KRIS'S WATCH GARAGE

🕰️ vintage seiko & citizen restoration log 🕰️ tsudanuma, chiba, japan 🕰️

⭐ EST. 2026 ⭐ 🔧 SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION 🔧 BEST VIEWED IN NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR 🌐 800x600 🌐

★ UPDATED ★ — TWO NEW BUYS + FIRST RUNNING-RATE DATA! the rust bomb LIVES!!

>> TABLE OF CONTENTS <<

01. The Collection (specs & condition)
02. The Money Page (buy cost / resale / profit)
03. Collection Patterns & Notes
04. Restoration Focus Areas
04b. The Six-Slot Case
01b. Running-Rate Baseline
01c. Service History
05. Toolbox Status
06. Learning Resources
07. Scouting Watchlist

📁 01. THE COLLECTION

① SEIKO 5 ACTUS — the crown jewel

★★★★★

Reference / Caliber	7019-7060 \| Cal. 7019, 21 jewels, automatic
Era	circa 1973–74
Buy price	¥2,400
Condition	Fine dial scratches, small crystal edge chip. Faceted lugs still sharp, no water staining.
Repairs needed	Standard full service, crystal polish or replace
Est. resale (JP / intl)	¥6,000–15,000+ / $75–300

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Movement starts quickly the moment it's picked up — rotor and winding train are healthy. Case has minor scratches all over but they vanish at arm's length. One tiny black speck at the edge of the 10 o'clock index. Light grime in the crystal/bezel seam.
⚠ DATE REFUSES TO CHANGE. Crystal is scratched, some deeply.
Read: the date fault is the priority. On a 7019 the quickset works through the date corrector and jumper — 50 years of hardened grease is the usual cause, and it usually frees up on service rather than needing parts. Do NOT force the crown. Forcing a stuck quickset is how the date jumper spring gets bent, and that is a parts hunt. Also check you aren't in the 9PM–3AM danger window, which locks the quickset legitimately.
Deep crystal scratches: acrylic, so polishable, but deep ones need wet-sanding up through grits before Polywatch. Budget a replacement crystal as the fallback — cheap, and it makes the watch.

> service this one first. best margin of the whole lot.

② CITIZEN HI-BEAT (Cosmostar family)

★★★★☆

Reference / Caliber	Case 4-661273 TA \| Cal. 6600, hi-beat 28,800bph
Era	early-to-mid 1970s
Buy price	¥2,000
Condition	Dial clean, gradient intact. ✅ The apparent "crack" is a faceted / cut crystal — a 1970s design feature that throws light off defined edges. NOT damage.
Repairs needed	Standard service + light facet polish if scratched. No scarce parts needed.
Est. resale (JP / UK)	¥3,000–8,000 / £20–60

> risk removed — no crystal hunt required. straightforward service job now.

③ SEIKO 5 DX

★★☆☆☆

Reference / Caliber	6106-8130 \| Cal. 6106A, 25 jewels (listing typo'd 8180)
Era	December 1968
Buy price	¥4,100
Condition	Heavy dial water staining / tide marks. Case back scratched but legible.
Repairs needed	Full teardown, rust check, gaskets, crystal, dial decision (patina vs. donor)
Est. resale (JP / UK)	¥3,000–8,000 / £30–60

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Keeps time well. Dial spotting confined to the left side. Case acceptable but with a few dents that won't brush out.
⚠ DATE WON'T CHANGE. Heavy peeling on the bezel. Crystal hazed and scratched. Grime all the way around where the bezel meets the dial.
Read: second watch with a dead quickset — same likely cause, hardened grease in the corrector. Same rule: don't force it.
The grime ring is the important observation. Dirt accumulating right around the crystal seam means the seal has been open for a long time, which is exactly the path the water took that caused the staining. It cleans out with pegwood and a little benzine once the crystal is off — not while it's on. Bezel peeling is plating failure and isn't economically fixable; sell it as honest wear.

> open it up and check for movement rust. this one's a gamble.

④ SEIKO QUARTZ 7N01

★★☆☆☆

Reference / Caliber	Listed 7N01-0DM0 (dial engraved 7N01-0SL4)
Era	1980s–90s quartz
Buy price	¥1,500
Condition	Heavy foxing / mold speckling across whole dial. Genuine Seiko bracelet, decent shape.
Repairs needed	Battery swap only. Dial not salvageable.
Est. resale (JP)	¥1,000–3,000

> low effort, low margin. sell as-is or part out the bracelet.

⑤ SEIKO 5 — THE RUST BOMB

★☆☆☆☆ (unrated — lottery ticket)

Reference / Caliber	6119-7130 \| Cal. 6119, 21 jewels
Era	early-to-mid 1970s
Buy price	¥1,000
Condition	Active rust bloom on dial (iron oxide). Cloudy/hazed crystal. New non-original strap fitted.
Repairs needed	⚠ Open case back FIRST, check movement for corrosion before investing time
Est. resale (JP)	¥0 (parts) – ¥5,000 (if salvageable)

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Running fine. Case polished and fresh, in really good condition. Crystal near brand new. New band already fitted. Movement shows none of the corrosion the dial does.
Dial marked everywhere — rust-like spotting, patina, discolouration. The hands are affected too.
Read: ⭐ this confirms the earlier call. Corrosion is entirely above the dial. Good case, good crystal, clean movement, wrecked dial and hands — that is a watch that sat with moisture trapped under the crystal, not one that was flooded.
Which makes the fix a sourcing problem, not a repair problem. A donor 6119 dial + hand set turns this into a clean, running, serviced watch. Search 6119 文字盤 (もじばん / mojiban = dial) and 6119 針 (はり / hari = hands), or buy a junk 6119 with a good dial and a dead movement — the exact inverse of this one. Still the right first service project, because a wrecked dial means nothing is at risk.

> at ¥1000 it's basically free education either way.

⑥ SEIKO HI-BEAT (ladies) NEW!

★★★★☆

Reference / Caliber	2706-0290 \| Cal. 2706, 21 jewels, hi-beat
Era	1970s
Buy price	¥2,100
Condition	Clean green sunburst dial, no staining or foxing. Non-original leather strap.
Repairs needed	Standard service, crystal polish. No hand-winding assumptions — test by feel.
Est. resale (JP / intl)	¥3,000–8,000 / $30–90

> ladies' size narrows the buyer pool, but great dial + hi-beat movement. hold for a timegrapher check.

⑦ SEIKO SPORTSMATIC 5 — original lineage NEW!

★★★★☆

Reference / Caliber	6619-9010
Era	mid-1960s — birth of the Seiko 5 line
Buy price	¥840
Condition	Mild yellow/amber dial discoloration (early lacquer aging, not active rust). Crystal scratched, no crack. Day-date appears functional.
Repairs needed	Standard service, watch the discoloration for progression
Est. resale (JP)	¥3,000–7,000, more if marketed on its early-lineage story

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Runs on its own, date changes easily. Nice whale engraving on the case back. Case scratched but nothing major — looks restorable.
⚠ Dial water damage: bleeding inward from roughly 7–8 o'clock and across 12–4. Crystal scratched in many places, as if it was dragged across the ground.
Read: the scraped crystal and the dial bleed are one fault, not two. Damage that heavy opens the crystal seat, and that is where the water went in. Edge-in tide marks confirm the direction.
New crystal is mandatory here — it's the leak path, not just cosmetics. The dial staining is in the lacquer and will not come out; this is a Tier-2 experiment candidate at best (benzine on a folded watch-paper point), or a donor-dial job. The whale-engraved case back is a genuine selling point — photograph it well.

> excellent margin at ¥840. genuine "start of the Seiko 5 line" collector story.

⑧ SEIKO CAL. 7006A — gold-plated NEW!

★★★☆☆

Reference / Caliber	7006-8000 series \| Cal. 7006A, 21 jewels
Era	1970s
Buy price	TBD — price not yet confirmed
Condition	Dial genuinely clean, sharp markers, day-date reads "SUN 1." Gold plating brassing through on case, especially lugs. Movement dusty but no obvious rust.
⚠ MISSING PART	CASE BACK IS ABSENT. Movement has been open to the air for an unknown period. Search 7006 裏蓋 (うらぶた / urabuta). Until one arrives, keep it sealed in a bag — coastal Chiba air is actively making this worse.
Repairs needed	Service; case plating wear likely not economical to fix — sell as "honest wear"
Est. resale (JP)	¥2,000–5,000

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Dial in really good shape, hands likewise. Movement shows no serious issues — only light fading from wear.
⚠ NON-RUNNER. ⚠ CASE BACK IS MISSING ENTIRELY. Gold plating faded.
Read: the missing case back reframes this watch. It means the movement has been open to the air for an unknown length of time — dust, humidity, coastal Chiba. That alone can explain the non-running: no rust needed, just contamination in the oil.
Good news: the diagnosis is now free. You can see the rotor and the whole train without opening anything. Shake it and watch directly for movement.
Bad news: a 7006 case back is a specific part, and a watch without one cannot be sold as a watch. Search 7006 裏蓋 (うらぶた / urabuta = case back) — or accept this as a parts donor and harvest the good dial and hands. Until then, bag it. Every day it sits open it gets worse.

> good dial saves this one from junk-tier despite the case wear. update price when known!

⑨ CITIZEN CRYSTAL SEVEN — the dark horse NEW!

★★★★★

Reference / Caliber	ACSS 2925-Y \| Cal. 1202-1K
Line	Crystal Seven — Citizen's flagship automatic series, launched 1965
Era	late 1960s – early 1970s
Serial / case marks	70607265 \| GN2, "PARA WATER"
Complications	Day-date, kanji day wheel (木 = Thursday)
Jewel count	Likely 27 (printed on dial) — ⚠ CONFIRM against movement stamp when case back is off. Crystal Seven spanned 21J to a rare 43J flagship, and this number swings the value more than anything else here.
Case / bracelet	Stainless steel, matching honeycomb-link bracelet, ~17.5cm wrist
Buy price	¥1,500
Condition	Dial clean and legible, no staining or foxing. Case back sharp and fully legible. Bracelet light wear/spotting. Listed as 稼働 (running).
Unverified specs	Beat rate, power reserve, hand-winding, hacking — no confirmed data for cal. 1202. Assume no hacking (nothing this era does); test hand-winding by feel.
Repairs needed	Open case back, confirm jewel count + check movement condition, then standard service
Est. resale	Wide range pending jewel count — clean higher-jewel examples comp at $150–350+

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Bracelet almost spotless. Case in good condition, only slight wear, likely polishable. Dial in very good condition. Date changes easily; day-of-week working fine.
Crystal noticeably scratched with an INDENT near the 12 marker. Crown worn from use.
Read: ⭐ confirms this as the best watch on the board. Working day AND date on a 60-year-old movement with no service is a very good sign about the motion works.
The indent is the decider. Run a fingernail over it: if it catches, it's below the surface and polishing cannot reach it — polishing only removes material around a pit, which widens it. That's a crystal replacement, which is cheap and transforms the watch. If the nail glides over, it's surface and Polywatch will take it.
Worn crown: leave it. It's original and honest wear reads better than a mismatched replacement — ⑮ is the cautionary example.

> if 27J confirms, this is likely the most valuable piece in the collection — above the Actus. take the most care over this service.

⑩ CITIZEN COSMOSTAR V2 — the ¥400 steal NEW!

★★★★☆

Reference	64-3815 \| ladies' automatic
Caliber	⚠ UNCONFIRMED — "V2" is the line name, not the movement number. Check the stamp when the back comes off.
Beat rate / jewels	28,800 bph, 17 jewels (printed on dial)
Complications	Day-date, English day wheel
Bracelet	Original stepped-link, period-correct — real value on its own
Buy price	¥400 + ¥230 shipping — best cost basis in the collection
Condition	Honest dial age, mottling/light spotting on lower half. No rust bloom, no tide marks. Lug and bezel wear, bracelet stretch (normal). Listed 稼働.
Watch out	Citizen proprietary line — parts scarcer than Seiko equivalents. Don't break anything.
Est. resale	¥3,000–7,000 serviced with original bracelet

> ladies' vintage is where everyone stops looking. strongest margin ratio on the board.

⑪ CITIZEN ATTESA — the modern outlier NEW!

★★★☆☆

Reference	A411-T001165 \| Eco-Drive 電波ソーラー (radio sync)
Case / bracelet	Titanium — light, hypoallergenic, corrosion-proof, scratch-prone
Full set?	YES — original box + manual. Worth ¥2,000–3,000 over a bare watch on modern Citizen.
Buy price	TBD — won at auction, final price not yet logged
First action	CHARGE IT. Direct sun several hours / full day. A flat Eco-Drive won't run or sync — don't judge it until charged.
Then check	1) Single ticks or 2-second jumps? (2-sec = low charge warning) 2) Does it sync overnight, dial-up near a window?
Risk	Rechargeable cell degrades after 15–20 yrs. Charges in sun but dies indoors = dead cell = Citizen service job, not a bench job.
Est. resale	¥8,000–15,000 working full-set. If cell is dead, sell as-is with box.

> FLIP ONLY — you add nothing to this mechanically. off-strategy, but the full set redeems it.

⑫ CITIZEN CRYSTAL SEVEN STAR — the 23-jewel head NEW!

★★★★☆

Reference / Caliber	ACSS 3003 0-Y \| Cal. 52xx family — likely 5204, confirm from movement stamp
⚠ Ref discrepancy	Listing said 型番3005a-T; case back read as 3003 0-Y. Settle it from the case back and correct whichever is wrong — it matters for comps.
Serial	60517746 → May 1966
Jewels	23 — dial and movement agree
Buy price	¥2,000 — listed 稼働品 (running), フェイスのみ = head only, no bracelet
Crystal	MINERAL — DO NOT POLISH. Replace or leave.
Movement	Fine. Likely 18,000 bph, hand-winds, no hacking, day advances on midnight rotation, date quicksets.
Condition	Greenish-yellow discolouration at dial edges — early moisture ingress, sitting in the lacquer, not on it. Bezel and lug wear.
Est. resale	¥4,000–9,000 serviced — lower end without a bracelet

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Crown in excellent condition. Date changes fine. Bracelet looks good. Case has wear but is in good nick. Crystal has few or no notable scratches. Hour markers are beautiful — faceted, crystal-like.
⚠ Crystal is HAZY. Green marks on the bezel. Green crystalline deposits on the dial — worst at 12, 7 and 4 o'clock.
Read: ⭐ the green on the bezel and the green on the dial are the same event. That is copper corrosion (verdigris) migrating inward from the bezel/crystal seam. Not two separate flaws — one long, slow moisture exposure with the watch sealed shut.
Order of work matters: the haze is very often external — decades of skin oil and grime. Clean and polish that first, before assuming the crystal needs replacing. It may transform on its own.
The dial deposits are in the lacquer, not on it. They will not come off, and chasing them risks lifting printing. Accept them. With markers that good and a clean crown, this still photographs beautifully — shoot it straight-on and let the facets do the work.

> good buy. head-only means you should source a period Citizen bracelet before listing — it is worth more than it costs.

⑬ SEIKO MARVEL 14020 — the one you keep NEW!

★★★★★

Reference / Caliber	14020, S-mark \| "Marvel" — unnumbered, Seiko had no 4-digit calibers in 1956
Specs	17 jewels, hand-wind, centre seconds, 26.0mm movement, Suwa factory, Diashock, press-on back, acrylic crystal (polishable)
Buy price	¥4,400 \| 鑑定付き — authenticated listing, which is why it wasn't cheaper
⚠ BLOCKER	MISSING CROWN AND STEM. Listing said "consider for repair/overhaul or parts" — assume non-runner.
Dial	Original, NOT redialed — printing is period-correct. Spotting, dull silver. Leave it alone.
Condition	Case scratched and dented, crystal hazed, serpentine bracelet worthless
Why it matters	First Seiko wristwatch developed entirely in-house (June 1956). Direct ancestor of Lord Marvel → Crown → Grand Seiko. The most historically significant object you own.
Est. resale	¥12,000–25,000 serviced — but don't

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 Case is well polished. Grime present but appears to come off easily.
Crystal scratched, with spotting. Inside the crystal: specks of black dirt on the dial, hands and indices. Fine dirt specks on the dial. Crown still missing. ⚠ Case scratched where someone has tried to open it and made a mess of it. Bracelet missing parts — replace.
Read: ⭐ the black specks are the best news on this page. Loose dirt sitting on the dial, under the crystal — that is not corrosion, not foxing, not damage in the lacquer. It is dust that got in through the open crown hole. Rodico lifts it, pressed straight down and lifted, never dragged. This dial may clean up dramatically, and it's original printing.
The botched opening marks confirm the previous owner gave up mid-job — consistent with the missing crown and stem.
⚠ The open crown tube is a dust funnel. Until a stem arrives, plug it — a scrap of Rodico or tape over the hole, and keep the watch bagged.
Don't spend anything on the bracelet. A good leather strap suits a 1956 Marvel far better and costs a fraction.

> ⭐ KEEP. DON'T FLIP. this is the anchor of a collection, not stock. sourcing plan: buy a donor movement or a whole non-running Marvel, not a lone stem — check ⑮'s crown thread first.

⑭ CITIZEN AUTO DATER 520 — the lesson NEW!

★★★☆☆

Reference / Caliber	APSS 52801 0-Y (listed 52801a-Y) \| Cal. 5203, 21 jewels, 37mm
Serial / dial code	60820428 → August 1966 \| dial code 57-1Y
Looks	Black dial, red SUN day wheel, fluted bezel
Buy price	¥6,700 — listed 稼働, 秒針・パーツ外れ (second hand + parts detached)
Status	RUNNING. Second hand detached; unidentified square riveted component loose near 5–6. Photograph it on white paper before touching anything.
Condition	Dense hairline scratching across the black dial — permanent, black shows everything. Case back excellent, no service marks.
Est. resale	¥6,000–8,000 serviced — thin margin on this buy price

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 ⚠ HANDLE WITH CARE Beautifully clean brushed case — very good condition. Crown also excellent. Black dial is genuinely snazzy.
⚠ Cyclops rotated ~5–10° out of true. ⚠ Second hand AND the cyclops-area part are both loose and rattling inside the crystal. ⚠ Pushing the crown in makes the dial move. Slight dial scratching, likely caused by the loose parts.
Read — two separate looseness faults:
1) The cyclops cannot rotate by itself. It's moulded into the crystal. A rotated cyclops means the whole crystal has turned in its seat — tension ring gone, or the gasket has perished. That's also how the loose parts got inside.
2) "The dial moves when I push the crown in" is not a dial fault. The movement is not secured in the case. Casing clamps loose, or a cracked/shrunken movement ring. Crown pressure is shoving the entire movement backwards because nothing is holding it.
🛑 IMMEDIATE ACTION: store it DIAL-UP and STILL. Do not wind it, do not set it, do not carry it. Every movement rolls a loose second hand across a black dial that already shows every mark. Each roll is permanent.
The brushed case is the asset here — don't polish it. Brushed finish is destroyed by polishing compound and cannot be restored by hand convincingly.

> ⚠ THE BUY THAT RAN PAST ITS LIMIT. cap was ¥3,000–4,000. paid ¥6,700. see ⑯ — you bought the same reference for ¥2,970 four days later. the pattern is worth more than the watch.

⑮ SEIKO LAUREL 14036 — the gold-plated gamble NEW!

★★★☆☆

Reference / Caliber	14036 \| caliber unconfirmed, likely 21J hand-wind (a running Crown J14036 21石 sold ¥4,841)
Serial	970507 → July 1959 or 1969
Case	FRONT: EGP 20 MICRONS over base metal. BACK: stainless steel. Acrylic crystal.
Buy price	¥3,600 — 動作未確認 (untested), assume non-runner
Dial	Textured linen silver, original, light speckling — nice, actually
⚠ NEVER POLISH THE CASE	20 microns is all there is. Underneath is brass, not steel. Pikal will go straight through it. Soap and water only.
Issues	Brassing on lugs/bezel. Crown is a mismatched replacement. No service marks.
On arrival	1) Gently hand-wind — tells you service job vs dead stem/mainspring. 2) Compare the crown/stem thread against the Marvel's case tube.
Est. resale	¥6,000–9,000 if it runs

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 ⭐ IT RUNS — listed 動作未確認, so this is upside. Running slightly fast. The domed crystal is beautiful.
⚠ Hairline CRACK in the crystal — easily mistaken for a scratch. Case worn. Crown noticeably a different colour. Small black spots on the dial. White spot on the hour hand. Strap looks authentic and vintage but is tattering.
Read: a running 動作未確認 watch is the single best outcome available from that listing type — the risk paid off. Slightly fast is good news: regulation, not repair. Often just a demagnetiser and a regulator nudge.
⚠ The crack changes the plan. A cracked crystal is an open door for moisture, and moisture on a 20-micron plated case is far worse than on steel — plating lifts from underneath and there's no recovery. This moves crystal replacement to the top of this watch's list, ahead of everything cosmetic. Domed acrylic in the right diameter is cheap; measure it before ordering.
📌 STILL PENDING: compare this crown's thread against the Marvel's case tube. Two Seikos of overlapping era and this one's crown is already wrong — nothing to lose by testing it.
The tattered strap is a non-issue. Replace it, ¥1,000–2,000, biggest visual return per yen in the collection.

> cheap because: untested + gold plating + wrong crown + Laurel is a quiet line. put the effort into the acrylic crystal and a decent leather strap, not the case.

⑯ CITIZEN AUTO DATER 7 — the proof NEW!

★★★★☆

Reference / Caliber	APSG52801-C \| 21 jewels, day-date automatic — same 52801 reference as ⑭
Buy price	¥2,970 — ストア (store listing)
Looks	Silver/champagne dial, gold-tone case, THU day wheel, applied markers
Why this one matters	Second example of the same reference at 44% of what ⑭ cost, bought four days later. Now you have a matched pair — one black dial, one silver — and a 52xx donor if either needs parts.
Est. resale	¥6,000–8,000 serviced

> ⭐ THIS is the price. ⑭ was the anomaly. store listings aren't always dearer than auctions — a 21-jewel Auto Dater is not scarce.

⑰ ORIENT STAR (hand-wind, sub-seconds) — new brand on the board NEW!

★★☆☆☆

Listing	M20 不動オリエントスター手巻きフェイススモセコ \| "M20" is the seller's lot code, not a model number
Specs	Hand-wind, スモセコ = small seconds subdial, likely late 1950s–1960s
Buy price	~¥1,000
⚠ Status	不動 = does not move. Not "untested" — the seller confirmed it's dead. Stronger claim than 動作未確認.
Also	フェイス = head only, no strap or bracelet
Caution	Third brand, first Orient. Parts are markedly scarcer than Seiko or Citizen and the vintage Orient documentation in English is thin. No caliber overlap with anything you own.
Est. resale	¥3,000–6,000 if revived — Orient Star has a following, but a dead hand-wind head is a coin flip

> at ¥1,000 it's a fine practice piece and the sub-seconds layout is worth learning. but don't let it become a fourth brand you're half-fluent in. no-parts-pipeline risk is real.

⑱ THE SWATCH BATCH — off-strategy, nearly free NEW!

★★☆☆☆

⑱a	Swatch AG 1996 自動巻き, original strap — ¥2,300. 現状稼働 (running as-is). This is a Swatch Automatic, ETA-based, produced ~1991–1998.
⑱b	ジャンクスウォッチ2個 — ¥320 for the pair. Effectively free.
⑱c	Swatch CATHEDRAL GN135 quartz — ¥605. 動作確認済み (confirmed working). Early-90s Gent, blue guilloché-look dial, Roman numerals.
⚠ THE CATCH	Swatch cases are sealed plastic, designed not to be opened. The movement is a sealed throwaway unit. You cannot service these in any normal sense — you can crack a back off, but you can't rebuild it economically. Zero bench-skill transfer.
What drives value	Model, colourway, condition and completeness — not mechanical work. Collectors want specific references, boxes and papers.
Est. resale	Automatic ¥4,000–8,000 running \| Cathedral ¥1,500–3,000 \| junk pair ¥500–1,500 as spares/straps

> pure flip stock, bought right. the automatic is the only one with real upside. don't mistake these for practice — they teach you nothing about watchmaking, only about listing and photography. which is not nothing.

⑲ CITIZEN CRYSTAL SEVEN (gold-plated) — beautiful wreck NEW!

★★☆☆☆

Reference	ACSG A305A-T \| ACSG = gold-plated case (vs ACSS = stainless). Same Crystal Seven line as ⑨ and ⑫.
Status	NON-RUNNER
Buy price	TBD — not yet logged
Condition	⚠ Crystal SMASHED — mandatory replacement. Gold worn, worst on the bezel. Green spotting at the outermost dial edges and scattered throughout. Crown is a mismatched colour. Corrosion on the case back.
Est. resale	¥2,000–4,000 as-is / parts \| marginal even revived

🔬 HANDS-ON INSPECTION — 27 Sep 2026 ⚠ A smashed crystal on a non-runner with case-back corrosion and green dial edges is the full moisture-damage set. Nothing was protecting this movement.
Read: broken crystal + corroded back = the inside has been exposed from both directions. Open it before planning anything. If there's rust on the balance or in the barrel, this is a donor, not a project.
But: it is the third 52xx-era Citizen alongside ⑫, and the second Crystal Seven alongside ⑨. Even as a parts watch it earns its place — hands, day/date wheels, stem, movement plates.
The gold is the real ceiling. Worn plating on a bezel can't be fixed economically, and this line is common enough that nobody pays for a rough one.
You're right that it's still beautiful — but "beautiful in a vintage way" and "sellable" aren't the same thing. Keep it as your own, or harvest it. Don't service it for resale.

> ⚠ DONOR CANDIDATE, not a project. open it, assess for rust, then decide: parts box or personal shelf.

⏱️ 01b. RUNNING-RATE BASELINE NEW!

Recorded before any service work. These are the before-numbers that let you honestly list a watch as serviced later. Log the date every time.

Watch	Status	Note
⑤ 6119 rust bomb	RUNS, +1–2 min/day fast	⭐ Movement is fundamentally intact. Gaining = likely magnetised hairspring or coils sticking from old oil. Both fixable. Corrosion is a dial problem, not a movement problem.
⑨ Citizen Crystal Seven	NEAR PERFECT	Mechanical risk basically gone. Still confirm jewel count.
③ Seiko 5 DX 6106	RUNNING FINE	Matches the service marks on the case back (Showa 57.8 / 58.3 = 1982/83) — see Service History.
⑦ Sportsmatic 6619	NEEDS MORE RUN TIME	Give it 48h on wrist/winder before judging — old oil often frees up.
① Actus 7019	RUNS — starts fast on pickup	⚠ DATE WON'T QUICKSET. Likely hardened grease in the date corrector. Don't force the crown — that bends the jumper spring.
③ Seiko 5 DX 6106 (update)	KEEPS TIME WELL	⚠ DATE WON'T CHANGE — same fault as the Actus. Two of them now: treat as a known pattern on unserviced 60s–70s Seikos, not a coincidence.
⑮ Seiko Laurel 14036	RUNS — slightly fast	⭐ Bought as 動作未確認. Running fast = regulation, not repair. Demagnetise first. ⚠ hairline crack in the crystal — replace before moisture gets to the plating.
⑭ Auto Dater 520	RUNS — but DO NOT RUN IT	🛑 Loose crystal + loose movement + loose second hand. Store dial-up and still until serviced.
⑲ Crystal Seven gold ACSG	NON-RUNNER	Smashed crystal, corroded case back. Open and check for rust before spending anything.
⑧ Seiko 7006A gold	NON-RUNNER (no case back)	Diagnosis is now free — the movement is fully visible. Cheapest-first: 1) shake, watch for any second-hand twitch 2) check rotor is tight (commonest cause) 3) if rotor fine → congealed mainspring grease. Can't hand-wind a 7006A — rotor or nothing.

🔍 01c. SERVICE HISTORY — CASE-BACK MARKS NEW!

Watchmakers scratch the service date inside the case back so the next person knows when it was last opened. Standard practice. This is the data nobody tracks well — start here.

③ Seiko 5 DX 6106	Marks in Showa year.month format (Japanese convention — serviced domestically). • 57.8 → August 1982 • 58.3 → March 1983 • Further marks below, too overlapped to read confidently Conversion: Showa year + 1925 = Western year. Read: maintained rather than run into the ground — better history than most junk-bin finds. But 40+ years since the last service, so all lubricant is fully degraded. Dirty, probably not damaged. Consistent with it running fine now.
⑤ Seiko 6119 rust bomb	Marks in Latin script, day-month-year — NOT Japanese format. • 22-9-90 → 22 September 1990 (clearest) • MAY 22 and 27/93 → likely May 1992 and something in 1993 • Several older marks underneath, layered and unreadable Read: almost certainly serviced outside Japan. Seiko 5s sold enormously across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South Asia, and the handwriting convention fits. That is the likeliest explanation for the rust — decades in a hot, humid climate with a 50-year-old gasket. Came back to Japan later, probably in a bulk lot, which is how it reached the junk bin. At least three services documented, last around 1993. 30+ years since. Used and maintained a long time before someone gave up on it.

⭐ THE HABIT TO START: when you service a watch, add your own mark in the same place, same format — date + initials. It is the convention, it is provenance, and it is the beginning of the service-history record that is your actual differentiator. Nobody does this well. Log it here too: date, oils used, parts replaced, amplitude before/after.

💴 02. THE MONEY PAGE

Watch	Buy (¥)	Est. Resale JP (¥, mid)
① Seiko 5 Actus	2,400	~10,500
② Citizen Hi-Beat 6600	2,000	~5,500
③ Seiko 5 DX 6106	4,100	~5,500
④ Seiko Quartz 7N01	1,500	~2,000
⑤ Seiko 6119 (rust)	1,000	~2,000 (uncertain)
⑥ Seiko Hi-Beat 2706	2,100	~5,500
⑦ Sportsmatic 6619-9010	840	~5,000
⑧ Seiko 7006A (gold)	TBD	~3,500
⑨ Citizen Crystal Seven	1,500	~15,000 (if 27J confirms)
⑩ Citizen Cosmostar V2	400	~5,000
⑪ Citizen Attesa (Eco-Drive)	TBD	~11,500 (if cell healthy)
⑫ Citizen Crystal Seven Star 23J	2,000	~5,500 (head only)
⑬ Seiko Marvel 14020	4,400	KEEP (would be ~18,000)
⑭ Citizen Auto Dater 520 (black)	6,700	~7,000 ⚠ over cap
⑮ Seiko Laurel 14036	3,600	~7,500 (if it runs)
⑯ Citizen Auto Dater 7 (silver)	2,970	~7,000
⑰ Orient Star hand-wind 不動	~1,000	~4,500 (coin flip)
⑱a Swatch Automatic 1996	2,300	~6,000
⑱b Swatch junk pair	320	~1,000
⑱c Swatch Cathedral GN135	605	~2,200
TOTAL (18 priced)	¥39,735	~¥98,700 (excl. Marvel)

Gross margin (18 priced, Marvel held back):

~¥59,000

Less: parts / gaskets / crystals / battery (est.):

−¥8,000 to −¥12,000

Less: marketplace fees (~10%):

−¥9,900

Realistic net profit:

~¥37,000 – ¥41,000

Capital tied up in unserviced stock:

¥39,735 and rising

⚠ biggest swing factors: the Crystal Seven's jewel count (huge upside if 27J confirms), and whether the 6119's movement survived the rust. Add #8 and #11's real buy prices once known. NEW: the 6119 rust bomb RUNS (+1–2 min/day) — upside revised, it is a servicing candidate after all. ✅ The Citizen 6600's "cracked crystal" turned out to be a faceted/cut crystal — a 1970s design feature, not damage. No sourcing cost after all.

⚠ THE REAL NUMBER TO WATCH: ¥39,735 is now sitting in eighteen watches, of which zero have been serviced and sold. The projected net is honest arithmetic, but it is entirely unrealised — every yen of it depends on bench hours you haven't spent yet. Buying is the easy half and it is running ahead of the hard half. Suggested rule: no further purchases until two watches have gone out the door serviced. The stock isn't going anywhere; junk-bin Seikos and Citizens are not scarce.

🔎 03. COLLECTION PATTERNS & NOTES

Caliber spread: twenty watches across four brands, fifteen-plus calibers (7019, 7N01, 6106, 6119, 2706, 6619, 7006A, Marvel, Laurel 14036, Citizen 6600, Citizen 1202, Citizen 52xx ×3, Cosmostar V2 tbc, Eco-Drive A411, Orient hand-wind, Swatch ETA + quartz). One overlap family so far: Citizen 52xx (⑫ ⑭ ⑯). THREE HI-BEATS NOW (Citizen 6600, Seiko 2706, Cosmostar V2) — all 28,800 bph, all need a timegrapher before regulating. Great for broad repair exposure across the whole Seiko automatic family tree, less good for building deep repetition-speed on any single caliber.

Accidental timeline: Sportsmatic 6619-9010 (mid-1960s, birth of Seiko 5) → DX 6106 (1968) → 6119 / 7019 / 2706 / 7006A generation (early-mid '70s) → 7N01 quartz (1980s–90s). A genuinely tellable "evolution of Seiko 5" story if you ever display or sell them as a set.

Condition tiers: Ready-to-service (Actus, Sportsmatic 6619, 2706 Hi-Beat) | Fixable-with-a-blocker (Citizen crystal, 7006A case plating) | High uncertainty (DX water staining, 6119 rust, 7N01 foxing).

Hi-beat pair: Citizen 6600 and Seiko 2706 are both 28,800bph — the two pieces where a timegrapher actually matters before calling service "done."

⭐ FIRST REAL CALIBER OVERLAP: ⑭ and ⑯ are both Citizen 52801 — cal. 5203/52xx family, 21 jewels, one black dial and one silver. ⑫ Crystal Seven Star is the same 52xx family. Three watches, one movement family. This is exactly the repetition you've been missing everywhere else: service one, then the second is twice as fast, and either can donate to the other. Do these consecutively, not months apart.

⚠ PRICE DISCIPLINE — DOCUMENTED: ⑭ Auto Dater 520 bought at ¥6,700 against a ¥3,000–4,000 cap. Four days later ⑯, the same 52801 reference, went for ¥2,970 from a store. Same watch, 44% of the price, no auction pressure. The cap wasn't arbitrary — it was right. Keep both on the page side by side as a standing reminder.

Brand spread is widening, not deepening: Seiko → Citizen → Orient (⑰) → Swatch (⑱). Four brands, four parts pipelines, four sets of documentation. Orient vintage parts are genuinely scarce and Swatch is unserviceable by design. Neither purchase was expensive, but the direction is away from caliber fluency. The 52xx trio is the counterweight — lean into it.

🔬 WHAT THE HANDS-ON INSPECTION REVEALED (27 Sep) — three patterns across the whole collection:

1. Crystal damage and dial damage always arrive together. ⑦ Sportsmatic (ground-down crystal → tide marks). ⑫ Crystal Seven Star (bezel verdigris → dial verdigris). ⑲ (smashed crystal → green edges → corroded back). ⑤ is the control case: near-new crystal, clean movement, wrecked dial — and there the damage came from being sealed with moisture already inside. Buying rule: a chewed-up crystal is a moisture warning, not a cosmetic note. Price it as a dial risk.

2. Two dead quicksets, same generation. ① Actus and ③ DX both refuse to change date. Almost certainly hardened grease in the date corrector on both — a service job, not a parts job. Never force a stuck quickset: that turns a cleaning into a date-jumper hunt.

3. Damage sorts cleanly into two classes, and only one is worth money. ON the dial (loose dust, grime, surface haze) → removable: ⑬ Marvel's black specks, ⑫'s hazy crystal. IN the lacquer (verdigris, tide marks, rust bloom) → permanent: ⑤, ⑦, ⑫, ⑲. Learn to tell them apart at buying time and the whole margin changes.

🛑 TWO WATCHES NEED PHYSICAL ISOLATION RIGHT NOW:
⑭ Auto Dater — loose crystal, loose movement, loose second hand rattling across a black dial. Dial-up, still, unwound. Every movement is permanent damage.
⑧ 7006A — no case back at all, movement open to coastal air. Sealed bag, with silica gel.
Neither costs anything to fix. Both get worse for free if ignored.

Size/gender mix: everything men's-sized except the 2706 Hi-Beat (ladies') — narrower buyer pool, factor into sell order.

🔨 04. RESTORATION FOCUS AREAS

Priority 1	Crystal Seven — open case back, CONFIRM JEWEL COUNT first. Potentially the most valuable piece in the collection.
Priority 2	Actus — full service + crystal work. Ready to go, strong return.
Priority 3	Sportsmatic 6619-9010 — clean condition, cheapest buy, great margin. Quick win.
Priority 4	Cosmostar V2 — ¥400 buy, running, original bracelet. Confirm caliber, then service. Best margin ratio on the board.
Priority 5	6119 rust bomb — ⭐ UPGRADED: it RUNS at +1–2 min/day. Movement is sound. Demagnetise + service, treat the rust as cosmetic-only.
Priority 6	2706 Hi-Beat — service + timegrapher check once available.
Priority 7	Citizen 6600 — straightforward service (crystal is fine after all).
Priority 8	7006A gold — NON-RUNNER. Diagnose rotor first, then mainspring. Decide if case wear is worth addressing.
Priority 9	DX Seiko — full teardown to check rust damage, decide dial fate.
Priority 10	Quartz 7N01 — battery check only, list as-is.
Priority 11	Attesa — charge, test sync, photograph with box, list. No bench work.

⚠ DO-THESE-TODAY (zero cost, prevents permanent loss):
1. ⑭ Auto Dater → dial-up, still, do not wind or set.
2. ⑧ 7006A → sealed bag + silica gel, it has no case back.
3. ⑬ Marvel → plug the open crown tube, bag it. Dust is getting in.
4. ⑨ Crystal Seven → fingernail test on the indent at 12. Catches = replace crystal. Glides = polish.

⭐ REVISED ORDER — run the 52xx trio as a block: ⑯ Auto Dater 7 (silver) → ⑭ Auto Dater 520 (black) → ⑫ Crystal Seven Star. Same movement family three times running. Second one should be noticeably faster than the first; if it isn't, you're not yet learning the caliber, you're just following the manual. Time yourself on each. Slot this block in after the 6119.

⑬ Marvel	BLOCKED — no crown, no stem. Nothing to do until a donor arrives. Check ⑮'s crown thread against the case tube the day it lands.
⑮ Laurel	Hand-wind gently on arrival to classify it. Acrylic crystal polish + leather strap. NO case polishing.
⑰ Orient Star	不動 — diagnose only. Don't buy parts for it until you know what's wrong. Low priority.
⑱ Swatches	No bench work possible. Battery check on the Cathedral (SR1130SW / 390 if it takes that size), clean, photograph, list. Pure listing practice.

🔒 04b. THE SIX-SLOT CASE NEW!

Six protected slots. Ranked by what you'd actually regret losing, not by value alone.

#	Watch	Why it's in the case
1	⑬ Seiko Marvel	Irreplaceable, historically. Already missing parts — protect what's left.
2	⑨ Citizen Crystal Seven 2925-Y	Near-perfect runner and probably the most valuable piece.
3	① Seiko 5 Actus	Best-cased Seiko. Sharp faceted lugs — lugs are what wear when watches knock together.
4	⑫ Crystal Seven Star 3003	Movement confirmed fine, clean case back. Mineral crystal can't be polished out if scratched.
5	⑪ Citizen Attesa	Full set — box and manual are much of the value. Keep them together.
6	⑮ Seiko Laurel	20-micron plating wears from contact. Also the possible Marvel crown donor.

⭐ MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE RANKING: keep silica gel in the case and swap it periodically. Coastal Chiba humidity caused half the damage you've spent this whole project assessing. 乾燥剤 (かんそうざい / kansōzai) — home centres and camera shops. The colour-indicating type tells you when to bake it dry.

⚠ AMENDMENT after inspection: ⑭ Auto Dater needs protected, immobile storage too — not for value, but because it is actively damaging itself. If the case is full, it goes flat in a drawer, dial-up, alone. Same for ⑧ in a sealed bag.

Staying out (the working pile): ③ DX · ⑤ rust bomb · ⑦ Sportsmatic · ⑧ 7006A · ④ quartz · ⑭ + ⑯ Auto Daters · ⑰ Orient Star · ⑱ Swatches. You'll be handling these anyway, and their damage is already done.

🧰 05. TOOLBOX STATUS

✅ Movement holder (adjustable, 26–34mm)
✅ Case back knife/opener (notched snap-fit type)
✅ Hand-setting press, 6 die shapes
✅ Oils: 701 / 702 / 902
✅ Crystal polish: Polywatch / Pikal (acrylic only)
✅ Case metal polish: Pikal
⬜ Case closing press (even gasket seating)
⬜ Mainspring winder (hold off — not needed yet)
⬜ Timegrapher — NOW THE NEXT BUY. Three hi-beats in the collection (6600, 2706, Cosmostar V2). Ahead of the case press.
⬜ Demagnetiser ¥800–1,500 — might fix the 6119's +1–2 min/day in ten seconds, before you strip anything
⬜ Moebius 8200 braking grease — matters MORE than 9010. 902 is wrong for barrel walls; without 8200 the automatics won't perform properly. Buy individually from Cousins UK, not AliExpress sets.
⬜ Moebius 9010 — not urgent. Generic 701 is fine for the learning pile (6119 / 6106 / 7006A). Buy 9010 (¥3,000–4,000, lasts years) only when servicing something that sells at a real price — Actus, Crystal Seven, Marvel.
⬜ Fork-tip spring bar tool ¥500 — needed for the Actus lug extraction
⬜ Crystal press + lift ¥2,000–3,500
📌 PARTS TO SOURCE (from inspection):
• Crystals: ⑦ Sportsmatic (mandatory — it's the leak path) · ⑮ Laurel domed acrylic (mandatory — cracked) · ⑲ (smashed) · ⑨ if the indent catches a fingernail · ① Actus as fallback
• ⑧ 7006 case back — 「7006 裏蓋」(うらぶた / urabuta)
• ⑤ 6119 dial + hands — 「6119 文字盤」(もじばん / mojiban) and 「6119 針」(はり / hari). Look for a junk 6119 with a good dial and a dead movement — the exact inverse of yours.
• ⑬ Marvel crown + stem — buy a donor movement or whole non-runner, not a lone stem
• Straps: ⑮ Laurel (tattering) · ⑬ Marvel (bracelet missing parts — leather suits it better anyway)
• ⑫ Crystal Seven Star bracelet — bought as head only
📌 Batteries: 11.6 × 3.1mm 1.55V = SR1130SW (390) silver oxide for standard analogue quartz. Not LR1130/AG10 alkaline. Maxell or Murata, ~¥300–500 at Yodobashi / Bic / Cainz / Komeri / Joyful Honda. Search 「SR1130SW 電池」(でんち / denchi).

📚 06. LEARNING RESOURCES

YouTube: The Nekkid Watchmaker (Joe) — professional service/restoration channel, no gatekeeping, exactly this era of Seiko.

YouTube: Watch Repair Channel — the other most-recommended channel for hands-on vintage Seiko teardown/service.

Search tip: search by caliber number alone ("Seiko 7019 service", "Seiko 6119 service") not the full case reference — parts diagrams and guides are keyed to the movement, not the dial/case variant.

Forums: WatchUSeek — biggest vintage Seiko community, deep dating/reference threads.

Forums: Watch Repair Talk — beginner-friendly board, people posting their own repair journeys.

Reddit: r/Seiko and r/watchrepair for quick sanity checks.

Parts suppliers (bookmark before you need them): Cousins UK, Jules Borel.

🔍 07. SCOUTING WATCHLIST (seen, not yet bought)

AUCTION — BID SUGGESTED ¥3,000–4,500
Seiko 5 Sports, ref. 4R36-00D0 — modern cal. 4R36, gold-tone bezel, exhibition case back, ~2010s worldtimer-family. Heavy crystal gunk — unclear if external grime or seal failure. First candidate for practicing screw-down gasket work.

JUNK LOT — ~¥500–1,500 MAX
Seiko Sportsmatic 5, first-generation (S113 listing) — severe scratched dial, cracked crystal, corroded case. Treat as parts/practice only, no cosmetic upside. Interesting lineage story but won't move resale on a piece this rough.

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