[SERVICE] Possibly The Roughest SEIKO 6139 Restoration? - PART 1

[@MyRetroWatches]

Will be good to see how you get on. I’m still to do a 6139 and need to break my duck. I’ve a nice 6139a to do which I think will run again although I am still a bit worried about the rebuild, especially hand fitting ( someone lent me one of your 6139 movement holders) I’ve also a helmet to do but the chrono wheel 6139b is proving hard to find at an affordable price. Watching with interest Adrian

[@hal0eight]

The 6139 goes together pretty well. Most of the zeroing issues are not due to the centre wheel, it really only has 2 main forms of failure which is the 4th wheel detaching and the clutch spring breaking. Most of the other issues are due to finger adjustment, the top pivot jewel being pushed out of place or a loose sweep hand. Sweep hands can be tightened in lathe collets (preferably).

[@thewristwatchexperience8153]

Enjoyable video - love these chrono's. Thanks for showing.

[@hal0eight]

No worries, thanks for watching!

[@michaelcannon3172]

hi. Great video . purchased a broken 6139- 6002 from auction £110..GPB.one pusher and the winding balance loose in the bag. thanks to your very informative info pusher back in. working fine. sweep hand zeros perfectly . day/ date ok .inner ring rotating but badly faded hands are original . i have the dark blue/black dial but the sweep hand looks yellow. second hand red teardrop shape. i think i need a spring for the pusher i just put back. movement is good still ticks away even though i have no means of winding yet . need the correct screw to hold the winder in. keep up the good work. coming to Aussie in January for a couple of months proper summer. Cheers.

[@hal0eight]

Geday, Those issues should be fairly simple to put right. There's a guy on Ebay "seikosis" that sells a fantastic reproduction of the rotating ring. It is basically perfect and it's difficult to impossible to pick it from an original part. The screw for the rotor is easily found and can be taken from any 61 series movement. The hands can be restored to the original colour. The blue dial uses a "tomato red" hand, which is very slightly orange. The yellow dial uses a blood red hand. Sounds good on the AU trip, careful of snakes, spiders and drop bears.

[@michaelcannon3172]

@@hal0eight Thank for advice, already sourced the pusher springs , fitted and working well still trying to locate a rotor screw. All the best.

[@hal0eight]

@@michaelcannon3172 Sounds good. You'll sort it out in no time!

[@IBNR1]

Great video, I look forward to the rest in this series. I see from your reply to a comment below that you plan on doing the arbor jewels during the rebuild...I would really, really love to see a "how-to" video on that process! I have a lot of 6309s and 6306s that need it done and I'd love to learn how to do it myself...I have the proper tool set, but haven't worked up the courage to try it yet. Also, any idea when you might have more of the jewel sets back in stock and available for purchase? Thanks!

[@hal0eight]

Geday, I think we already spoke, got those in again early December. I will put up a video when I have some time to film it on how to install.

[@Onez_1]

Iv not got one of these but still interesting to watch.

[@alexj6408]

Do you think it will need the arbor jewel? Do you see problems with the tip of the centre seconds wheel? I also noticed there are heaps of variations of chrono plates and wheel heights in different market 6139s. Makes it annoying to mix and match.

[@hal0eight]

I do the arbor jewels all the time now if it's a relevant watch as nearly all of them have wear or the early signs of it. It's simply future proofing and saves time. Before I started doing this, You could spend ages trying to track down running problems and trying to determine if it's a balance or mainspring issue. The jewelling solved more than half of the tricky jobs like this. On the plates, they are reasonably straightforward. You can't interchange the A series centre wheels with the B series. The top plates are different for A and B, but the bottom plate is the same. The 21j version has a diafix setting on the dial side of the train plate so uses a slightly different escape wheel to the 17j part. You can sub an escape wheel from a 6119 if you need to replace it. The main difference is the pivots are slightly longer and flat on the end. The B variant is better as it doesn't have the "jumpy pin" issue on the hammer pin and it has a cam screw for hammer adjustment. The revised operating lever not only eliminates "jumpy pin" but also doesn't wear like the A variant. The process to replace the operating lever on a worn A variant is a pain. You can swap in a centre wheel and top plate from a B onto an A if it's stuffed and it will work OK.

[@tods.9947]

Hey Adrian, great video, thanks for this. Do you reuse the pusher springs?

[@hal0eight]

Usually yes. Sometimes they have lost a few coils due to rust or a previous repairer has replaced them with a paperclip or something, in which case they would be replaced.

[@dhc4ever]

Can anyone else quietly hear AVE in the back of their minds when it wont focus?

[@hal0eight]

That works, I have a monotonous and dissatisfied voice like his, I'll buy that.