Reply With QuoteLooks lovely and well done to you for saving it,love these kind of posts..Duncan is indeed a craftsman.
So I have always fancied a Seiko 6139 gold Pogue and have almost gone for a few that have came up on SC, then back in August this year a January 1971 with a blue dial came up at a good price, I thought I would give it a try so was pleased I managed to get it, not sure we can call this a Pogue as that's really the gold one isn't it so lets go with 6139..
It arrived as described and with a bonus bracelet that is the more rare president style, now I like to give my watches a clean as only then do they feel like they are mine - bit weird I know! But I'm glad a did as this had many years of wrist grime in the bracelet, end links, behind the pushers and crown, really gross but satisfying seeing it all come off in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Now I have fiddled with a few watches in the past and I'm confident taking out movements and crowns from cases so this was the job I needed to give it a proper clean.
Along with a good de-grime I could see the watch needed all new seals, a new minute register as yellow is not correct for this watch, new crystal, relume, and a good service especially as the chrono hand didn't quite reset to 12.00, most of this is way out my league so after a few emails it was on its way to Duncan Hewitt AKA TheWatchBloke, he's known for his work on old Seiko's so I was happy to see it go to him, he was very busy and mentioned it would take a while but I wasn't in any rush so long as it was properly sorted.
We now move to some of Duncans images, he sent me lots which is a lovely touch to any watch work.
How the watch was received, grey mouldy lume indices, yellow minute register, lume falling out of hour hand the list goes on..
The strip down starts.
Lume restoration.
New lume including the inner bezel 12 marker.
All cleaned and ready for rebuild.
New crystal and recased.
Having had it back a day I have already swapped lots of straps/bracelets and its a great watch that suits various styles, I'm going to try a navy blue Nato soon but currently really liking the rally style strap, the original bracelet looks good but it rattles somewhat!
All credit though goes to Duncan, he really has brought this early 1971 classic back to great health, here is a few words from him on what was carried out -
The service went well with basically just dirt and degraded lubrication to contend with, however there was a dial plate screw and casing spring missing so they've been replaced with new ones.
I've fitted a new reproduction crystal, I do have NOS ones but they are very expensive I'm afraid! I've replaced the pusher seals as they were hard as iron and didn't actually seal, I replaced the crown seal as it was missing and the caseback seal as it was the wrong type (o-ring instead of flat gasket). The watch has now passed a 5bar pressure test.
I've removed all the degraded old lume and relumed the dial and handset, I've also relumed the missing triangle on the inner bezel. Lastly I've fitted a NOS correct teardrop type red minute register hand and I've managed to adjust the sweep hand's pipe so it resets to 12 o'clock. The watch looks very smart now!
Hopefully you have made it this far and I haven't bored too many people but I know some of us find these threads good reading.
I'm super pleased with it and the work done, I know its never going to be pristine with the wabi on the bezel and case but it is 47 years old and I think it adds to the character, here are a few images of it being used for what its meant for..
Original bracelet.
Liking the rally leather.
Thanks for reading.
Looks lovely and well done to you for saving it,love these kind of posts..Duncan is indeed a craftsman.
Excellent job! Congrats!
That’s lovely, I’ve tried to get my hands on a couple of these but no joy yet. I will keep trying I’m sure, very cool.
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The guys on SCWF have started calling the blue dial the 'Cevert' after someone spotted Francois Cevert wearing one in an old pic. Expect every eBay listing for one to include a picture of a dead racing driver from now on.Originally Posted by murkeywaters
Thats interesting, found this pic of the man himself wearing the blue 6139, don't think I could pull off those shades and medallion though.
I found this info about Cevert and his 6139 very interesting. It would appear that he wore the watch a lot and on different straps.
http://wristsushi.proboards.com/thre...ert-seiko-6139
Great work BTW OP.
Last edited by estoban7; 8th December 2018 at 12:02.
My favourite type of post on TZ-UK! Lovely to see an old Seiko brought back to life.
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I enjoyed that write-up, thanks. Lovely old watch too - modern designs tend to be so much less distinctive.
Great post ,really does make me wonder why I sold mine
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I 'restored' a Seiko diver many years ago. Never got around to doing another watch but the experience was both enjoyable and satisfying. Encourage anyone thinking about it to give it a go if they can. Obviously I would start with something cheap and cheerful.
Great post !
My son (30) who doesn't wear a watch normally "borrows" mine when he's at home and apparently some of his pals of a similar age are quite keen on it too.
B
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