Dearest Seiko, Why?!! I love this watch. But, the 6R35 is a crap movement.

Dearest Seiko, Why?!! I love this watch. But, the 6R35 is a crap movement.

From my experience, the 6R35 when direct from the factory in a watch that houses it usually runs pretty bad. I was able to remedy my SBDC105 that was around -25 s/d up to a very excellent +1 to +2 s/d, amazingly.

However, this time the 6R35 in this SBDC111 was also running much slower than I'd like, around -13 s/d. And, even worst the movement is really eratic. The watch could flatline, or be gradual, and then it could ramp up to over 40-80 s/d, or minus 40-80 s/d.. and it may do both while stationary on the timegraphee sometimes. I think it pretty much needs a complete overhaul, cleaning and servicing to get it up to spec. However, I don't want to bother with the cost and time to do it.

As such, I am going to swap in a good old reliable NH35. They have always worked super well for me and for well under $50 should transform this watch into a very reliable watch that will be even easier to service, if not completely replace the movement with another NH35, at a fairly low cost.

Am I silly or stupid for doing so? I don't think so. I don't care about reducing the power reserve from 70hrs to 38-40hrs.. what good is a higher power reserve if the watch fails to keep time accurately and deviates like a mofo? Besides, once I put a watch out of rotation it will most likely stay out long enough well beyond where the power reserve tops out at.

Anyways, stay tuned to see if this fix was worth it or may end up being a bust. Right now, I can't imagine how it could get worst than where it's at right now. Like Howard Jones sang, ".. things can only get better...", right?