# Seiko H558-5000 Restore.



## Sir Alan (Sep 10, 2010)

When KevKojak listed his *H558-5000* 'Arnie' in the Sales forum I figured I'd missed the boat, but still sent a speculative PM saying I'd be interested if it was available.

http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=86466

So, when I got a PM saying it was available I couldn't say yes fast enough!!

I have a thing for Seiko watches, in particular quartz watches from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

I've been considering a *7C43 *or *7C46 *diver style watch for quite some time, but picking up a good condition example is rare, and costly. Also, finding donor watches for parts isn't easy.

Some time ago I picked up a non-working* H556-5050* 'Burke', as worn by the character Carter Burke in the film Aliens.

I also bought a working donor watch (a H557), intending to use the movement (or parts) to get the non-working watch going.

As it turned out, all the H556 needed was a good clean / service and its been fine ever since. So, I had a working H557 movement ready to get the H558 going again.

So, last night I felt in the mood for project Lazarus ;-)

Apologies, but I didn't take any pictures (what, no pictures!!) as it was at night (so light was rubbish) and to be honest I didn't really know how this was going to go because:

a) I'm not very familiar with the H557/8 movement, it's quite fiddly what with the LCD display and the analogue gear train, all held in a plastic holder.

B) the dial is very small, and the hands on this watch quite wide compared to what I'm used to.

There was therefore lots of potential for things to go wrong - which usually means disaster as spare parts are unavailable (at least to me).

Anyway, 3 hours of work into the small hours this morning resulted in this:









which I'm really pleased with.

To bring it back to life it needed a PCB and coil transplant and a really good clean, both inside and out (there was a LOT of grunge under the shroud and bezel - yuckkk!!).

But, as Kev described in his listing, this is a really great example of an all original *classic*.

I'll post some better pictures at the w/e, and I'll also include some shots of the innards of the donor movement.


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## woody77 (Jun 19, 2011)

hi I love I was going to buy it but had no way to fix it you got a very nice watch at a very good price I think wish it was mine.your work is so good .all the best woody77.


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

I see Bry1975 had a spare module for the 557 Arnie up for sale in the SC...http://www.thewatchf...showtopic=86526.....

Edit:.....Aha...I see you've already been there, done that! :lol:


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## apm101 (Jun 4, 2011)

Fantastic! I love seeing all of these classy 80's Seikos coming back.

Would it be cheeky to ask you to do a SOTC of these?!


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## Sir Alan (Sep 10, 2010)

Roger the Dodger said:


> I see Bry1975 had a spare module for the 557 Arnie up for sale in the SC...http://www.thewatchf...showtopic=86526.....
> 
> Edit:.....Aha...I see you've already been there, done that! :lol:


One thing I learned straight away with this tinkering hobby is that spares is what its all about (that and a few good tools). With spares, its possible to bring what were once great watches back to life. Hunting for spares is a quest in itself.


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