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Resurrection of a poor abused Orient..lots of pics
May 3 2008 at 8:53 AM
Got this beaten up Orient for free and thought I'd fix it up.
I took some pictures and figured I'd do a photo-essay for those of you who like such things..
Can't even tell its an Orient actually, the crest has long gone..but it ticks for several seconds when shaken so hopefully all it needs is a COA (clean, oil and adjust).
The crystal is badly scored...crystals are the easy part!
This watch has seen some serious use... the strap is toast
Movement looks suprisingly clean though, doesn't look like any major water damage... hopefully there are no suprises.
..another look at the movement...this is the first Orient I've taken apart but its starting to look awfully familiar...
Where is the stem release button? I don't see any screw either...
Well what do you know.. pull the crown out and this little tongue appears...some other watches uses this too ...
The date advance pusher is well and truly stuck !
Have you seen a dial in worse shape? Looks like it spent the last few years at the bottom of the ocean.
And look at what I found once I popped the bezel off! Look atall that rust. See the caseback?..last serviced in 94? Who would have guessed!
Yep...at least five years in the ocean.
Probably went down in the last war?
Maybe even on the RMS Titanic
All that rust must have created a good seal between the bezel and case because under the dial all was looking pretty fine actually.
Having taken the rotor off, it looks in reasonable shape. But wait, I see an old friend...
Its the magic-lever!! Well you may call yourself Orient but I have to tell you you're probably adopted.
Removing the train bridge reveals nothing spectacular...tried and true design. A bit of discoloration on the intermediate plate, that's all.
Balance wheel in good shape... these older watches have nicer balance-springs than the modern ones.
The pallet-fork bridge is a bit discoloured and is missing one screw.. well this is a workhorse movement anyway.
Dismantling almost done on this side!
Date-wheel plate removed. Near the '2' you will see the date advancing wheel which works off the button on the side. This is different from the Seiko calibres.
Took me about an hour to get the date-pusher out.. it's held in by a C-clip and has a spring beneath it. I had to use a replacement for the spring which I got from another Ricoh watch.
Since the dial was too bad to be re-used, I decided to experiment. First I removed the markers and the Orient logo, then cleaned off the old paint and sanded flat. I used rattle-can sprays, initially giving a bright silver base coat followed by a layer of gold. Finally a light dusting of black to give the speckled effect. Then cleaned the markers with Autosol and wooden toothpicks and reinstalled them (easier said than done!). I'm quite happy with the result. It matches the hands....
....and has a nice matt finish when viewed at an angle.
Movement cleaned and oiled... no adjustment was necessary, I didn't time it but after using it for about a week it didn't need any adjustment, good enough for me!
Movement installed in its home with new roof (crystal), fitted with a strap I had lying around and I even managed to find a signed Orient clasp.
From the above, we can see that this Orient owes a lot to Seiko, the only difference is the push-button date-jumper.
hope you enjoyed the ride.
The End...
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