I currently have comfortably more than 50 completed projects, quite a number of which rarely worn. 50+ watches is frankly far too many and something has to give. What you see below are nine that I’ve selected for sale, with probably at least as many again that I could be persuaded to part with. The photographs below link to the original blog posts and the condition as shown in the ‘after’ shots in those articles is in every case, representative of the condition of the watches today. More information (now including prices and updates on availability) can be found in the ‘For Sale’ tab found at ..read more

In part 1, we made our introductions and rendered one rather beautiful Citizen Ace Parawater into its constituent parts.  Most of our attention in part 1 has concerned the movement and so let us now turn our spotlight onto the case.  This being an early example of a Parawater, Citizen’s first waterproof watch, it seems fitting that we should attempt to imbue it with some degree of water resistance, at the very least sufficient to resist day-to-day splashes and unintentional dunks.  To achieve this, we need to attend to two areas:  shoring up the defences against water ingre ..read more

Although the title of this blog does not identify its main source of horological inspiration, it is fair to say that by a comfortable, indeed overwhelming, margin, the focus of attention for this watch fettler has been vintage Seiko watches dating from the period 1959 to about 1979.  The documented exploration herein of the riches of Seiko output from this wonderful period is saved from complete one-track-mindedness by regular forays into other pastures that have included content featuring watches from Breitling, CWC, Girard-Perregaux, Omega, Rolex, Silvana, Tudor, Orient and Citizen as w ..read more

You know, I do realise that this thing here, this documentation of activity spanning the past 14 years, skirts the borders of unhealthy obsession but at the same time, conversely, I reckon it keeps me relatively sane.  However, in recognition of the mismatch between time available and time required to make a dent in the backlog, for most of this past year I have consciously pulled back from adding further to the ginormous pile of pent up vintage Seiko potential and have limited myself, mostly, to the purchase of parts, as required, and the occasional tool.  Between January and Octobe ..read more

The emergence of Grand Seiko as a high-end brand with staying-power took some time to resolve convincingly:  four years passed between the introduction of the first Grand Seiko in 1960 and its follow-up, the 57GS Self-Dater in 1964.  A further three years were to pass before the third generation Grand Seikos appeared: the automatic high-beat 61GS models and the low-beat 44GS three-hander, effectively the replacement of the original 3180.  However, in both cases, these new Grand Seiko-branded watches were adaptations or evolutions of, respectively, existing Seikomatic and King Se ..read more

In common with many amateur watchsmiths, my early experiences with engine room interventions were largely concerned with revivification and modification of properly ropey old Seiko divers’ watches.  Some of those projects were sourced from job lots of junk from eBay dealers and some from whatever I could dredge up from private eBay auctions or watch forum sales corners.  That was an innocent time in the sense that it preceded the era in which old watches became regarded more for their potential for integration into an investment portfolio than for the pleasure they might offer to an ..read more

Occasionally I ruminate over what combination of features might contribute to rendering the perfect watch.  This is, of course, a fruitless undertaking because the only way to achieve that nirvana is not to allow yourself you be dragged down the whole horological rabbit hole in the first place and make do with one watch in the way that the vast majority of watch wearers do quite happily.  Nevertheless, let’s indulge the premise of the exercise. What do I like in a watch?  Well, let’s tick things off by category and see where we get to. Modern or vintage:  Vintage. Era:&nbs ..read more

I am one of those weirdos who buy old watches to use as they were originally intended.  I buy watches that I like or that I find interesting.  I am not interested in collecting really but seem to have acquired a collection.  I have no interest in acquiring watches as a speculative endeavour, as part of an investment portfolio, but I have certainly benefited from inflation in the value of the watches that I own.  I don’t particularly see the attraction of buying mint or old stock examples although I own examples of both.  I like to wear my watches.  I like to add t ..read more

Seiko’s first wholly in-house automatic movement was the Gyro Marvel, developed in 1959 as an evolution of the Marvel/Laurel hand-wind movement.  This was the first Seiko automatic to feature Seiko’s proprietary magic lever mechanism that enables bidirectional transmission of power from the rotation of the winding weight to the mainspring.  The addition of the automatic winding module to the already quite tall Marvel (4.40 mm) resulted in a movement 6.55 mm thick and a watch that could not exactly be described as exactly sleek. Seiko Gyro Marvel J14051 from 1960: the first appearance ..read more

The outcome of the question posed in the previous post and elsewhere produced a surprise, to me at least, and by a comfortable margin. The winner of that ‘people’s vote’ is the blue-dialed KS Hi-Beat 5626-7041. The first and second runner’s up honours went to two Grand Seikos, both of which will feature here sooner rather than later. The third runner up was the 6105-8110 and so one (or maybe both) of the 6105 projects may find themselves the focus of my attention in 2022. Thanks to everyone who contributed so positively to my appeal for help and, along the way, to making my last post of 202 ..read more