the chapter ring instead of the crystal. Result is 50% chance to break the chapter ring when pressing !
Note that if you've not planed to replace the crsytal or the chapter ring, this stage is not necessary. During the guide I'll use the same crystal and ring but I wanted to take pictures of all steps anyway. !



Here are the case, the crystal, the sealing gasket and the chapter ring separated:



And now what ? Pack up !



With an old toothbrush and some soap, clean up all metalic parts, it will remove dirts and old grease. Water and soap work for gaskets too, gently wash them with your fingers:



Get back to the movement now and use a movement older. Cut a thin plastic or paper sheet to make a dial protector. Slip it between the dial and the hour hands:



Use the "presto" hands remover to free the hands. All 3 hands are removed in a single step:



For the last step, use the toothpick to gently lift the dial to separate it from the movement:





Here you are !