View single post by DM71
 Posted: Sun Aug 23rd, 2009 05:57 pm
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DM71



Joined: Sun Oct 19th, 2008
Location: Quebec Canada
Posts: 911
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 I received my Yellow Seiko Diver's Kinetic, back fom NEWW two weeks ago.  I had the watch for about a year and I always loved the size of it, 46mm by 15mm and the movement, Kinetic caliber 5M52,  that I like to call Auto Quartz.  What i like about the movement is that, my nightmare with quartz is when the second hand stops in between the second indices, just ticking without precision, 60 times a minute.  Not on this watch.  It moves with aplomb and stops where it should, on the minute/second markers 99% of the time.  And I like the six months autonomy when fully charged.  With that said, I was never in love with the mix of brushed and polished finish on it.  So i decided to send it to Duarte at North East Watch Work to have it change it's skin.

First, I have to say that it's been a pleasure to deal with Duarte.  His prices are very reasonable ($60 for WUS members, to do the whole watch and bracelet) and he's not greedy on shipping cost.  Return back to Canada from USA with $500 insurance was $10!!!!  Also, he replied to all my emails within a few hours and all his instructions were clear. 

When the work was done, he sent me pictures of the watch for me to see.  I was expecting him to do so and found it was a very nice attention from him.  Then he immediately shipped it back. 

After looking at the pics, i noted that the bezel's grooves were not aligned with the grooves on the case.  That watch has a busy case/bezel and it was not obvious to align these different size grooves before putting back the bezel insert, so i emailed back Duarte to advise him of that.  Too late, the watch was gonecrap.gif

Duarte then gave me the procedure to remove the insert and sent me some bezel insert cement (for free) by mail for me to correct the problem. 

I HATE HATE HATE none aligning bezel markers.  All the Seiko Diver's I have, have very smooth and aligned bezel.  It's not different for this one but there is a bit of play in between the clicks and i orininaly had to use that play to align perfectly the 0 min. marker on the bezel with the 12h position on the dial.  So, I was almost happy that i had to reposition it myself, the way i like it.

When I received the watch, I was sooo happy I did that move.  The finish was amazing and nothing was forgotten.  The screwed down crown and pusher were free from remaining grains from blasting and where operating as smoothly as before.  A now beautiful diver's to my eyes.

After some stress of scratching or damaging the newly refinish body, the insert was removed and reglued within 15 min.  Yesss! yahoo.gif No marksyahoo.gifNo scratches yahoo.gif

Duarte was ready to provide more help in the case that I wouln't be able to do it myself. So thanks for your support Duarte!

Now I can say that I really like my "NEW" Seiko and my hate/love relationship with this watch is over.  It's a keeper !

Now some shots of before and after, hope you enjoy.

Daniel






















Last edited on Sun Aug 23rd, 2009 05:59 pm by DM71