9531 HAQ movement running fast; easy fix?

[7s26]

Hi everyone. Currently looking at a birthyear Seiko with a 9531 quartz movement. My knowledge of HAQ is next to none (looks like the 9531 caliber is a HAQ).



Saw a gorgeous example, but seller says it's running very fast. Would this be an easy fix/adjustment for a watchmaker? Were these movements meant to be serviceable (like the 7548's, 7c43's, etc.)? Thanks.

[trilo]

This should be a +/- 20 spy (seconds per year) movement.

I'd say that a small deviation would be ok, as one can adjust the accurcy, but considerable and noticeable deviation is definitely something to take in account, when buying a quartz watch, especially HAQ pieces.

My guess is that some one has tweaked the movement accidentally or there is something wrong with the crystal.

Maybe inboost would have a more detailed answer?

EDIT: What does the seller consider to be "running too fast"? (5 seconds a day or 5 second a month).

[7s26]

Mar 30, 2024 10:07:01 GMT -8 trilo said:

This should be a +/- 20 spy (seconds per year) movement.

I'd say that a small deviation would be ok, as one can adjust the accurcy, but considerable and noticeable deviation is definitely something take in account, when buying a quartz watch, especially HAQ pieces.

My guess is that some one has tweaked the movement accidentally or there is something wrong with the crystal.

Maybe inboost would have a more detailed answer?

EDIT: What does the seller cosideres to be "running too fast"? (5 seconds a day or 5 second a month).

Thanks for the reply. Here is a video which shows the ticking speed of the Dolce I am considering. 

imgur.com/a/Kdy4r7H

[inboost]

I don't have a good answer, but I would say I have concern. The trimmer capacitor systems in these watches are usually capable of adding up to a second or two per day. That means 2 more or less than 86,400 steps in a day. You can not see that by eye, not even close. So the fact this one is stepping so fast makes me think something is very off. The most obvious would be a voltage problem, like a 3v cell got fitted in a 1.5v watch or at service some kind of mixup was made in the wheel train. That is all relatively easily correctable. The other might be a defect in the crystal oscillator. This would be a pro level repair. I'd want to have it opened and the inside photographed clearly (not blurry) before making a purchase decision myself. The seller would be even more helpful if he could get it on a test machine to show what the movement was calculating for time steps.

[victor]

It's tough to tell because of the way the camera is moving around, but it does look fast.  Cosmetically, from what I can see, it looks nice, but it's kinda difficult to tell from your video.

If there's a problem with that one, I'd pass.  Dolce are one of the overlooked late-70s / early-80s quartz, which means they're undervalued outside of Japan and you can typically get a good deal on them on Yahoo.jp.  I like them and have a few, but I would skip on buying any that look to be out of sorts, simply because it's easy enough to find one that isn't.

[trilo]

Oh, it's that bad (video could be longer)... I thought he had it measured over a period of time and concluded that it runs too fast. And by crystal I was referring to the quartz crystal (aka oscillator).

What inboost and victor said.

I'd steer clear unless it's something ridicilous, like 20$, but I doubt it is.

However, it'd be nice to trouble shoot it, as I have never seen a quartz watch do that! Shame I couldn't find a manual, it would tell if there was a function of some sort causing the behaviour, but I doubt it.

[7s26]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll stay clear of this one.

The positive outcome is that I've gone down 80's Seiko/Credor quartz movements. So many quirky, and underappreciated models out there.