Anthony J. Martinez

Seiko Kinetic Fix

Decades ago my father got a Seiko Kinetic that turned his movement into stored energy to run the watch. For a long time that worked just fine, until the capacitor (battery) could no longer hold a charge. Last week, I acquired the tools and replacement parts. This weekend, I took the watch apart, and made the fix.

Getting the case back off was surprisingly difficult, but I guess something sealed tight for more than 15 years might be a little hard to open. The slots in the flathead screws were so narrow that I had to file down the tips of the cheap tools I bought online. Once that was done, it was largely a matter of taking things apart one piece at a time and putting them back in reverse order. Lining up the tiny mylar sheet with its index nubs, and getting the retention plate back on without losing the tiny screws that hold it down were the hard parts.

Jewelry shops allegedly won't touch these anymore because the replacement kit itself is $20, and there are more parts to remove than just the case back. With no margin for profit the watch is then "not worth fixing." If there is sentimental value, or you just like to avoid throwing away things that can be repaired, this isn't a hard job to do and even a set of $16 tools from AMZ will do the trick.