Author: thewatchbloke

Junghans J30BZ cockpit chronograph

Todays article features a Junghans cockpit chronograph which dates from the WWII era. It arrived in a bit of a sorry state, flooded with oil, quite a few parts missing and it’s been hacked about a bit in its long life with scratched plates and bruised screws. However the fact it survives at all is a minor miracle! The brief was to try and get it running, but not to throw too much (any!) money at it. It came with a donor movement which provided all the missing parts. The instrument itself has a rotatable ‘count up’ bezel a chronograph with a centre seconds sweep and 15 minute sub register. The chronograph hands weren’t delivered with the watch but I’m assured the owner has a set. The knurled wheel at 6 o’clock serves two functions, the first is to wind it up, the second is activated by pulling the cord attached to a lever by the wheel. Once this is pulled down the wheel can be used to set the time, once it’s set the lever can be pushed back in. The brass button below the wheel starts, stops and resets the chronograph.

Junghans J30BZ chronograph (more…)

Seiko Bell-Matic 4006-6040

I’ve written about Seikos Bell-Matic alarm watches before but I thought I’d feature this one as it’s a complete tour-de-force of problems you can find with a watch! It came in for a service, a spruce up and a relume as the minute hand had lost a small section of lume and the owner wanted it to glow again. I was told it had been running, then it ran intermittently, then it wouldn’t run at all – dirt and debris in the movement or a loose screw rattling around inside perhaps? Time will tell! The watch is a 4006-6040 with a gold dial and contrasting black alarm indicator ring, and arrived on its original bracelet. The first thing I noticed when winding the alarm was that the spring was slipping so that would also need addressing as the alarm wouldn’t sound for as long as it should, needless to say it wasn’t a runner.

Seiko Bell-Matic 4006-6040 (more…)

Seiko SBDX001 MM300

Seiko’s Marine Master 300m diver is the direct descendant of the 300m 6159-7001, Seiko’s first professional dive watch released in 1968. The design has changed little over the years, it still utilises a monocoque case and a screw down crystal with a crown at the 4 o’clock position. The original was powered by the high beat 36,000bph calibre 6159a movement whilst it’s grandson uses Seiko’s fantastic calibre 8L35B, which is a 28,800bph, 26 jewel, hacking, handwindable, automatic movement with a date display. This example suffered from a clout against a door frame and the timing went a bit haywire so it was decided whilst the movement was out of the case it may as well have a thorough service.

Seiko SBDX001 MM300 (more…)

Bravingtons Renown

This veteran 9k gold cased gents watch came in for a bit of tlc recently. The name Bravingtons Renown as far as I can establish was taken from Bravingtons the London jewellers who had a shop in Pentonville Road, and Renown was the name they gave to their wristwatches. Renown was actually registered by Bravingtons as a trademark in 1955 but they were using the name long before then.

Bravingtons Renown (more…)

Seiko 6138-0011 Chronograph

During the late 1960’s the race to develop the worlds first automatic chronograph had two main contenders, the Zenith-Movado group and a joint effort from Breitling, Hamilton/Bren, Heuer/Leonidas and Dubois-Dpraz. Meanwhile Seiko had quietly been developing the calibre 6138 automatic twin register chrono which was planned to be the first to market and pip the Swiss to the post. Seiko quickly realised the technical challenges of the 6138 wouldn’t be overcome in time to release it as soon as they’d like, so they also developed the 6139 single register automatic chronograph alongside it which neatly side stepped the challenge of getting the hour register chronograph layer sandwiched between the motion work and the calendar components. Because of this decision, in February 1969 the first 6139’s were released to market which pipped Breitling groups calibre 11 official launch on March 3rd. The 6138 challenges were overcome and it was released the following year in 1970. The example featured here is a 6138-0011 more commonly know as the ‘UFO’ although it was originally advertised by Seiko as the ‘Yachtman’. This came in for a movement service and to correct a number of faults amongst which were a chronograph that wouldn’t run for more than 30 seconds and a minute register that reset everywhere but zero! It also came with a number of parts and a replacement case and crystal.

Seiko 6139-0011 UFO (more…)

Sekonda Slava 2427

Sekonda is a British distributor of watches that these days are imported from Asia, but up until 1993 it sourced it’s watches from Russian manufacturers, the majority being rebranded Raketa or Poljots. Unusually the subject of this article is a Sekonda branded Slava. Slava watches were produced in Russia at the Second Moscow Watch Factory for USSRs civilian population and the word Slava when translated into English means ‘Glory’. The 2427 movement is an interesting one due to its twin winding barrels. This example came in for a service as it was running poorly.

Sekonda Slava 2427 (more…)

Seiko 7546-6040

This Seiko Sports 7546-6040 recently came in for some refurbishment, it belonged to the current owners father and hadn’t run for many years. The Sports range of Seikos look like dive watches but are only resistant to 100m and carry a different logo on the caseback, a more stylised wave than the tsunami of the divers watches. This example was in need of a bit of TLC, the crystal needed replacing as well as getting it going again and servicing the movement.

Seiko 7564-6040 (more…)