Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

I recently serviced this very nice Seiko Rally 6106-8227 for fellow Instagrammer and ClockSavant customer @jerkchicken22. It is a family watch that sat in a drawer for years and was not running. This is a truly beautiful vintage Seiko-- sophisticated, colorful, and sporty. The dial and bezel really draw you in. The highlight of this servicing was the stuck bezel. Once removed, I found what looked to be very old tar-like tape, or simply aged double sided tape, between the outside bezel and the inner bezel that holds down the crystal. Cleaning all this out safely took a bit of time as you do not want to use harsh chemicals in a leisurely fashion on an outside bezel as you can damage the paint. Digging deeper, I found the crystal gasket was distorted. The case had a few "non-linearities"(unevenness) which made fitting the crystal difficult to fit. The previous person's solution was to use some tape to push-down on the inner bezel and then use the outer bezel to hold it down. Of course this froze the outer bezel (would not turn) and also didn't make for a nice fitting crystal. Part of the story here is that things that appear simple sometimes (often) aren't on vintage watches. Yes of course a crystal change can go smoothly but if you assume for example you have a frozen bezel due to dirt and also want a new crystal, maybe you are in for an adventure and not a straightforward exercise as was the case here. It took a number of tries to seat the inner bezel to hold down the crystal, carefully studying the case and bezel fit.

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227

Servicing a Seiko Rally 6106-8227