My Seiko Automatic has started running fast.
I popped in here to ask if anyone here had this problem and how to fix it. I have an older Seiko automatic (self winding) watch and the last few days it has been running fast (gaining several seconds a minute or about 5 minutes an hour).
Well I thought I'd do a quick bit of googling first and low and behold I found a solution ... one that was simple enough I figured I'd just post the answer to my own question here just in case anyone else here has had this problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by posted on a watch forum
I am not a watchmaker, so follow this advice purely at your own risk. But, it worked for me.
I received my first new Seiko, a Black Monster, back in October. Out of the box, it was gaining 10 seconds a MINUTE. I was disgusted, but I hate sending stuff back, so I did some research. It appears that the hairspring of the 7S26B can get hung up on the regulator pins if it takes a sharp impact. Mine was definitely not magnetized - it had no effect whatsoever on the needle of a good Suunto compass.
Based on posts on this forum, and others, it appears that the fast-out-of-the-box problem is common. However, the 7S26B seems to be very reliable in actual use. My theory is that the dynamics of the balance wheel are such that the hairspring is vulnerable when the mainspring is unwound and everything is "loose", but better controlled once the mainspring is driving everything.
Back to the solution. I tapped the watch, on a cloth-covered wooden table, alternately on the caseback and on the edge opposite the crown. Based on pictures of the movement, this seemed the logical direction to get the hairspring back in place. I have no way of calibrating the force used, but I would call it fairly hard "taps", but short of "banging" (all with wrist and finger motion, not moving my elbow). A level of force that I wouldn't expect to damage anything, and that certainly wouldn't mar the case in any visible way (in case I ended up sending it back after all).
The result: on about the 6th tap, the second hand visibly slowed, and the watch began to keep time. I have worn it daily since, with about +4sec/day accuracy on average and no problems at all. Your mileage may vary.
As far as the demagnetizing suggestion, that might actually work, in an indirect way. Demagnetizers, at least that I am familiar with, also make ferrous metals vibrate. This might shake the hairspring back in place, even if the watch was not magnetized to begin with. I would add that it would be fairly difficult to magnetize a watch in typical shipping packaging, with the box enforcing several inches of effective air gap around the watch itself. Also, the 007 is an ISO diver, with a fair degree of antimagnetic protection (not quite up to Milgauss or Gaussman level, but still more than an unprotected watch).
This watch is one of the watches I got when my dad passed away back in June (the other is my grandfather's early '60s Rolex Oyster Stainless that isn't running at all so I need to eventually take it to a shop). I remember my dad tossing this watch into a drawer back in the '90s complaining that it was running fast but he didn't want to spend the cash to take it to a watchsmith. Too bad all he had to do was smack it (if I had a nickle for every time he smacked a non working appliance or TV :p ).
