I'd surely expect my old movement back at the very minimum...

 

Yeah... I would not be surprised if it was used for spare parts.

 

Is the different movement better than the old?

Not just older/newer does it function as it should, and did it solve the initial problem?

Was the change discussed/disclosed?

 

Angel, the movement was not discussed in advanced. It does function as it should aside from the fact you change they day function differently now as I described above.

 

I would be bothered by this. I would want the movement that is supposed to be in that watch. Is there a shortage of 7S26's at Seiko? Why would they, otherwise, drop in a different movement?

 

Local watch repair shop. Not Seiko official location.

 

Am I seeing a 7009a with a 7s26 rotor weight?

 

I believe it is the rotor to a 7009A movement as the first thing I noticed was that it is much smaller than your normal 7s26 rotor in my other watches.

 

a 7s26, I wouldn't really care, to be honest. it is odd to me that they swapped it for a different, older movement, as opposed to another 7s26. But as long as the new one worked fine, I wouldn't really be upset.

 

Gotcha. Just wanted the feedback from others. I did not know how to feel about it. On one hand they both are basic movements, on the other hand it is different.
They do function the same aside from how you change the day setting.

 

For me it would depend on what was discussed. If the plan was to overhaul and/or service the watch to get it running and they swapped it without discussion that would be a problem for me but if you simply took it in and asked for them to fix a broken watch and they did that, I think that's mission accomplished.

If I had to guess, they probably didn't have a 7S26 available to them at the time and in order to provide prompt service they swapped in a "comparable" movement they has in stock.

 

Upsetting, but acceptable in my book.

Problem got fixed.

Unless you are unhappy about the new way to advance the date, I'd move on with life.

 

I'd be pretty unhappy, but that's largely because I buy watches for specific movements more often than not.

 

If it were me, I wouldn’t be thrilled. But, given it is a Seiko 5 and we are talking about two, shall we say, workman-like movements, I wouldn’t pursue it. I would chalk it up to an inexpensive lesson learned and get things clear in the future, especially with watches that had more value, actual or sentimental.

And thank you so much for sharing. I’m sure you will save someone reading this from having the same thing happen down the line.

 

Really - you guys would be ok with it? Is it only because the value of the watch isn't high?

[Taxman's post, above, landed before mine, but is exactly what I was asking.]

 

It's a bit of an odd situation. On the one hand, I think many would consider the older 7009A to be a superior movement to the 7S26. On the other hand, the choice to swap in a 7009 vs. a 7S26 or NH36 implies to me that the shop just dropped in what they had in the parts drawer. I would be curious as to whether that 7009A has been recently serviced and how it runs.. The decision to swap the movement for a nonfunction day function is also interesting. If it were me, I would have cannabalized the day function from a new NH36 and repaired the original movement. Then I would effectively still have an NH36- NH35 conversion for other uses.

To me, the justification on not swapping in a 7S26 is the rather high cost of the movement relative to a new Seiko 5 - they typically run $30-40, a bit obscene considering brand new NH36 movements run under $40 from any major parts house.

I am also quite curious to know what the shop charged OP for the work..

 

I would not be happy.

Either fix the movement or replace it with a new (but same) movement.

Putting a completely different movement in is unacceptable IMO.

If there was a shortage of 7S26s then it would be OK

 

If I put my car in for repairs I would not expect it to be returned with a different engine, especially if it was from a different model. You should have been informed if this was to be done and given a reason as to why this option was being considered and also the chance to say yay or nay.

 

I would be OK with it because (1) the value of the watch isn't high, and (2) how the repair is to be done was not discussed in advance.

Most people who bring in inexpensive watches to be repaired by an independent shop have no idea what movement is in their watch, they just want it fixed. If you did not declare that you care about this in advance, I can't blame the shop for fixing your watch in the most efficient manner.

Also, swapping movements is now standard procedure for servicing of lower-tier Swatch brands like Hamilton and Tissot. You send your watch in for service, they pull your movement & put in a refurbished one from stock (that came from other watches sent in for service). Your movement gets serviced then popped into someone else's watch later. And if you object, too bad: there's no other service option from them.

 

What did they charge for the work.

 

58 bucks usd

 

I would be a little miffed that they didn’t get permission to put a different movement in it. The movement no longer matches the “7S26” stamped on the caseback. Since it‘s a relatively inexpensive watch I’d probably just move on and chalk it up as a learning experience.

 

Not cool at all if it wasn't discussed. I too would like to know how much the OP paid for service. I bet that watchmaker has done similar things before, but this time a WIS noticed the swap.

 

I would NOT be happy.

 

I wouldn't be happy. Seems like a cheap move and they should have discussed it with you first. The 7s26 is already a cheap movement and and a NH35/36 upgrade is only about $36 for the movement + stem (crown should be threaded and re-usable). How much did they charge?

 

In this case, it's probably not a big deal except the guy should have called you and told you what he was going to do and get your OK first unless you just dropped it off and said "make it work" which is what he did.

Not sure I'd be happy with a day/date function that works differently from OEM though. That would be a bit annoying every time I changed it.

 

So the store owner (or manager) sends it off to his watch guy who just does whatever apparently. It is a jewelry/watch store and the owner seems to have little knowledge on watches and just sends things off to his watch guy. So the owner did not know what was going on and the watch guy just does stuff... so it would have been hard to see that one coming. Doubt the watch guy would have done the right thing in asking and the owner just did not even know.

 

Happened to me before but they swapped out with another movement of exactly the same. Could be that they didn't any any available and provided you an equivalent one. Could have been worse if they swapped out to a unbranded movement that will fit (read as third party clone) like what a watchmaker did to my wife's watch. She didn't talk to me and went to a watch shop on her own and they guy quoted her for the job which she accepted.

 

For Seiko/Miyota movements, it's almost always better/cheaper to just totally replace instead of overhaul. So depending on the movement, a like-replacement is the proper thing to do instead of overhaul (which will cost twice as much).

 

If it was my daily driver I would have accepted this but if the watch had a lot of sentimental value I would be livid. They should have check with you first at the very least to see if this was the case.

 

I would be grateful it was fixed. Those movements are so cheap, quite often it would be cheaper just to replace the movement than to fix the old one.
The repair probably would have cost 3 or 4 times the amount if he repaired your old movement. Labor isn't free.

 

I think getting it fixed for 58 bucks is a great deal, given that a new movement (NH36) costs $40 including shipping. That's a phenomenally low 18 bucks for putting it in, without scratching up or damaging anything (otherwise we would have heard about it). My car dealer charges 120 bucks just for plugging in the diagnostic reader.

 

I think it wouldn’t bother me if someone ‘repairing’ my watch dropped in a replacement mov’t so long as it was at least the same model or subsequent revision. Dropping in an older model from the same family would annoy me if said repair person hadn’t asked first and explained why. This is regardless of the fact it’s a budget friendly watch.


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