I bought this little jewel as potential father/son project with my #1 - he's coming up on 10 years old, and will be doing those cool things that older kids get to do soon. When he saw me looking at it on thewatchcollector's ePay site, he commented on what he'd like to do to it if it was his... so I bought it without him knowing in hopes that he'll still be interested in the project.
Here's what arrived:
7S26-0010-07 by clair_davis, on Flickr
7S26-0010-02 by clair_davis, on Flickr
7S26-0010-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr
7S26-0010-04 by clair_davis, on Flickr
7S26-0010-03 by clair_davis, on Flickr
So... it's not perfect. Nothing from thewatchcollector is, but for <$20, I'm OK with that - have bought at least 10 projects from him over the last few years, and they're almost all good values.
The pros I see are: a decent crystal, nice bezel (no insert problems), case wabi is great, 200m WR capable, and that ridiculous movement runs... weak, but it runs.
The cons I see are: caseback is wrong (came on another watch I got from TWC at the same time... fits the gasket better than the 7546 caseback that was on it), hands, dial, and chapter ring are shot, second hand is incorrect, and I suspect that the crown is incorrect. Screws down, but pulls straight out of the watch. Seems way too small, too.
So, what I'd like to know is what ELSE is right or wrong with this before we start our project? I'd like to have a proper crown and caseback for this thing to help ensure water resistance. It's going to be a kid's watch, so it's going to take some abuse. I think he'll appreciate the automatic movement as a significant step above the quartz watch I got for him before (another old Seiko).
I have another movement incoming, with black day & date wheels in case we want to mix things up a bit there, and we may need the extra parts once I see what's going on in the movement.
I'd appreciate any knowledge and experiences with these mid-size watches, what I should watch out for, and other ideas to make it a great, bulletproof "real" watch for a good kid. Sources for replacement parts would be fantastic.
And just because I tinkered a bit already, I found out that the crown tube threads are the same as the 5.3mm and 6.0mm Rolex twinloc crowns, as well as some other odds and ends crowns I have sitting around. Probably won't worry about that kind of upgrade until I find that the original crown is unobtanium, though.
Thanks!
Clair
Here's what arrived:
7S26-0010-07 by clair_davis, on Flickr7S26-0010-02 by clair_davis, on Flickr7S26-0010-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr7S26-0010-04 by clair_davis, on Flickr7S26-0010-03 by clair_davis, on FlickrSo... it's not perfect. Nothing from thewatchcollector is, but for <$20, I'm OK with that - have bought at least 10 projects from him over the last few years, and they're almost all good values.
The pros I see are: a decent crystal, nice bezel (no insert problems), case wabi is great, 200m WR capable, and that ridiculous movement runs... weak, but it runs.
The cons I see are: caseback is wrong (came on another watch I got from TWC at the same time... fits the gasket better than the 7546 caseback that was on it), hands, dial, and chapter ring are shot, second hand is incorrect, and I suspect that the crown is incorrect. Screws down, but pulls straight out of the watch. Seems way too small, too.
So, what I'd like to know is what ELSE is right or wrong with this before we start our project? I'd like to have a proper crown and caseback for this thing to help ensure water resistance. It's going to be a kid's watch, so it's going to take some abuse. I think he'll appreciate the automatic movement as a significant step above the quartz watch I got for him before (another old Seiko).
I have another movement incoming, with black day & date wheels in case we want to mix things up a bit there, and we may need the extra parts once I see what's going on in the movement.
I'd appreciate any knowledge and experiences with these mid-size watches, what I should watch out for, and other ideas to make it a great, bulletproof "real" watch for a good kid. Sources for replacement parts would be fantastic.
And just because I tinkered a bit already, I found out that the crown tube threads are the same as the 5.3mm and 6.0mm Rolex twinloc crowns, as well as some other odds and ends crowns I have sitting around. Probably won't worry about that kind of upgrade until I find that the original crown is unobtanium, though.
Thanks!
Clair
