Orange '81 7548-700C off the bench and on the wrist!

[cobrajet25]

I have been on kind of a 7548 kick lately, and today is first time I have worn this one as it just came off the bench.  It is an '81 7548-700C that finally arrived from Japan in my 'DHL Drama' package.



Here is a seller pic.

Cosmetically, the watch looked quite nice. I was really hoping the crap on the lugs was just crap and not corrosion. Fortunately, it was crap and wiped right off. I knew the watch ran, but didn't know what else was going on under the hood as there was no movement pic.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed when I took the case back off. As I was unscrewing it I felt spring pressure underneath it. Damn! That meant one of the battery strap screws was missing. But it got worse...one of the battery strap screws was actually BROKEN OFF in the main plate. Hey, at least the strap was still there! No rust damage, as is so often seen with watches from island countries.

So I had to pirate a main plate out of a roached-out goldtone 7546. The only parts that are different between the 7546 and 7548 are the circuit block (just marked differently) and third wheel bridge (with the extra jewel). Both actually interchange, but since this watch is so nice there was no question I was going to keep it original. I also had to swap the date ring and day wheel since the donor watch had a 3 o'clock crown. The missing strap screw came from a scruffier 7548, and I ordered a few replacements from somebody who makes an aftermarket version of this bastard-to-find original part.

Once I got that done it was time to reseal the watch. The original gaskets seemed to be okay and certainly weren't original, but I wanted new gaskets just for peace-of-mind. The last one of these I resealed...a JDM 7548-7000 a couple months ago...cost me about $25 for the OEM case back, bezel, and crown gaskets. Man, I remember not too many years ago being able to reseal one of these for about $6-7 with OEM gaskets. 

To hell with paying $25 for another gasket set! Adrian's gaskets are great, but with the COVID-19 situation I did not want to try to get anything through the mail from the other side of the planet.  So I did some research, took measurements, checked the 'Net, and found some generic gaskets that work great. Cost to reseal this watch? About $0.60! That's more like it!

This is a strange watch. It is in nearly perfect condition, even retaining some of the blue case back film in the nooks and crannies of the tsunami logo. But it has three battery change punch marks...the original from the factory indicating 1984, another for 1989, and the last for 1992. It is almost like the owner never wore it but kept the battery changed in case he WANTED to wear it! But the wear to the original strap says otherwise.  While Seiko made an orange version of this watch for the export market in 1978...and also discontinued it that year...I was surprised to find that the 7548-700C did not appear until Vol. 2 of the 1981 JDM catalog.

Took a bit more work than I was expecting, but I am happy with it. I probably won't wear this one too much. It is way too nice.

Let's see your 7548s!

[scubarob99]

That's a great example! I have two of those and both have a degree of lume rot on the hands. Yours looks pristine, a no brainer knowing that parts can be cannibalised off of any 7546. Nice score.

Rob

[datilderek]

Wow! That cleaned up nicely.
I am doing my homework on the 7548-700*, in preparation of purchasing one in the near future.

[seacreechur]

Here's a pic of my Jan.'85 7548-700F on an OEM Z1290 bracelet.
Michael

[yorkiesknob]

Hi all, I have three 7548s plus its cousin 7c43. The dial only in the photo is complete except waiting for a dial spacer ring from the UK. The Pepsi is from July 78 attached to Z1507 bracelet. The other two date from 80 and 83. The 7c43 is later 1987 its on the rubber strap.Except for the Pepsi they are all original. The Pepsi has a Yobokies insert and hands, refurbished many years ago. 

  

[scubarob99]

Group shot in lousy lighting. All JDM. Not a huge fan of the SQ on the dial.

Rob

[cobrajet25]

Thanks, guys!

As I said, I have been on a '7548 kick'.  I actually bought three of them over the last two years from YJ, with the orange one being the latest.

The Pepsi is from 1981 as well, and wouldn't run when I got it.  I messed around with it a little bit after I got it, but couldn't get it going.  The seconds had would twitch and the movement would randomly run for a few seconds at a time, but it would not keep time at all.  It probably sat on my bench for the better part of those two years before I finally decided to tear it apart and find the problem a couple months ago.

I eventually discovered that the upper pivot on the rotor was sheared off, and the rotor was just kind of flopping around instead of turning.  That explained the twitching and randomness.  Replaced the rotor with one out of a parts watch and all was well.  I resealed it along with the orange one a couple days ago.

The black -7000 dates to 1984.  It ran fine, but had a day/date changeover that wouldn't work properly.  I took it apart right after I got it and found the day/date changeover mechanism had been installed incorrectly at a service.  It was damaged, and I had to replace it.  A few of the teeth on the date ring were also bent, and I had to straighten them since I didn't have a spare 4 o'clock date ring on hand.  Took a bit of fiddling to get everything right again.  It went into the safe after I fixed it, but I took it out and treated it to new gaskets and a strap (on the orange one in the pic) for some wrist time.

These are GREAT watches.

[cobrajet25]

Apr 28, 2020 16:09:48 GMT -8 scubarob99 said:

All JDM. Not a huge fan of the SQ on the dial.

Rob

Neither am I. 

[yorkiesknob]

Are the orange ones hard to find,and is yahoo to the best site to find them. What price range to they command?

Thanks Tony.

[cobrajet25]

Apr 28, 2020 17:19:09 GMT -8 yorkiesknob said:

Are the orange ones hard to find,and is yahoo to the best site to find them. What price range to they command?

Thanks Tony.

Yeah, but the mint green one is easily the rarest.  Yahoo is the best place.  I paid about $225 for mine, another really nice one sold for $183 the other day, and one with boxes and papers sold for $314.

That is way cheaper than Ebay, but prices are kind of all over the place.

[yorkiesknob]

Thanks for the reply. I tried going into yahoo but it seems I'm blocked . but had access a couple of months ago. My son is teaching in Japan so I will ask him to have a search for me. The mail in and out of Japan is all over the place at the moment. I sent a couple of his old beater watches to him  4 weeks from here in Brisbane and they are held in 'quarantine' over there by Japan Post, so not delivered yet.

[cobrajet25]

Apr 28, 2020 22:47:04 GMT -8 yorkiesknob said:

Thanks for the reply. I tried going into yahoo but it seems I'm blocked . but had access a couple of months ago. My son is teaching in Japan so I will ask him to have a search for me. The mail in and out of Japan is all over the place at the moment. I sent a couple of his old beater watches to him  4 weeks from here in Brisbane and they are held in 'quarantine' over there by Japan Post, so not delivered yet.

Yeah, I am not sure I'd even try getting anything out of Japan right now.  But hey, there may be really good deals to be had, and for the right watch at the right price I'd let it sit in a Japanese warehouse for a month.

[stuart]

I made my orange dial 7548 into a Tuna TST. The original hands were in poor shape so I thought since it wouldnt be original anymore, why not do something a little different with it

[sewingman]

Just two for me, got to be my favorite watches......Bob.

 

[rainier]

Here's my pair of JDM 7548's, still waiting on my orange 700C that's stuck in Tokyo with Japan Post.

Love these watches, and such perfect case dimensions.

[seiko2019]

7548s are a definite favorite.

Great value for money, nice to wear and mine have proven to be very accurate.

Four in the collection so far: 7548-701A (1984), 7548-7010 (1984), 7548-7000 (1980) and 7548-700B (1980)

[yorkiesknob]

Seems like my Pepsi one is quite an early issue . July 1978. Anyone have one around that time. The Pepsi dial looks like it has a black dial under normal light. Put it in the sunshine ,take a photo and the blue really pops. Cheers Tony

[cobrajet25]

Apr 30, 2020 0:48:31 GMT -8 yorkiesknob said:

Seems like my Pepsi one is quite an early issue . July 1978. Anyone have one around that time. The Pepsi dial looks like it has a black dial under normal light. Put it in the sunshine ,take a photo and the blue really pops. Cheers Tony

I have a black one from April, 1978.  It is the 'scruffy' 7548 that I took the battery strap screw from.  I believe it was the very first 7548 I ever bought...back before I knew what I was buying.  2005, maybe?

[pip]

I have one in pieces at the moment, it’s my first and currently only 7548. I stripped the hands the other day ready to relume as they were too gritty for my taste.
Like you cobrajet25 it has a broken screw stuck in the plate where the battery strap should be (but isn’t). I’ve tried to get it out and tried to use allum but no joy. Short of buying a Bergeon screw extractor I’m gonna need a new plate.

[cobrajet25]

Apr 30, 2020 3:29:44 GMT -8 pip said:

I have one in pieces at the moment, it’s my first and currently only 7548. I stripped the hands the other day ready to relume as they were too gritty for my taste.
Like you cobrajet25 it has a broken screw stuck in the plate where the battery strap should be (but isn’t). I’ve tried to get it out and tried to use allum but no joy. Short of buying a Bergeon screw extractor I’m gonna need a new plate.

Yeah, you can just swap in an entire 7546 movement minus the third wheel bridge and circuit block.  Trainwheels, keyless works, coil, everything else is the same as a 7546.  I messed with trying to get the screw out for a while but then realized I was doing more damage to the plate in the process.

Much easier to just replace everything that wasn't 7548-specific as unit.