Another day and another unusual Seiko. This Champion is not running and not exactly living up to it’s name;) Let’s see if we can change that! Calibre 54-20-1
The balance bridge reminds me of the King Seiko.
I find these early Seikos suffer from screw heads that break off…
Seiko made some cool futuristic dials.
Setting/winding mechanism. Unfortunately the setting lever spring is broken and I’m not able to get another one. (I even got a donor watch, but that also had a broken setting lever spring)
Movement coming apart.
Movement cleaned and ready to be put back together.
Movement coming back together. The mainspring was broken and was replaced with one that I measured up from the old one. (forgot to take photos)
Grrr not again.
Take two! Now with the barrel bridge and crown wheel screw from the donor watch;)
Here you can see the gear train lay out before fitting train bridge.
Movement back together and ticking.
I’m happy with the performance of this old Seiko.
The case was missing a pendant tube so I fit a new one.
Movement back in the case looking very good. The setting mechanism still works fine with the broken setting lever spring.
The future is here today!
I really like these early 60’s Seiko manual winds, the movements are funky, reliable and have a great design.
Update:
I have managed to find a NOS setting lever spring and have now replaced the old broken one.
6 Responses to Service Seiko Champion calibre: 54-20-1
Hello Mitka,
Lovely work as always. If the wacth still works and can be set wihen the setting lever spring is broken, what function dd it serve?
Best wishes
Urfan
Sorry for the typos – watch, when and did – I hit return accidentally.
The setting lever spring helps hold the setting lever in position when setting the time. In this instance you can still pull the stem out to setting position and it will stay in position okay when setting the time. On some watches you would have to hold the crown in setting position when changing the time or it would move right back to winding position.
Hello Mitka,
Thanks for sharing thsi.
I’m working on a Cronos and have exact the same problems; setting lever spring unable to find it (or even cal 54 parts list) and also broken casing screws. It would be helpful to know how you did remove them and found the right new ones.
Hi Sven,
I managed to wiggle the screws out using a broken off screw extractor. But if thats not possible you can dissolve the broken off screw in a solution of Alum. 1. you boil water 2. Putt he water in a glass container. 3. Add a good amount of Alum. 4 Stir until the Alum dissolves in the water. 5 Put the bridge/plate in the water and wait for the screw to dissolve over night or as long as it takes.
Warning:
Can discolour some plates if left to long.
Remember to remove all other iron based materials from plate…X)
I think your might be an other version of the same cal 54
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/seikoholics/seiko-general-technical-docs-t128.html