New Seiko 5 power reserve "problem"

PiPPoI · Nov 8, 2014

They told me that I can go to an AD where I live. Luckily repairs are done a couple of blocks from my job. I`ll pop there with the watch on Monday and see how it goes. I suppose they will tell me they don`t recognize the store and since I don`t have the little card they will ask for money. At that point I`ll start swearing at the representative from the site.

filcord · Nov 13, 2014

Keep us updated, I'm keen on knowing the cause and the solution to your problem.

PiPPoI · Nov 14, 2014

Latest update: I went to the repair center. They took a look at it, without opening it. They checked it for magnetization - the results were negative.

The guys at the authorized repair center contacted the AD about my warranty. It turns out, that without a filled in and stamped card the shipping documents are worthless.

I contacted the site representative and he told me to ship the watch back to tuem. I checked the costs, but the only quotes I could find were for express delivery. They were basically more than the watch costs.

Today I went to a renowned local watch repair man. He told me he'll inspect the watch for approximately 25$. And if there is a broken part, he'll charge me 5$ per part.

Now I'm at a decision point. Do I look for cheaper shipment methods or do I just go to my local guy. He is really good. There are posts on a local forum about him fixing and restoring all kinds of watches, including some higher price names. I have until Monday to decide. Your advice guys?

His inspection includes cleaning and lubrication.

PiPPoI · Nov 26, 2014

Final update: I went with my local watchmaker.

He foud a broken part. It was a little wheel-like thing that helps transfer the energy to the main spring. He even gave my one back to me. Now the watch is running perfectly. The accuracy is fine(not that I have measured the seconds).

I may take pictures of the part and the watch, but they wouldn't be great.

The whole experience cost me about 30$, but I wanted to avoid the shipping hassles. This brings up a bigger question: shouldn't institutional online sellers mark the warranty cards instead of offering the "just send it to us and we'll take care of it" deal?

AARC Amateur · Mar 25, 2021

PiPPoI said:
I recently got a new Seiko 5 (with the 7S26 movement). It is my first automatic watch. I wore it non-stop for the first 2-3 weeks. It worked perfectly (I`m not that keen on second-per-day inaccuracies). Then I didn`t wear it for a day. It eventually stopped the next day, staying within the given specs of 1.5 days.

The strange part began after I started rotating my watches again (all others are quartz) and the Seiko stopped getting any reserve. After a full day`s wear (not super active) it stopped just after 3h off my hand. It still works great when it`s on my arm, but it just doesn`t get enough power in the reserve. When I play around with it, viewing the "open" back case I "feel" the pendulum looser than before.

Is this a known issue? Will it just settle with time? Could it be due to the vibrations from the subway or the temperature changes from indoors and out? Or am I just paranoid for no reason? Still, I think a full day`s wear should charge up at least 5-6h, or am I wrong on that? It is my first auto after all.

All opinions will be appreciated. ;-)

I have a Seiko SNK793 and I've run into a similar issue. Even when I wear it for 8 hours straight, the power reserve only works for 3, maybe 4 hours. I do notice that the pendulum is looser than when I purchased the watch but maybe that's just because of the break-in period.

New Seiko 5 power reserve "problem"

PiPPoI

filcord

PiPPoI

PiPPoI

AARC Amateur

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