Hello everyone from Perth Australia

[cllu75]

So we moved house a year or so ago and as I was unpacking one of the last small boxes that tend to get forgotten about during a move. Sitting in the bottom of the box was a Seiko 6M25-6000 my old man gave me when I was in my mid teens sometime in the 90’s.

Thing needed a battery and I thought why not have a crack at changing it yourself and see if it was still working. Pulled the old battery out and no corrosion. Order a new battery online and as I’m going to put the battery clamp screws (Seiko part number 012039 in case anyone has any lying around) back into the clamp I learnt my first valuable lesson in watchmaking. Too much pressure with tweezers on a small watch part launches said part into orbit.

Being frustrated at my I’ll thought out plan and passion fingered efforts I decided to try and source the part to replace it and started into the world of calibre technical guides and part numbers and it turned into a rabbit hole for me. Being a fitter by trade when I found mechanical movements and Seiko watches you could modify it all made so much sense just in a smaller scale. So I’ve jumped in feet first and have started with getting some beat up 7s36 movements to start pulling apart and putting back together to learn what to do and what not to do and I’ve found a thing that I’m not too bad at that lets me quiet my mind and the world around me.

So anyway I decided that I’d like to refurbish my 6M26-6000 and have also tracked some other used parts, watches and movements for parts and am building one out of parts for my daughter so hopefully when she is rumaging around in a box one day in the future she might find a watch and at least have a good memory of it and hopefully me.

Now back to that cursed battery clamp screw if anyone has a 012039 battery clamp screw lying around feel free to get in touch with me because for the life of me I can’t find one online and have resorted to still trying to find the original every time I find myself spending time one my hands and knees with a flashlight on the floor of my study looking for dropped parts.

I’m also chasing a few other random parts for the watch like gaskets for buttons and the like perhaps I’ll put a WTB post up.

Thanks for approving my account and thanks to everyone that posts here regularly it’s a great source of information that helps my tinkering a lot.

Clint

[dapellegrini]

Welcome! I know all about parts flying into oblivion. Have you tried rolling a magnet around the area? I’ve found more than a couple parts that way.

[cllu75]

Yes I have and still to no avail. Every I go hunting for this little white day jumpers and that inevitably get stuck to the date or day disk I take the magnet too. It will pop up someday or I’ll find the part online.

Tinkering with watches has also taught me patience and precision are required above productivity especially due to the small tolerances and part sizes involved with mechanical movements. I think I spent near on a whole day trying to fit hands perfectly the first time I tried. A majority of that was spent trying to work out if I actually got that second hand correctly seated on its post before I decided to press it fully home. I think I just about did a backflip when it started moving if it’s own accord as soon as it was home

[inboost]

Welcome cllu75! You're well into the hobby for sure. I can attest to your triumphs and tribulations as can many other here

Good on your for working that 6M25 yourself, it's obviously already paid dividends even though the screw remains elusive. Battery straps and their screws are probably one of the most abused and misplaced sets of parts so the trouble you're having is understandable. Have you tried fitting other screws from the scrap movements to see if they are 'close enough' for the job?

I'll also personally attest to getting your daughter involved as a rewarding experience. My 18 year old Daughter loves many of the watches I work on and has taken a true liking to the gifts from Dad. The neat part is that ladies watches are so much less expensive on the second hand market you can get some really awesome machines for next to nothing. Many of which are hardly used at all.

I'm just now working on a beautiful green dialed 2706-0370 I got for just under $10 US! It was running when it arrived too! It's in need of service (apart now) and the downside to the unpopularity is difficulty in finding the bespoke parts (smaller variants of everything in a mans watch). I'll probably have $150 into the watch by the time I'm done with it but it will go on forever and my Wife will wear it and enjoy it with great pride. It's a lot of fun to take those wrist shots with loved ones, so press on and enjoy the fruits of your labors!

Inboost

[rossr]

Welcome Clint, there are a few a few Perth-based members on the forum, including myself.

[cllu75]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone I really appreciate it

[cd_god]

[cllu75]

Oh and I should have done this with my intro post. The latest addition to my collection I finally got my hands on a SARB065 for a reasonable price locally here in Perth. This dial is amazing

[dapellegrini]

Wow that is nice.  And in the second photo it looks like you might be driving on the sidewalk...  Is that something everyone does in Australia, or maybe you were just so taken with this dial (I see how that could happen) ?  

 

[cllu75]

Mar 2, 2022 8:08:16 GMT -8 dapellegrini said:

Wow that is nice.  And in the second photo it looks like you might be driving on the sidewalk...  Is that something everyone does in Australia, or maybe you were just so taken with this dial (I see how that could happen) ?  

 

Seems the need to have a driving shot of your watch > the needs of pedestrians right of way 🤣