This lovely one button chronograph came in recently a little the worst for wear. The 5717-8990 is a 21 jewel, manual wind 18,000bph single button chronograph. The 5717 signifies the movement has a date complication, models of these without a date are powered by the 5719 movement. The 5719 and 5717’s were brought to market on the back of the 1964 summer olympic games in Tokyo where Seiko were the official timekeepers. The early ones had an olympic torch stamped or etched on the caseback, but later ones can be seen with the seahorse design or the standard horseshoe type. There are also versions with the Asian games torch and the Military anchor so there are quite a few variants to choose from.The chap who sent this in received the watch as an engagement present from his fiancée in 1965 and the watch had been worn for many years until the pusher was lost and he was told no spares were available for that model anymore. As is usual in these cases the watch was consigned to a drawer for many years until it eventually made its way to me. Superficially the watch isn’t in too bad a shape but obviously the chronograph start/stop/reset button is missing and the crystal’s rather scuffed.

You can see the empty pusher tube here.

Being a UK watch the caseback on this would originally have had a Seahorse emblem in the middle surrounded by the make and model text, however this has worn smooth over the years. The production date is December 1964.

With the snap on caseback removed the movement looks reasonably clean, however I did notice the chronograph button helper spring was also missing.

The dial is in cracking condition….

….but unfortunately the seconds hand parted company with it’s pipe upon removal.

The case was stripped ready for ultrasonic cleaning.

Then I attempted to stake the hand back together.

Sometimes restaking works, sometimes not, especially with a chronograph sweep hand. The g-force generated on a reset will show up any deficiencies in the joint!

The movement stripdown began in earnest with the calendar side.

Once that was done the movement was flipped and the train side was tackled.

These 5717 and 5719 chronograph movements are a column wheel type with drive engaged and disengaged by a coupling wheel as opposed to the vertical clutch that Seiko favoured with it’s later chronographs.

The mainspring was found to have no bridle, the end had been bent in an attempt to increase friction at the barrel wall.

The movement was now ready for cleaning.

Whilst the parts were doing their stuff in the Vari-Matic I started re-assembly of the case, first a new pusher assembly was pulled from the dark recesses of the parts drawer.

Once fitted a NOS crystal followed it into the case.

The case was now assembled but all the bezel marking enamel had long since disappeared.

I applied black enamel to the engravings….

….and wiped off the excess when it had dried a little.

The movement components were then stored away whilst I waited for a new mainspring to be delivered.

Once it arrived the rebuild started.

Note the double height fourth wheel designed to take the power from the train to the chronograph layer.

Mustn’t forget the upper crown wheel and click which is mounted on the underside of the bridge.

The chronograph levers are starting to be fitted here.

At this stage the movement is turned over and the keyless work is fitted.

The movement is then turned back over and the power can be wound on and the balance fitted. The new pusher return spring has also been fitted in this shot. With the power wound on rough timing adjustments can now be made.

The calendar work is nearly completed here….

….and the dial and handset is refitted here. Unfortunately the re-staked sweep hand proved not to be secure enough, when reset the hand wandered on its pinion. Under high magnification I could see that not only had the top crimp fractured but the bottom shoulder had a crack running halfway around it. I had a suitable NOS period Seiko seconds hand from a Silverwave that I broached to fit. It’s slightly shorter than the original but not unduly so and it does match beautifully.

The movement was recased and a new caseback seal fitted. With the caseback clipped back on….

….she was finished. What a lovely one owner example of a 5717, the chap told me he had a tear in his eye when he received it back and unboxed it. He’s still married to the girl who bought him the watch back in 1965 – it makes my day hearing stories like that 🙂