Seiko 0903-8099 refurbishment

:s_hi: Oscillators,

Quartz time for Poll's. Whilst cruising ebay feeling desperate to waste some money we came across this 1976 4004 quartz. Its quite small but has an interesting case shape we like and was complete with the original bracelet so for £15 and needing something to play with etc......

Here is the sellers picture, as you can see it looks promising.


The movement is running well enough so we did not have to touch it, only the dial feet had broken off so I had to glue the dial to the movement shield/holder (yes this movement is shielded front and back) and then to the mainplate.

The case was a bit worse for wear but did not have too many deep dents and a little intelligent sanding on a surface plate easily sorted them out, the flat planes of the 8099 case help tremendously in this respect. Add a little re-brushing to the top and a bracelet tonce up and the case is OK.

The main difficulty in the refurbishment concerned the crystal, it was very scratched up. Like a prat I did not think about the MO involved and just pushed out the crystal from behind. Wrong!:biggrin: It has a two part bezel and rubber gasket and the crystal is sandwiched between the two, the result was a shattered crystal and one thumb cut to the bone. Ever seen a cat try to put a bandaid on with one paw with blood gushing from the other? What a laugh.

Anyway breaking the crystal meant I could not measure it to ascertain the correct replacement so I had to buy a few cheap generic glasses to find the correct size. Using the old worn gaskets was a fiddle but it assembled eventually.

Results:-



Likes: Nice textured dial and quaint hand set and angular case sides, cheap to acquire and do up. Good quality movement and general construction compared to modern equivalents.

Dislike: its a bit small but you do not notice it when wearing.

Also I set the sweep wrong so it does not hit the seconds track, I will have to sort that out as it is driving me mental, more mentaler than usual.:38: