Advice on Seiko A829-6029 repair

[Al_Mc]

Hi all. I've been a watch collector for a number of years, and recently got interested in DSM and LCD watches. I'm new to this forum and very happy I found it.

Now my question.

A while back I acquired a very nice Seiko A829-6029. Unfortunately, when I recieved it I found that the display had some blank spots, so some displays were hard to read. I made the mistake of taking the watch to a local watch repair shop - they made it worse - now everything is garbled. THis is really my bad, as I should have known they weren't up to it.



So, my question is, are there any reputable experts who repair these vintage beauties? I really love the watch - the case is really nice. I'd like to get it repaired.

TIA
Al

[767Geoff]

Freakin idiots.

Visually (without having it in my hands) it appears to be the contact zebra strips connecting the LCD panel to the PCA (the display to the mother board) and not the display driver.

A simple fix but requires the panel to be removed, the strips cleaned, contacts on panel and PCA cleaned. All dust removed before reassembly.

See this posting:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/78440/message/1169333752/

And this one:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/78440/message/1170546372/This+is+a+Big+Posting+for+a+little+restoration+project%2C+and+applies+to+other+seikos

Geoff

[Al_Mc]

Thanks Geoff. I'll read those posts and see if I can muster up the courage to give it a shot.

Al

[dutchsiberia]

Be sure to read the repair manual on this (also) very cool site
http://www.digital-watch.com/DWL/1work/seiko-a829-6019/

http://www.digitalwatchlibrary.com/imag ... /A829A.pdf

(pass is digitalwatchlibrary.com)

I hope you can repair this nice and hard to find watch :)

[Adam]

The plastic carriage is also frail so make sure you are careful. The strips have to be put back in the right way round also, as over the years the will have become slightly indented from the contacts below. Although it's agreat watch externally its not one of Seikos best quality constructions, flimsy to say the least.

Adam

[Seiko&Casio Lcd's]

As Adam stated, the "watchmaker" maybe cleaned the zebrastrips , but were put back in the wrong way.
That's why it's all garbled now. I hope you didn't pay for his "services"

[Old Tom]

Did you reset the watch after changing the battery? Two ways to do this on the A8xx series modules- Either depress both side buttons and turn the bezel two clicks either way OR remove module from case and depress all FOUR side buttons simultaneously. Although most A829 cases only have two side buttons there is a very rare Japan only variant that did have four side buttons. The second method is the more reliable because the tiny selector pins in the bezel mechanism have a bad habit of getting stuck in one position and not functioning correctly.

If you do remove the zebra strips to clean them remember to clean the sides as well as the ends- and the guide wells they sit in.

[Al_Mc]

Wow. Thanks for the advice everyone. What a great group!

I will review all of the posts and see if I can't fix this beauty.

And no, I didn't pay for the "repair service"... The owner was pretty embarrassed with the result.

Al

[767Geoff]

How's Winterpeg doing! . Palomino club open in the winter?

Geoff in Vancouver!

[Al_Mc]

Lol. You know it. Just had a nice winter storm blow through. I hope you didn't fly through it

Yup, the Palomino club is open in Winter. Frankly, anywhere indoors is good for us this time of year.

Al

[Al_Mc]

Happy update. After I posted, I had a discussion with Seikokid and he agreed to repair my a829. I sent it to him and he worked his Magic. He fixed a number of issues with the watch, the most serious of which were with the LCD. It had been installed incorrectly (upside down) and was failing as well.

It now looks good and runs well. Thanks Rob!