As already stated in the new members section, I'm a bloody beginner and found myself addicted to this new hobby during last christmas holidays.
Some weeks ago I acquired a Seiko C153 on ebay, listed as non-worker. I was somehow hoping that it will work anyway, but after putting a battery, the LCD was just flickering around like crazy. So I started to take it apart and the first thing I found out was that the stem of the middle button was broken. So setting the watch wasn't possible, but luckily switching to setting mode is still possible by moving the setting lever manually, when operating the module outside the case. While playing around with the module and searching for the problem, I suspected one button to be pressed down permanently and resulting in the flickering LCD. But after checking the buttons mechanics in detail, this wasn't the fact.
I was taking the whole module apart and assembled it again and again, trying to understand more and more detail of how the module works. I was measurring different traces on the PCP and cleaned with alcohol. This trial and error procedure took me some hours, but at some point the watch was working. To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure, what the actual problem was, but I think it was just some dirt on the PCB, causing a short cut of one of the setting buttons.
So the module was in working condition now, but still the stem (of the middle button) was broken. So I googled to find a new one, posted in "Watches and Parts Needed" and finally ordered a new stem at http://www.flume.de
In parallel I also ordered a basic, used supersonic cleaner from ebay and cleaned all watch parts. It was the first time I was using a supersonic cleaner. I found it's quite helpful, but it had a bit too much power for my C153's crystal: It rubbed off some of the black paint "surrounding" the LCD
I also polished the crystal, using 2000 sand paper sticked on a glass plane to get out some deeper scratches and polishing it with PolyWatch. This combination worked quite well and the crystal looks almost like new.
Unfortunately some LCD segments are broken. I cleaned the zebra strips and tested the LCD segments manually with a multimeter (I read about this testing procedure in the C153 technical guide).
Luckily all segments for displaying the time are working perfectly. So it looks this is something I have to live with or find a new LCD.
Here is a summary of all repairs I did:
Finally I assembled everything and was proudly wearing my "new" C153 to days on a business trip, about two weeks ago.
All of this took me many hours or even days and I guess for the experienced guys among you, this watch and the result wasn't worth the time -- expecially because the watch is still far away from beeing in perfect conditions. So I now want to ask you: Any recommendations to fix the broken LCD segments? Anything else I can to to bring this watch to even better conditions?
Some weeks ago I acquired a Seiko C153 on ebay, listed as non-worker. I was somehow hoping that it will work anyway, but after putting a battery, the LCD was just flickering around like crazy. So I started to take it apart and the first thing I found out was that the stem of the middle button was broken. So setting the watch wasn't possible, but luckily switching to setting mode is still possible by moving the setting lever manually, when operating the module outside the case. While playing around with the module and searching for the problem, I suspected one button to be pressed down permanently and resulting in the flickering LCD. But after checking the buttons mechanics in detail, this wasn't the fact.
I was taking the whole module apart and assembled it again and again, trying to understand more and more detail of how the module works. I was measurring different traces on the PCP and cleaned with alcohol. This trial and error procedure took me some hours, but at some point the watch was working. To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure, what the actual problem was, but I think it was just some dirt on the PCB, causing a short cut of one of the setting buttons.
So the module was in working condition now, but still the stem (of the middle button) was broken. So I googled to find a new one, posted in "Watches and Parts Needed" and finally ordered a new stem at http://www.flume.de
In parallel I also ordered a basic, used supersonic cleaner from ebay and cleaned all watch parts. It was the first time I was using a supersonic cleaner. I found it's quite helpful, but it had a bit too much power for my C153's crystal: It rubbed off some of the black paint "surrounding" the LCD
I also polished the crystal, using 2000 sand paper sticked on a glass plane to get out some deeper scratches and polishing it with PolyWatch. This combination worked quite well and the crystal looks almost like new.
Unfortunately some LCD segments are broken. I cleaned the zebra strips and tested the LCD segments manually with a multimeter (I read about this testing procedure in the C153 technical guide).
Luckily all segments for displaying the time are working perfectly. So it looks this is something I have to live with or find a new LCD.
Here is a summary of all repairs I did:
- Cleaned the case, bracelt and module
- Removed rust from the LCD holding metals using citric acid
- Get the module running (by cleaning the PCB?)
- Replace the setting stem
- Polish the crystal
- Replace the battery gasket
Finally I assembled everything and was proudly wearing my "new" C153 to days on a business trip, about two weeks ago.
All of this took me many hours or even days and I guess for the experienced guys among you, this watch and the result wasn't worth the time -- expecially because the watch is still far away from beeing in perfect conditions. So I now want to ask you: Any recommendations to fix the broken LCD segments? Anything else I can to to bring this watch to even better conditions?