Another newby from Sydney Australia

[jahm]

Hi all.  Whilst cleaning up the house I found my old Seiko 6138 - 8020 (panda) that was bought new for me in 1974 and I thought instead of restoring old MG's (we're downsizing the house), for my retirement, I'll go smaller and put my hand to pulling apart and putting back together watches. The bug is now in me. 
I've completed an ELMA super elite cleaning machine and picked up an automatic Swiss technic vibrasonic which, I understand, was used by a lot of the Bulova service teams.  All I need to do now is learn how to put these things back together properly.  I'm sure the members here will be a fund of information.  Cheers for now, John 

PS I also WTB a link or 2 for a Seiko 6139-7020 XGA-141 bracelet but at the moment I can't post of the buy/sell/trade section.  Have not worked out why yet, but will try to sort it out

[dapellegrini]

Welcome!

[inboost]

Hey there jahm, welcome aboard! Looks like you've gotten some great cleaning equipment there. Cleanliness is super important so those are great investments in the hobby for sure. Don't be afraid to post about your service work and ask for help - we all like to chip in where we can!

Inboost

[victor]

Welcome!  You'll find they're quite easy to take apart.  Getting them back together is a bit more challenging.  Fortunately there are several folk here who can assist with knowledge of these.  Looking forward to seeing your watches.

PS: posting in the buy/sell/trade section requires a minimum post count.  I think it's 50 posts, IIRC. 

[tritto]

Welcome Jahm. The 6138-8020 panda is a wonderful watch. Can I suggest you try your hand a servicing something simpler first - the 6138 is quite a complicated movement.

[leffemonster]

Welcome to the forum! +1 on the 6138 being complicated to service - I’ve had one in bits for about 3 years now 

[Fergus]

Welcome.

Photograph every stage of disassembly.

This really aids assembly.

Do you have the Technical sheets for the 6138. If not then go here, myretrowatches.co.uk/seiko-data-sheets/

[jahm]

Thanks all. Really appreciate the positive thoughts and responses. I entrusted my 8020 to Adrian at VTA and it looks great now. Being stubborn and with a can do attitude, I pulled apart my big blue 6138 0030 and managed to get it serviced and back together. Wearing it now.. amp around 240, zero to 0.1ms beat error Nd +- 5 sec a day. I was happy. I'm only cleaning and rebuilding ATM so the watch was already pretty good. I will get to diagnostics and actually fixing stuff down the track. Fun though. Just found a yellow and blue 7016-0011, so that will be on the cards soon. Cheers, John

[jahm]

Ps to Fergus... thanks i have managed to pick up the tech and parts manuals. They are marvellous. Couldn't do anything without a guide and lots of pictures

[cd_god]