Interesting thing happened with my automatic watch

[Singh]

my watch is a Seiko 5. The other day I noticed it had stopped working. I wound it up (by shaking it gently) and the watch worked for a few seconds.. then stopped again.

 I thought about things and decided to do the only thing I could do; I gave it a whack on the right side with the heel of my hand. After that it ran but ran VERY fast... about two-three minutes fast for every  actual minute.

So then I decided to the only other thing  I could do; I whacked it on the OTHER side...  and the watch immediately slowed down to proper time. It has been working fine since.

I've had this watch for a few months and this the first time this has happened. The only thing different is that it was 10 degrees outside. Maybe something froze inside the watch? I was wearing a coat (no gloves, so the cold could get in a little) but I was only outside for a few minutes... but the the watch stopped at the time I was outside (around 9am).

thoughts anyone?

[gustophersmob]

I used to have a Seiko 5 (or 3 ), but never had any problems like that.

It may be worth asking in the Seiko forum over at Watchuseek or the Seiko/Citizen Watch forum.

Those fine folks may have some ideas.

BTW, I would think your body heat should keep the watch well above any temps that would cause problems, especially for such a short time.  There isn't anything inside of the watch (assuming the seals are good and there is no water inside) to freeze anyway.  I would think it would have to be really cold to make the lubes gel.

[sawman]

ya, just get a digital 

[nuphoria]

Why it stopped in the first place might be due to it just needing a service rather than the mechanism being faulty.

When you whacked it, you probably moved the regulation lever - a tiny little thing which you can adjust with a toothpick to change things yourself. I'm assuming it's a 7s26 movement if it's a Seiko 5, so it's actually quite easy to tinker with.



The +/- lever shown here does the job.

When you whacked it the other way, is sounds like you put it back to where it started!

[Singh]

I'm not sure of it was the cold, but the temps were in the single digits that morning. It's been running just fine ever since. Not sure what happened to it. I do have a line on a local watch/clock repairman who can take a look at it if the problem ever persists.

Thanks gustophersmob for the link to the seiko forum. I'll check it out.

Thanks nuphoria for that tutorial on regulators. VERY interesting.