16-Point Check (Seiko 11A, #2)

My new watch that I worked on (and finished) today was another Seiko 11 A. Since this was my second one that I was working on, I was confident that I would be able to get this one taken care of in a relatively efficient manner. When I got the watch, it was timed out pretty well, but it didn’t have any kickback. When I opened the watch up, there was a pretty distinct lack of lubrication, which made me want to chalk the missing kickback to that (at least until I got a chance to take a look at the mainspring).

One thing I don’t like about this watch are the dial feet screws. Instead of being inserted perpendicular to the movement like a lot of the movements I have worked on, these screws insert parallel to the movement. The last time I had screws like these, I spent a good few minutes trying to get the screws back in place. This time, instead of taking the screws out, I screwed them all the way tight before cleaning the movement. It was a lot less frustrating trying to get the dial back on when I was done.

I was pretty eager to pull the barrel out and get a look at it. The mainspring was in pretty good shape, so I went back to my original theory about the dry oil causing the lack of kickback. Everything else came apart and, after cleaning, went back together pretty easily. I went ahead and reassembled the movement without oiling the gear train and double checked the kickback. There was none. After I oiled the gear train, the kickback was great.

After finishing the oiling and reassembling, I regulated the movement. This took a little extra time because the beat regulator and the regulator were very tight. Since this was a small movement and was balanced precariously in the timing machine, I had to see what it was doing and then take it off the Witschi and put it into my movement holder, adjust it, and repeat until I got it timed properly. It was worth the “hassle.”

For comparison, here is the original timing tape

Not bad. As you can see, even with the lack of kickback, the watch wasn’t in horrible shape. Of course, when I ran my first tape, I thought it was, but once I realized that it had almost no wind on it which would explain the bad tape I got (you’ll see it below). Also, it was a good example of how the mainspring affects the rate results.