Hattori SII Caliber VD54B

The SII caliber VD54B is a no jewels quartz chronograph movement. Something to note about this watch movement is that the chronograph second hand is located in a subdial at 6:00. The central second hand is the current time second hand.

Chronograph Sequence:

The chrono sequence on the VD54B is the same as most chronograph watches:

• Start – top button
• Stop – top button
• Reset – bottom button

Resetting the chronograph hand to zero:

On the caliber VD54, the chronograph seconds hand is located in the 6:00 subdial. If your chronograph seconds hand isn’t lining up, here is how you can adjust it back to zero:

• Pull the crown out to time setting position (position 1)
• Use the chronograph pushers to move the hand until it lines up at the 60 (or zero/12:00 position) mark.

Note: The top button will make the hand go backwards, the bottom button will make it advace forward. Press and hold the top or bottom button for more than a second to make the chronograph second hand move rapidly. Since the chronograph seconds and minutes work together, this is also how you get the 60 minute hand (subdial at 9:00) to line up.

For example, if your 60 minute hand is resetting to the 5 minutes mark instead of the 60, you would pull the crown out to position 1, and press the top button while the chronograph second hand spins around quickly and the 60 minute hand slowly advances to the position you want it in. Then, be sure to line up the chrono second hand again and push the crown back to position 0.

Crown/Stem Removal:

Look for the hole with “Push” and an up arrow. Using your tweezers or a toothpick, push the lever while pulling out the stem.

Accuracy:

SII/TMI claims the caliber VD54B has an accuracy rating of less than +/- 20 when the watch is operating in the normal temperature range. They do not say what they consider the “normal” temperature range to be.

VD54A, VD54B, VD54C:

The current spec sheets for the VD54 list a VD54C variation with a revision date of June 5, 2018. We are still looking into the differences between the A, B, C variations, but it’s likely that they are small updates. If you know, please comment below. In the meantime, this post will be updated when we learn more.

Caliber VD54 VS VD53:

There is a similar SII caliber VD53. The main difference between the two movements is that the VD53 has a date window between 4:00 and 5:00. It is also a taller movement at 4.57mm compared to the 3.97mm thick VD54.

SII VS TMI VS Hatori:

You might find this caliber listed as being produced by Hattori aka Epson aka TMI (Time Module Inc) aka Seiko Instruments Inc. We’re not sure why all the different names, but sure they all lead back to Seiko. Read more here

From Wikipedia:

Seiko Holdings Corporation (SEIKO) delegates a large portion of the manufacturing in its watch business to SII and EPSON. Most of watches manufactured by SII are sold through the Seiko Watch Corporation, a subsidiary of Seiko Holdings Corporation. In recent years Seiko Instruments has tried to establish its own marketing channel and brands – Sizukuishi Watch, appetime, J.SPRINGS, ISSEY MIYAKE, tsumori chisato, ALESSI, cacharel, etc.

On January 26, 2009, Seiko Instruments and Seiko Holdings announced that the two companies will be merged on October 1, 2009 through a share swap. Seiko Instruments became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seiko Holdings on October 1, 2009.

Possible Date Codes?

If you look at the movement featured in the images and video on this page, you will see a marking at the top right of the movement: AAIN. We believe this to be a production date code from SII, but it still needs to be confirmed. If you have access to your movement, please comment below if you watch has a similar marking with the same or different letters.

Replacement Price:

At the time of this post, replacement prices for the VD54B were found online in the range of $20-30 USD.

Technical Drawings:

Video:

Examples of watches with caliber VD54B:

Additional Resources:

• TMI VD54B official tech drawings (pdf)
• Official operating instructions (pdf)