A 1975 Seiko DX 6106-8729

 This installment features a Seiko DX 6106-8729 that has had a pretty rough paper route.  As the photos will clearly show, the case, bezel and crystal are somewhat the worse for wear and the movement hadn't been serviced in decades.

The DX is certainly not a "high end" watch but this one has significant sentimental value to its owner and he wanted it to look and function as new.  Is it "worth it" to put this kind of effort into such a pedestrian timepiece?  It was to him, and that's all that matters, no matter what any "experts" might say.  There is sometimes more to an item's value than "market price".

Let's get on with it then.

The watch, as it came in:

After disassembling the watch, it became apparent that the barrel arbor holes in the mainplate and train bridge were worn beyond serviceability.  This a common issue on 6106 movements used in Seiko's mid-tier watches.  The repair method is to upgrade to jeweled holes, as used in the higher-spec 61-series movements.

The mainplate is set up in the uprighting tool, using a shop-made holding fixture and the arbor hole is reamed, in .1mm increments, to the final size to accept the OEM Seiko jewel bearing.

The jewel bearing is then pressed in.

The train bridge uses a bushing for the barrel arbor.  This is pressed out and then the jewel bearing is pressed in.

With that done, the next item was servicing the barrel, which includes disassembly, cleaning, lubing and replacement of the mainspring with an NOS OEM part and reassembly of same.  The rest of the movement is cleaned, lubed and reassembled then set aside while I worked on the case.

Here is the case after many hours of hand work.  Seiko is known for their sharp case contours and (if you're not a hack) these must be preserved in the finished work.  The bezel was refinished in the lathe, starting with turning away the damage, then sunray brushing the face and finally, polishing the bevels.

After that was done. the caseback was treated in the same manner (minus the sunray brushing) and the case was cleaned and a new OEM crystal was installed.

The dial and hands were carefully cleaned, the new OEM seals were lubed and installed and the watch can be reassembled.

The final step is to clean up the bracelet and clasp, correct and polish the deformed endlinks and install the bracelet with new springbars.