# â€œseiko 5 Militaryâ€ Snk???k? + Variants



## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

â€œSeiko 5 Militaryâ€ SNK???K? + Variants

Day/Date, Steel Bracelet, AUTOMATIC ,calibre: 7S26

Looking for some guidance on this watch(s). It looks like just what Iâ€™m after for a cheap daily wear so I can rest my huge collection of 60/70â€™s vintage autos (2!) which I am currently using daily.

There are loads of variants on ebay from a seller with good feedback with a BIN price of Â£45 +free delivery.

I wanted an auto with a steel bracelet and the size & appearance seems just what I wanted. It just seems to good to be true. One point the seller of these states â€œNO BOX OR MANUALâ€ for the dozens he has on sale, although he has 99.9% + feedback and is approaching 3000 sales since 2004. I donâ€™t know if itâ€™s â€˜PCâ€™ for me to state his seller ID on the forum so I havenâ€™t.

Many thanks

Mike


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## Steve's Dad (Dec 19, 2007)

Mike,

I am pretty sure it's OK to paste the item number of one of his sales, then folks can look him and his items up and give you their opinion.

Cheers,

Ian


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

Hi Ian,

Thanks for that. The Item number is EDITED

Cheers

Mike


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## Steve's Dad (Dec 19, 2007)

Mike,

I can't see anything wrong with it or the seller mate.

Of course you don't get the same guarantee as a High Street shop but that has never bothered me much before when in pursuit of an ebay bargain.

The Seiko 5s are bullet proof and excellent value I just find a lot of them a bit smallish. Also this particular one is on a folded bracelet which is OK but not ideal.

Now if you wanted to up your budget a bit, a Seiko SKX007 on a solid bracelet is a lot more substantial watch and very popular with forum members here, but of course they are twice as much and the 'diver' style is not for everyone.

Just my opinion like, hopefully others here can add theirs.

Cheers,

Ian


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

Ian,

Ok Thanks for that. I don't understand what a folded bracelet is or why it isn't as good as others, can someone enlighten me?

Actually thinking about the bracelet, how easy would it be to reduce the size (remove links?) . Would that be something a numpty like me could attempt? or would I have to take it to my local Jewellers?

Cheers

Mike


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

As Steve's Dad says (I looked before I deleted the item number) it's gonna be genuine, the seller even offers double your money back if it's not.

I think these are "grey" imports bought in bulk and sold on. Ask him what his aftersales policy is, what length of warranty it has and what happens should it go wrong.

Not what I'd class as "military" though, pity Roy sold out of these


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## grey (Apr 29, 2006)

Mikesl said:


> Ian,
> 
> Ok Thanks for that. I don't understand what a folded bracelet is or why it isn't as good as others, can someone enlighten me?
> 
> ...


Hi Mike,

Like PG says, it looks a reasonable deal. On folded link bracelets the edges of the links look like flattened Swiss Roll (you can see it on your seller's picture), perfectly srviceable but a bit untidy. Solid links are tidier but more expensive. As to removing links, most bracelets have little arrow indicators where they can be removed. There is also usually some adjustment at the buckle (also visible in the picture) which is usually quite easy. For both these you will need a link removal tool - Roy sells them - which are great if you want to try various straps and bracelets on watches, which is how 90% of the members of this forum spend their evenings when not looking at the 'Totty You Didn't Know Existed' thread 

Cheers

Graham


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## Steve's Dad (Dec 19, 2007)

Mike,

A solid bracelet is just that, er....solid. A folded bracelet is made up of metal strips folded into shape. I find solid bracelets more comfortable, less 'tinny' feeling and they are more durable....I guess.

Others here have much more knowledge than I.

A watchmaker typically charges Â£10 to re-size a bracelet, but once you get the hang of it it is easy, especially if you buy a cheap re-sizing tool from ebay or from Roy HERE. Folded bracelets are very easy to re-size and usually need no tool.

There is a tutorial on re-sizing bracelts *** link deleted ***

Cheers,

Ian


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## Steve's Dad (Dec 19, 2007)

grey said:


> For both these you will need a link removal tool


Sorry Graham, you are right - that is the correct advice.


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## Steve's Dad (Dec 19, 2007)

Sorry, if I broke any rules PG Tips


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

Apologies for the item no /link and to Ian for getting him in trouble.

Otherwise, wow thanks for the great info. I'm going to get the watch and the tool and see how I get on. :yahoo:


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## Twickersdude (Jul 25, 2008)

1) Nice watches but quite small ...

2) Bracelet sizing tool is not needed - these have a 'U' pin therefore all that is needed is a fine screwdriver or a bradawl

3) Only rated to 50m ........

4) I've just sold the whole collection of these & won't miss them

5) Get an SKX007/009 or similar ..........


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

I've ordered one as I like the look of it.

I like smaller or 'mid' size watches as my wrists are on the small side. I've bought the tool anyway, it will be used in the near future I'm sure. When you say I don't need it and could use a bradawl or screwdriver, do you mean the tool won't work on this type of pin? or as I'll have the tool should I use it?

Cheers

Mike


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Mikesl said:


> I've ordered one as I like the look of it.


That's all that matters, buy what you like, like what you buy.


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

Received this today, really pleased looks great.

I'm confused by the bracelet though and any help would be appreciated. How do I remove links? the sides of the folded bracelet are solid so I can't push pins out. I can see on the inside there are direction arrows and a small dimple, does that need to be pressed in?

Cheers

Mike


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/lofiversion...php/t22885.html

Found these superb instructions. Job done :yes:


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## JerryLE (Feb 6, 2009)

New member, so hope I'm not breaking any protocol by recounting bad experiences.

I sincerely hope that Mikesl has better luck with his Seiko 5 than I have.

I had been using a modern J.W. Benson battery powered watch that I got at a good price in a January sale years ago when my much loved Seiko Kinetic SKH233 gave up the ghost. However the styling was pretty bland and I fancied a good value replacement as an early Xmas present

I bought a Seiko 5 SNK803K2 watch on ebay in November from, I very much suspect, the same supplier I made an offer and got it for Â£55 plus postage.

I love the look of the watch.

Problem is, since I got it, it has stopped on me 5 or 6 times, once was on the first day, which I put down to it being underwound (if thatâ€™s a word?)

However it continued to stop occasionally even after constant daily wear, which I assume meant it was not running down. Also it always stopped when I was wearing it, never overnight. I wondered if it was because I was adjusting the watch anti clockwise (to correct the 30 sec per day gain), which stops the smooth sweep of the second hand. After having stopped twice in one day I decided to contact the supplier.

His email reply pointed out that the watch didnâ€™t come with a guarantee, but that â€œmy local watch mender can usually sort these out easily.

normally servicing costs only Â£6-12 which i would cover if you send it backâ€.

I took this at face value, despite thinking that 3 months of wear shouldnâ€™t require a service, and sent the watch back wrapped in bubble wrap inside a small box inside a padded envelope.

I then got an email informing me that â€œthe watch is not working at all now which indicates the mainspring is broken(this cannot be fixed by servicing,it will need replaced and may have been caused by the delivery if the movement was active when you posted it)

i'm sorry there is nothing i can do to help(i would have serviced the watch free of charge but as it is broken i will have to send it back to you)

if you need to claim against the post office for the damaged packet i will help all i can.â€

I got the watch back today â€" ticking away merrily!

So Iâ€™m now back where I started (minus additional postage).

I may be lucky, it may run fine from now on, but you know how you feel about using things that you canâ€™t trust â€" itâ€™s just not the same.

Iâ€™m just left feeling that the after sales customer care could have been better.

Apart from a salutary lesson about buying from auction sites it prompted me to get the capacitor replaced in my Kinetic, so I have an old friend back that only gains about 3 seconds a month.

Does anyone have any advice on what might be the problem, how much Iâ€™m likely to get quoted for a service if I take it to a local jewelers (I donâ€™t want to post it again), or whether I should just forget it?


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

JerryLE said:


> New member, so hope I'm not breaking any protocol by recounting bad experiences.
> 
> I sincerely hope that Mikesl has better luck with his Seiko 5 than I have.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear about your sad experience. I certainly hope it isnt the same supplier. This 5 that I bought back in December is still the most accurate auto I have alongside four other makes now, one of which is Omega. I can't measure any daily difference and struggle to see a +/- over a week! . It has never missed a beat.

Can the mods advise if its OK for Jerry to name & shame by posting the Ebay ID?

Mike


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## Mikesl (Apr 5, 2008)

Mikesl said:


> JerryLE said:
> 
> 
> > New member, so hope I'm not breaking any protocol by recounting bad experiences.
> ...


Actually I skim read your post and didn't pay attention to your comments re manual hacking "I was adjusting the watch anti clockwise" not sure about this really, I'm sure its not designed to do that. I'm sure someone with a greater knowledge of movements can comment.


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## Royal_Blue (Mar 8, 2009)

Mikesl said:


> Mikesl said:
> 
> 
> > JerryLE said:
> ...


It's ok to wind the hands back anti-clockwise but I would suggest winding it back slightly further than required so you can set the hands to their final position using a clockwise motion.

It could be any number of things making the watch stop. You could send it to Seiko directly , this would save on jewellers additional fees.


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## JerryLE (Feb 6, 2009)

A quick update after a couple of days wear:

I was away over the weekend so the watch ran down. It took several shakes to get it restarted, I wore it Sunday evening, still running in the morning (I take it off overnight) but after about two hours on my wrist on Monday morning it stopped!

No amount of shaking/winding action would get it to restart - only the adjustment of the hands to the right time started the second hand moving again.

It then stopped again after about half an hour, but after resetting has run fine for the last 24 hours.

One thing I have noticed - in over half of the instances where it has stopped, the second hand has been in the same quadrant (40 - 55secs)

Mike - I think it is the same seller - the offer of double money back if a fake is what rung bells.

Needless to say I've had no reply to my e-mail telling him that the watch is still running.

Royal Blue - thanks for your comment about adjusting anti-clockwise - I'd been doing as you suggested - moving it back past the right time and then setting in a clockwise direction.

As I said before, I really like the watch - It's size, style, colour are all right up my street - but I don't want to waste much money - especially if it might be cheaper to just replace it with the same model - galling as that would be.

Any thoughts on cause or repair options gratefully received.

Would it make sense to send to Seiko if it's not a range sold in UK?


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