# Help with Seiko Alpinist 6R15



## sybaseguru (Feb 20, 2018)

In June 2017 I bought a Seiko Alpinist from Japan. It started off 15secs/day slow and deteriorated to over 30s/day.

I sent it to the UK Seiko Service centre before Christmas and they insisted I pay £170 to have it serviced as the warranty was Japan only.

On return it was fine for 2 days then started loosing time and after two weeks was 26sec/day out.

I returned it to Seiko servicing and their supervisor claims there's nothing wrong.

Have I've now spent £500 on a worthless watch?


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

How are you determining that it's "losing time?" Are you setting it to a time tick daily and then measuring the different after 24 hours? (Tip: if you have an Android device, there's an app called Watch Check that will let you keep a log of your watch's accuracy. It uses established NNTP servers as well as the GPS time signal for reference.)


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## Buuk (Apr 15, 2017)

I'd second what @Chromejob says. You could see if you've got a jeweller local to you who can put the watch on a timegrapher as this might flag up any obvious issues.

It's worth bearing in mind that while many folk's Seiko's will be more accurate than Seiko's quoted figures at 26s/d yours is only just outside their quoted tolerance..

Taken from the Seiko 6R15 user manual...

3 Loss/gain (daily rate)............................................ +25 - 15 seconds at normal temperature range (between

5°C and 35°C)

4 Continuous operating time ................................. More than approx. 50 hours

5 Driving system..................................................... Automatic winding type with manual winding mechanism

6 Jewels................................................................. 23 jewels

* The accuracy above is factory adjusted.

** Due to the characteristics of mechanical watches, any actual daily rate may not fall within the range

of time accuracy specified above dependent on the conditions of use, such as the length of time during

which the watch is worn on the wrist, temperature, arm movement, and whether the mainspring

is wound up fully or not, etc.


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## Rob.B (Nov 3, 2017)

I have an IPhone and I use Toolwatch app this does the same thing as what Chromejob says... There's obviously something wrong with it... I would expect that movement to be more accurate than that I had a Dan Henry with an NE35 that was only 20 seconds









Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

sybaseguru said:


> In June 2017 I bought a Seiko Alpinist from Japan. It started off 15secs/day slow and deteriorated to over 30s/day.
> 
> I sent it to the UK Seiko Service centre before Christmas and they insisted I pay £170 to have it serviced as the warranty was Japan only.
> 
> ...


 Unfortunately you are experiencing (as I have) the down side of buying a watch from abroad when it goes wrong. I am encountering a similar problem with a watch that has just been serviced and returned with very poor time keeping. The above advice is all good. I have had to go to the extremes of filming my watch over a 24hour period to prove my point.

Did you try contacting the original seller before using Seiko UK. ?


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## richy176 (Aug 7, 2013)

sybaseguru said:


> Have I've now spent £500 on a worthless watch?


 I would not agree that the watch is worthless unless you really need high accuracy but in that case a quartz might have been a better buy.

If the watch has settled to around - 30 seconds per day then you could set it to one minute fast and after four days it would be one minute slow and you could then reset it top one minute fast.

There are many members on the forum who rotate several watches and set them as and when that watch gets worn - some may even wear more than one per day and have to set two watches and there are even rumoured to be some dinosaurs who wind their watches daily 

I would take issue with the service centre as the only reason for the service appears to be because of the accuracy so to send it back with little improvement and then say it is fine sounds wrong - they should have said that it was within spec before taking your money. Looking around the web it appear that the movement can be regulated to a much better accuracy but that can involve a lot of trial and error but perhaps using one of the apps would enable you to find a position that makes it run fast if you take it off over night.


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## reggie747 (Sep 10, 2013)

It's not stored near anything that could magnetize it is it ? Just curious ?


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

The fact that the OP has not returned to answer follow-on questions is telling IMHO... :wicked:


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

sybaseguru said:


> In June 2017 I bought a Seiko Alpinist from Japan. It started off 15secs/day slow and deteriorated to over 30s/day.
> 
> I sent it to the UK Seiko Service centre before Christmas and they insisted I pay £170 to have it serviced as the warranty was Japan only.
> 
> ...


 The 6R15 movement can be regulated to a pretty good accuracy I have had them as good as 5 seconds a day, but along with other Seiko lower-end movements they are prone to positional variance and something called isochronism. If you are in a sedentary occupation, as many of us are these days, and not moving much the watch may not wind fully and it can affect the accuracy quite significantly if it is only partially wound. I have had them lose 15 to 20 seconds overnight when nearing the fully unwound state, so try giving the watch a few winds every morning if you aren't already.


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