A while ago I picked up a job lot of two battered Japanese quartz watches to restore. One was a white dialed Seiko 7N43 and the other example (and what caught my eye) was this Alba Y563. The plexi crystal was scratched and I could barely make out the colour of the dial, but it looked promising with no missing minute tracks and small print.
A few weeks later, the watches turned up. The Seiko movement was ruined by an old battery but the Alba looked good under the heavily worn exterior. (the 7N43 dial and hands were perfect under the rough crystal as well-I'll share that story later!) A quick test with a spare battery also brought the 40 year old quartz movement to life.
I decided to repair the crystal by running some modeler's extra fine plastic cement along the cracks and polish it by hand. The case was given a sympathetic light polish using Dialux blue and green while the crystal tension ring was removed, cleaned and polished to remove some spots of rust. The dial looked unmarked but had light fading and tiny pits on the lacquer which didn't really bother me. It's a 40 year old watch with no crystal gasket or retaining ring to make it dust proof and was probably worn regularly!
On to the photos-
As delivered-
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Uncased-
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Along with some other cheap thrills (and dad's 7S26 that needed a new crystal)
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All done!
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I wanted to flip this and fund some of my other projects, but that blue dial really is something! No one does blue dials like Seiko!
A few weeks later, the watches turned up. The Seiko movement was ruined by an old battery but the Alba looked good under the heavily worn exterior. (the 7N43 dial and hands were perfect under the rough crystal as well-I'll share that story later!) A quick test with a spare battery also brought the 40 year old quartz movement to life.
I decided to repair the crystal by running some modeler's extra fine plastic cement along the cracks and polish it by hand. The case was given a sympathetic light polish using Dialux blue and green while the crystal tension ring was removed, cleaned and polished to remove some spots of rust. The dial looked unmarked but had light fading and tiny pits on the lacquer which didn't really bother me. It's a 40 year old watch with no crystal gasket or retaining ring to make it dust proof and was probably worn regularly!
On to the photos-
As delivered-
Uncased-
Along with some other cheap thrills (and dad's 7S26 that needed a new crystal)
All done!
I wanted to flip this and fund some of my other projects, but that blue dial really is something! No one does blue dials like Seiko!
