I gave my Son a Seiko SNZH53 as his first proper watch. Previously he said “why do I need a watch? I’ve got a clock on my mobile phone”
Last night, after being out with some friends he ended up walking home as the local taxi’s had all finished. Yes he’d had a drink or three. We live in a village in the country, most lanes are not lit and with a load of cloud cover last night was very dark.
On one of the particularly hilly sections he’s ended up falling over in the dark. Numerous cuts and bruises and a very broken watch.
Question is do I get it fixed or consign it to the “man draw”? It’s no longer working. The crystal in the case back is broken. The endlinks are distorted, the springbars bent and there’s numerous gravel rash marks on the lugs and the bracelet.
Thoughts welcome
Bracelet and crystal should be an easy enough fix, hopefully the broken crystal is all that is stopping it and there is no heavy damage to the movement.
As for the gouges on the case, depending on how deep they are and how much it bothers you, personally I would refinish to get the lighter ones out and let the watch wear the deeper ones with pride. (gives the watch some character)
PM me if you want it looked over
Last edited by animalone; 20th August 2018 at 23:53.
Scrap it and don't replace it.
First of all, hope your son is well and not too seriously injured.
Personally I would restore it (yes it may cost more to do so than the watch is worth), always nice to keep a piece like this in the family. How does your son feel about wearing that watch again, assuming it is fixed!
Hope he is ok. His pride I’d probably a bit bruised as well as the Watch.
I personally wouldn’t get it fixed.
You've not told us what your son thinks - it's his watch and if he's not particularly attached to it then it might be an unnecessary expense to fix or replace it.
On the other hand, if he's bonded with it, then perhaps he could be persuaded to divert some beer money towards getting it repaired.
I don't know how much a repair would be, but given the cost of a replacement and the fact that it's still readily available, I suspect a repair would be a heart vs head decision.
Thanks for the replies
Apart from the cuts, bruises and damaged pride he seems ok. He does want to either get this one fixed or buy a replacement asap. Apparently he cannot function properly now without a watch
I removed the back and quite a bit of debris fell out but sadly the movement isn’t working. The oscillating weight does move but not as freely as it should. I’m not trying to force it in case of further damage. Shame that the movement doesn’t hack.
I'd be tempted to get the movement out (you need to press in a little pin on the movement to get the stem and crown out) and then maybe remove the rotor) to see if anything else falls out.
I've dabbled with these movements and will take a look if you like - I'm not a watch maker though, so I'm not saying I can repair it, but if it's not working, you don't have much to lose.
A new watch from Creation is only £110ish, so just replace it - A proper repair and new back, etc, will cost you more, I suspect.
M
Wow it must have been a bad one, glad to hear he is OK.
Unfortunately it is difficult to decide even whether to service or get a new one with entry level Seiko's in UK as workmanship is relatively expensive (not watchmakers' fault -it is a country parameter). If it has sentimental value, of course it is easier to decide. If it was me and it would cost less or about the same money to repair it, I think I would repair it. Maybe you can try to get a quote?
Blimey, he must have hit the deck hard. Glad he is OK.
Personally I would just replace it, unless it had strong sentimental value. But that would be your sons call, as you did of course buy it for him.
Movement will need totally stripping to be sure there are no glass fragments anywhere. Don’t try turning the rotor or doing anything with it, it could make it worse. Seikos are straightforward to fix and the movements are v. robust.
If Animalone’s offered to help I’d take him up on it. I’m taking no work on for a few weeks (months possibly) so I’m in no position to sort it out.
I dread to think what he was doing to damage it so extensively, it’s had one hell of a whack. Maybe he’d be better off with a G shock?
Paul
Similar story, I've given my son a Seiko flieger, SNK805. Couple of weeks ago he went swimming with friends and took the watch off. After swimming he pulled out his shirt from a pile of clothes and the watch flew out and hit the ground. The 5-logo on the dial got stuck in the date window, a rotor screw was lose etc. It cost me 10e at the local watchmaker to have it fixed (it's now only a Seiko, not a Seiko 5 ;). Like your son, mine didn't like to be without his watch and was very happy to get it back.
The watch cost less than 100 euros and I did consider not having it fixed as I expected it to be more costly. Now after this I feel I will just keep having the watch repaired if something happens to it.
I thought that I’d update this thread with the outcome.
My Lad decided to order a replacement watch via Amazon, exactly the same version of the one he smashed. This coincided with me sending the damaged one off to Animalone for appraisal.
Several PMs were exchanged with progress reports of the the watch being stripped, debris being removed, movement being sorted out. etc.
A new caseback was secured via The Bay from a bloke in Poland as Seiko UK were saying four weeks for delivery. This was then sent straight up to Edinburgh.
The new replacement watch was sent back to Amazon and the original arrived back this week. I saw it very briefly last night (I’ve been away with work most of this week). I had to look quite closely to believe that it was the same smashed up piece that was sent away! On first glance it looks like new again.
The scratched crystal has been replaced, end links straightened out, new caseback fitted and most of the scuffs and scratches polished out including most of the desk dives. It is amazing what Animalone has done. When you look really closely it bears a small number of scars giving it that little bit of character that we all love"
I’ll hopefully get the thing off of his wrist to photograph the evidence and post it up here tomorrow. This may prove to be a bit of a challenge as he’s so happy to have “his” watch back - I’ll have to remind him it’s mine really
I really cannot thank Animalone enough for what he has done for us, absolute Hero!
As I said; pics to follow tomorrow
Originally Posted by NigeG
I thought that I’d update this thread with the outcome.
My Lad decided to order a replacement watch via Amazon, exactly the same version of the one he smashed. This coincided with me sending the damaged one off to Animalone for appraisal.
Several PMs were exchanged with progress reports of the the watch being stripped, debris being removed, movement being sorted out. etc.
A new caseback was secured via The Bay from a bloke in Poland as Seiko UK were saying four weeks for delivery. This was then sent straight up to Edinburgh.
The new replacement watch was sent back to Amazon and the original arrived back this week. I saw it very briefly last night (I’ve been away with work most of this week). I had to look quite closely to believe that it was the same smashed up piece that was sent away! On first glance it looks like new again.
The scratched crystal has been replaced, end links straightened out, new caseback fitted and most of the scuffs and scratches polished out including most of the desk dives. It is amazing what Animalone has done. When you look really closely it bears a small number of scars giving it that little bit of character that we all love"
I’ll hopefully get the thing off of his wrist to photograph the evidence and post it up here tomorrow. This may prove to be a bit of a challenge as he’s so happy to have “his” watch back - I’ll have to remind him it’s mine really
I really cannot thank Animalone enough for what he has done for us, absolute Hero!
As I said; pics to follow tomorrow
What a wonderful story! Can't wait to see the pictures!
Pictures as promised
New crystal fitted
Underside of lugs nicely refinished
Caseback is the original one using the crystal and seal from donor part sourced from Poland - keeping originality
Marks on the side of the Bracelet removed
Desk dives gone
It lives💀
Gray
Great to see and I would have had it sorted as well, I hate to see fixable Watches scrapped.
Well done to all concerned.
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