trailboss99 996 Posted January 11, 2009 Never thought about shareing this one but I was just doing it to my 7A38-7020 Seiko and thought it may be of intrest. Nothing worse than a badly scratched crystal. Unless it's a broken one especialy since a lot of rep ones re made from that incredibly rare substance "unobtainium" so protecting them if you're going to do some serious work is a good idea. There are a pair of films made by 3M for protecting automotive paint work and glass (lights ect) refered to as "stone guard film". It comes in two grades one for paint and one for glass. The paint one is about .75 mm thick and the glass one about 1.5mm. The impact absorbing nature of this stuff is so good the glass one can stop shotgun pellets from breaking a headlight lens. It is opticly clear and if applied corectly is almost invisible. The paint one is quite good enough for most uses tho for diveing and activitys where the watch may be subject to hard blows the glass one may be the better option. It can be purchased at Kmart (Walmart) ect in packs ready to go. Simply cut a piece the size of the crystal, clean the face of the crystal and apply taking care not to touch the sticky side as it shows finger prints clearly if you do so. Applied corectly execpt for the added thickness you will not even know it's there and the chances of scratching the crystal are reduced to nill. It would take a hard hammer blow to break it as well. It works equaly as well on mobile phone screens, PDA's ect. I use the thinner one on all such screens and havn't lost one yet. I have some on watches that is six or seven years old and looks as good as new, still can't see it's there.Removal is as easy as peeling it off, however I would advise caution with AR coatings as the cheaper rep ones and possibily even good stuff from the likes of Cheiftang may come along with the film (maybe, not shure). Enough of the stuff to last you forever should set you back about twenty bucks. That's cheap insurance in my book. Col. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
offshore 0 Posted January 12, 2009 Col, Glad to hear the 7A38 is now back to full health, and worthy of some more TLC! So that instruction manual did the final trick eh? Nothing like good tools & equipment, to resurrect the dead! Offshore Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
graman 2 Posted January 12, 2009 Wow...great idea! Cheers Col! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trailboss99 996 Posted January 12, 2009 Ya, thanks to you mate. So far so good but the jury hasn't returned quite yet. Been doing some research and these have a known problem of rapid batt depletion so time will tell. According to the experts they are one of the three top quartz MVTs in the world. Ajustable to .026 sec/day! For future reference: All early Seiko chronos, pull crown out to first click and push each pusher in turn, one per subdial. one click per division. Easy when you know how! Also enables you to use chrono as count down timer and counters. I have allways had a protective cover on the crystal on this 'un. You may have noted the perfect condition of the 23yo crystal, that's why. Col. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trailboss99 996 Posted January 13, 2009 Oke. This is the 7020 version I have. Got it for my 21st and is still a favorite as well as it's sentimental value. These are a great MVT. Service life of 50 years! The only difference between mine and these pics is mine shows the day rather than roman numerals. Displays Eng or German days. The grand daddy of all 7A38s how ever is the RAF specials. Some of which are shown below. And the ultimate. Possibly the Holy Grail of Quartz chronos, the fabeld Vulcan yellow dial issued only to crews of the afore mentioned bombers. Unlike the civy and other mill versions which go for between 150 and 300 bucks (cheap, IMO) these fetch upwards of a grand. More info on the RAF versions HERE and HERE Quartz chronos do not get better than this. Col. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
graman 2 Posted February 2, 2009 Wow....really like the RAF versions And yours col....very tasty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KinCaidk 0 Posted February 16, 2009 That's a great tip. I'll look for it here in Denmark. I imagine it would be great for those activites where you really want to wear a nice wath, but am aware of the risk of it getting scratched. *naughty naughty thoughts* /KinCaidk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites