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Help to identify Seiko women's movements

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timeflies77
Posts: 1
New Member
Topic Starter 8 months ago
 

Hi all, 

Firstly thank you to all members and Creators of the site, I am very new to watches and have learned so much from reading on this site, I only starting looking into watches recently and the bug has taken over.

I am looking at getting my wife some vintage or new Seiko watches, I am looking for advice on which women's movements and models I should search for, either quartz or mechanical, my preference is for mechanical. 

 

 
Zachmonoda
Posts: 1
New Member
7 months ago
 

Watches are functional jewellery, so the emphasis is on "function", and it is a disappointment, when they do not function! So, especially just getting into (basically any hobby!) my personal advise is not to start with "vintage" watches, which is all too often just a con-trick word for old junk 🙂 It's like with cars: Better a new small Toyota than an old Mercedes is my motto!

Tastes are so varied, and there are so many models, and with a Seiko you pretty much cannot go wrong, so no recommendations for any models from me 🙂 Knowing what SHE likes is of course a must! Check your local shops, Amazon, Walmart online (tons of great deals), but if you have local shops to look at, do it, because pictures and seeing it on a hand are different things!

Next:

Quartz keeps time well within a few seconds/month, even in a drawer when not worn, but does need a battery between every year to 3 years. Old quartz watches needed batteries as often as every 3 months, so there is another reason not to get into "vintage", especially if you shy away from changing batteries yourself and buying a few essential tools to do it properly.
To avoid expensive services just for swapping a battery, which you can buy in bulk for 10 cents a piece, you need a few basic tools for quartz:
1) basic kit for band adjustment (have horror stories from bad dealer employees ruining bands)
2) case opener and case-press to put pop-on lids on again, so you do not destroy the crystal trying to mash or hammer it on. The press you want is a table-top screw-vice type, because pressure is released when the lid pops in! Using a hand press (they look a lot like a big garlic squisher or nut cracker), you get that "whoops" moment, when it pops in and your hand follows and keeps squeezing, which can have bad results.

Mechanical comes in automatic (usually thick and comparatively heavy) and wind-up (can be really thin and dainty).
Winders need to be treated gently and must NEVER be over-wound, period. They are easily destroyed by winding.
Automatics have a clutch that keeps them safe from over-winding, at the cost of being a bit clunky compared to what one thinks of as classical ladies' jewellery. In the price range I look at (being a miser) under 100 bucks on AliExpress, there are some pretty nice 36mm models (ey, studly Sean Connery as 007 wore a Rolex Submariner in 37mm, standard back then!), and they all have one of the ubiquitous NH35A family by Seiko/TMI/Hattori ticking in them.
DO NOT try to regulate a mechanical watch as a beginner 🙂
Otherwise, the basic kit for adjusting bands is still a good idea!

 
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