The story of Prisoner 012 417

I'm servicing my personal Seiko 7002-700J (Caliber 7002A) at the moment.



A fairly normal dissassembly, and then everyting in their baskets for cleaning.
Once finished cleaning, I like to lay the parts out in their trays in groups, and then I lay the screws out as per the screw list in the 7002A Technical Guide.



So all went well, the big screws are easy to pick out and put on the board, then came the small ones. All was going fine UNTIL 😲...........



There should be TWO screws 012 417, so where the heck was the missing screw.

A check of the basket (especially under the rim of the mesh part) revealed nothing 🙁.
So back to square one. Check every step as I disassembled and put items into baskets.
I usually put wheels and delicate items in one basket, and heavier parts in with screws so maybe I missed one as I emptied the basket, therefore I did another check of the basket. Nothing!

I then thought I'll check all of the other parts that were in that basket again. Some diligent inspection didn't find much, but then I noticed that the clutch wheel looked a bit odd.



I turned it up and noticed an obstruction in the centre of the wheel.



Flipping it over again it was clear to see where Prisoner 012 417 had tried to hide as he planned his ultimate escape!



A quick extradition at the point of a needle was enough to coax the recalcitrant screw into the open.



And we have a happy ending. Number 012 417 (2 of 2) is now back where he belongs.





I shall not mention here the events pertaining to No. 817 024 Intermediate Date Wheel (black plastic, 2.4mm dia) that attempted a similar abscondment.

I recently serviced an Accutron that had been worked on, previously. Before the servicing, I found the watch was losing about 75 seconds in a day with the two regulators on the FAST side as far as they would go. There would never have been enough range on these tuning forks to compensate for an error like that! In the process of stripping it, I found one plate screw was incorrect. I set the screw aside and proceeded with dismantling the watch. With Accutrons, the tuning fork, pawl jewel assembly, and index wheel are cleaned separately. Upon drying the tuning fork, I found the the screw the previous person had misplaced, adhering to the powerful cone magnet on one tine of the tuning fork! Little wonder it lost time! A picture of my Accutron Spaceview since a post without a picture is incomplete.

Well, Prisoner 012 417 is safely engaged in the job of retaining the Pallet Bridge in the 7002 and I've finished servicing the movement.

I did a Timegrapher check when I received it.............🙁



But now it seems much happier!



All original parts too, not bad for a 29 year old watch!