SKX007 spruce up.

Adverts purchase for fifteen lids, "for repair needs a stem"....mmmm

Potential easy fix for the youngin and I to play with but expected it to harbour worse problems than that.

We got lucky in that the remains of the stem was not still buried in the module. Stripping that to remove it would have been at the outer edge of my enthusiasm/skills for our project. Stems are not available from casio and it they can break if you're a muppet during battery changes. We managed to find a German supplier selling crowns. He only had red so himself painted it black.

Other issues were wrong batteries fitted and their housing a little bent (easy fix), it wasn't sounding and after investigation the peizo spring contact was not touching the board and the caseback ground was folded back into the case. Once these were sorted its voice was back. Loud alarm!!

One caseback screw hole was borderline threaded, still kinda nipping up but we wanted it right so removed the case back, half filled the stripped hole with epoxy and screwed in the screw all the way with a light coating of oil on it. Hr later we backed the screw out and now it's perfect.

Other than that we US cleaned everything that could be, new greased gaskets and went though the calibration and set up procedures and it's working A1, mad seeing the hands rotate counter clockwise independently about the dial for given functions. There's not a mark on it really and passed the pressure test no bother.

All in cost for project G-SHOCK GA-400-1BJF was 55 euro (crown was mega expensive at 36 quid). Himselfs delighted but even he thinks it's too big. Anyway, fun was had and that was the point of the exercise, that and a watch is working again.

Here it is on my 21cm wrist lol

Wear the newer one for a day, you might resurrect it. The older almost certainly needs a battery I'd say.

Thanks Jefferson, seeing your tasty new in box SCED003 lately and commenting on it was a portent of this purchase somehow. Like field of dreams ha!

I'm liking the sapphire in it, its obvs such an immediate improvement over the old crystal and the clear ar coating showcases the dial. Before the swop I thought I was going to have to repaint the hands (was going to use lume) as they appeared so dull but it was just the crystal.

I'm on the hunt for the bracelet but so too is every bishop owner it seems. The problem with this watch is how little relief there is for anything but the thinnest of bracelets to fit the recessed lugs. You can't even get a nato in.

I'd seen this on some vintage casios also so I trimmed an fkm strap for one with a razor blade to make it fit the lugs. I opted for a bigger (lugs) one as it meant a wider flare out which I cut in line with the case on the one side as a nod to Giugiaro's asymmetric bracelet. I gave the cut edges a run with a soldering iron to make them look normal.

Lastly there's another bishop for sale abroad (with full bracelet!) but listed as faulty movement. It's going cheap enough and I think I can see why it's chrono second hand is faulty, the centre second finger tension spring is misaligned, a simple fix! Either that or it's a trap for eegits like me to think that lol. I may roll the dice.

5740-8000, seikos first hi beat, and very nearly the world's but for Girard-Perregaux beating them by a whisker. The latter is noteworthy as not solely an in house effort whereas the seiko is.

My first hi beat and it's quite a thing to behold, the sweep is cool as hell, all ten beats per second of them, 5 Hz doing it's thing. This movement was the basis for the king seiko chronometer and some grand seikos I believe.

I was weeks looking at this one advertised humming and hawing, the add was uninspiring. I asked if we could meet with a view to seeing it run on the time grapher. I did this as they tend to need mainsprings (low amplitude) and can suffer wear as are beating away madly at 36k with a high torque movement.

Long story short this was serviced recently (seller insisted it was serviced by a specialist abroad but had no proof) and it's running superbly. The delta for all six positions is seven seconds with strong amplitude everywhere. For reference, the new elaborated grade eta2824 I fitted to my mates tudor didn't return them figures. I've timed a max wind and on wrist I got 48 hrs 28mins which is perfect, it gained three seconds.

Case is sharp and unpolished with very forgivable swirlies, dial is near mint and likewise hands. The acrylic seems to have been changed during the service as is unmarked.

This one is 51yo in may so 74. Unfortunately in this Yr they switched from the more attractive horseshoe caseback to the generic looking bleh one this has.

As these movements are fairly historic horologically speaking and are handwinding, (so no rotor to hide their frilly knickers) I decided to plumb for one of the lapinist's sweet zaratsu polished milled sapphire crystal display case backs. Ordinarily I'm not a fan of display case backs but then again this ain't no nh and his is majestic lol. Been an admirer of his work, here's a write up on the chap, quite the boyo and his case work is awesome!

Its mates up perfectly but his supplied gasket was a mm too big, I had one in stock. I think looks gorgeous, could watch that hairsping doing it's mad dance all day. Never seen one go that fast.

The oe caseback has at least three service marks in utterly unintelligible script which I promptly packed away safely for prosperity. Nice to know it's been cared for and I intend to do likewise. I have some decent 19mm straps inbound but am enjoying the hell out it. It's a lovely counter point to my 76 king quartz.

Yea it's a bit of a feat of engineering all right, even the sound of it ticking is almost comically fast. It's pretty single minded, no hacking, auto, day/date, seems the brief was focused on showcasing their hi beat 5740c and grammar of design styling. All good by me!

The regulation adjustment does look exacting, at the moment there's no need to go at it tho, the chap who serviced it set it better than I could. Incidentally the seller got back to me with details of the man himself, he's well regarded watch maker in Croatia.

Size is 35mm x 9mm x 42 l2l, compact but wears well I think, even on my wrist lol.

Thanks Wibbs, it sure was an interesting time for the watch world with the quartz menace looming on the horizon. Seiko sure seemed to be hothousing many fresh approaches and seemed to relish in the coming change, a heyday period imo.

Unfortunately their current line up in the mid/lower upper tier is lacking in comparison. If I was inclined to buy one in a shop it would have to be a L movement piece which ain't in that bracket. Under 2k you're getting heritage/styling and finish. The new spb polygonal divers look like an aquaracer homage and again movement wise you're a bit shortchanged. Would love to see them take a few risks!

Capacitor/battery change on a kinetic. It's a 5m82 movement, 6 jewels, 32,768hz. With the rotor and weight gear wheel off you can get at the battery clamp plate.

Ready to fit the new battery.

The battery cover has what appears to be a small ground that contacts a small pin. You can see it above at 7oclock.

After buttoning it up I eventually got it to full power. Gave the case a clean and light polish, the bracelet an ultrasonic bath and brush.

Sorted. Nice watch and wears very well.