Vintage King Seiko 5626-7000 Running Fast

4018 Views 20 Replies 5 Participants Last post by ClockBloke, Jun 7, 2014

psychobooe

Discussion Starter · May 22, 2014

I recently purchased a beautiful King Seiko 5626-7000. The watch was serviced right before I bought it. For the first week, it was running 4.5 seconds fast a day. I was amazed at how well a 44 year old watch could still run with proper care. Well, I just returned from a week long vacation (I did not bring the watch with me), and now it is running about 80 seconds fast a day!!! I just don't understand why the watch is running so fast now. It hasn't been dropped or worn in any unusual circumstances. It just sat in my watch case and wound down.
I would love any opinions on what might have happened to my beloved vintage King!

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

ricardopalamino

· #2 · May 22, 2014

Howdy , I can't really give you a good answer to this issue , but yesterday I was reading about a watch with the same issue.....maybe like a sleep mode ??
I'm not sure if it was on this forum or the watchuseek forum....Try looking at recent postings and then a search.....good luck .

psychobooe

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 23, 2014

I really don't think it's in any kind of "sleep" mode.
Any other theories?

ClockBloke

· #4 · May 23, 2014 (Edited)

Hairspring coils touching? My latest pogue was gaining 20 seconds per minute! Then after a bit of tinkering I got it down to 20 seconds per hour and now it's spot on. If they oiled the hairspring and two coils touch it can make a huge difference to it's time keeping. Mine was spot on the other day and I handed it to a friend to look at and when I put it back on it was gaining again. It's now fixed and I can cartwheel down the road with it on if I want and it'll keep spot on time.

Basically the hair spring coils give you the length or duration of the 'swing' so if you shorten a hair spring it will take less time to swing the balance from side to side and that makes it run faster. It's a easy fix but be warned it's a fiddly fix so if your not use to working on watches I would hand it over to a professional to sort out. It's very easy to damage a hairspring.

T

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7s26b

· #5 · May 23, 2014

Is it running fast when fully wound up?? is it really fully wound?

ClockBloke

· #6 · May 23, 2014

Here you can see what I mean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gTXo5uGAzc&list=PL8201AE72E0CCF437

psychobooe

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 23, 2014

It was definitely fully wound. I tested the mainspring and it still lasts 44 hours when fully wound.
I'm going to let it wind down and see if it still gains when I wind it back up. It came with a 3 month warranty, so I'll just take it back to them and they'll probably service it again.

ClockBloke

· #8 · May 23, 2014

psychobooe said:
It was definitely fully wound. I tested the mainspring and it still lasts 44 hours when fully wound.
I'm going to let it wind down and see if it still gains when I wind it back up. It came with a 3 month warranty, so I'll just take it back to them and they'll probably service it again.

It's probably the hairspring coils touching as I said. I can not see how a mainspring will make a watch run faster? It can slow the movement down but it's the thing that regulates the swing that will speed up a movement which in this case is the balance assembly & hair spring. As it was recently serviced it's prime suspect in my book but I am sure someone else who knows watch movements better can put me in my place. I'd send it back if it's under warranty and let them sort it out for you asap

7s26b

· #9 · May 23, 2014

ClockBloke said:
It's probably the hairspring coils touching as I said. I can not see how a mainspring will make a watch run faster? It can slow the movement down but it's the thing that regulates the swing that will speed up a movement which in this case is the balance assembly & hair spring. As it was recently serviced it's prime suspect in my book but I am sure someone else who knows watch movements better can put me in my place. I'd send it back if it's under warranty and let them sort it out for you asap

So most Seiko's don't run faster as they wind down? really?

ClockBloke

· #10 · May 23, 2014 (Edited)

7s26b said:
So most Seiko's don't run faster as they wind down? really?

Do they? Most movements slow down as they loose power except for the fusee movements. I could see why a balance driven movement might as the throw would not be as great on the balance and hairspring so it would not take as much time to move the distance for the pallets to complete their impulse but an explanation would be nice if Seiko's do speed up as they wind down so we all know in the future. This is why my answer had a '?' in case I was wrong and someone could 'explain' why I was wrong.

At the end of the day if the watch is not working as it should and is under warranty it should go back to the dealer and let them sort it out. I just know my 6139 was doing the same and it was the hair spring. As this watch in question has just been serviced it's likely it's the same fault I would think.

Tony

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7s26b

· #11 · May 23, 2014

Less mainspring torque gives less impulse, hence less amplitude and hence higher frequency = running fast.

ClockBloke

· #12 · May 23, 2014

7s26b said:
Less mainspring torque gives less impulse, hence less amplitude and hence higher frequency = running fast.

:88:

Grammarofdesign

· #13 · May 23, 2014

Isochronism is the phenomenon of a watch running faster or slower as a function of it being slightly wound, mid-full wound, or fully wound.

Top end watches will not suffer from any isochronism. I'm not a watchmaker so I don't know the details of movement design vs isochromism or lack thereof.

Most watch designs will run faster as they lose power, but some designs are the opposite. I have no idea in this case. Rolex uses a Breguet overcoil for near flawless performance with respect to isochronism.

Most

7s26b

· #14 · May 23, 2014

:spam1:

ClockBloke said:
:88:

ClockBloke

· #15 · May 23, 2014 (Edited)

Grammarofdesign said:
Isochronism is the phenomenon of a watch running faster or slower as a function of it being slightly wound, mid-full wound, or fully wound.

Top end watches will not suffer from any isochronism. I'm not a watchmaker so I don't know the details of movement design vs isochromism or lack thereof.

Most watch designs will run faster as they lose power, but some designs are the opposite. I have no idea in this case. Rolex uses a Breguet overcoil for near flawless performance with respect to isochronism.

Most

I'm use to fusee movements which were designed so they did not loose time as they wound down. I've done a lot of work on 150+ year old watches but nothing to speak of on modern watches so this did not occur to me. I tend to work on fusee clocks which have much larger movements and balance platforms nowadays anyway. I have made hair springs, balances & staffs for fusee watches but being 200 years older than your average Seiko obviously things have changed technically. Each watch was hand made so you could not easily swap one bit over from another watch even if made by the same maker. The fusee cone was to keep a constant pull on the main spring barrel via a tiny chain which eliminated the loss of power as the main spring wound down. Nice to know this for the future thank you!

psychobooe

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 23, 2014

Thanks for all the great info guys.
The watch in question is 56KS with a 5626 movement. It was made in September 1969. The movement is Seiko 'A' grade. I would think that isochromism wouldn't be a factor in such a high end movement. Like ClockBloke said though, if it's not working and under warranty, I'll just return it and have a professional figure it out.

Grammarofdesign

· #17 · May 24, 2014

psychobooe said:
Thanks for all the great info guys.
The watch in question is 56KS with a 5626 movement. It was made in September 1969. The movement is Seiko 'A' grade. I would think that isochromism wouldn't be a factor in such a high end movement. Like ClockBloke said though, if it's not working and under warranty, I'll just return it and have a professional figure it out.

Yes, KS56 not prone to isochronism.

ClockBloke

· #18 · May 24, 2014

Now this is what I was talking about. A c1815 English fusee watch movement I recently restored. Totally hand made including that tiny chain around the main spring barrel and if you look at the Fusee cone it has two sets of gears. The top gear being maintaining power so when you wind the watch up it did not loose any impulse thus giving it regulator time keeping. Not bad for something made on foot powered lathes and under candle light

All that fancy on the movement plates is hand engraved

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psychobooe

Discussion Starter · #19 · May 24, 2014

I took the watch back today for repair. They said it'll take a week to fix. I'll keep you guys updated on how it turns out.

psychobooe

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jun 7, 2014

I got the watch back last week. Apparently it was slightly magnetized. Regardless, they fixed her up and readjusted. She's been running strong all week at +2.5 sec per day! I love vintage Seikos!

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