Seiko 45-8010 'Chronometer' - November 1969

This is my favourite King Seiko reference, if not my favourite Seiko of them all. From the chronometer marked dial, to the case shape and just overall beauty of this thing. It has a hi-beat 36,000 VPH movement, the 4500. Let's dig in and see what fun awaits us.

look at that dial and handset, just stunning.

The manual wind movement, you can see it equipped with its own serial number for the chronometer trials. Such a fantastic looking movement.

Dial code on the back.

Dial and hands removed exposing the dial side of the movement.

We flip the movement to reveal the movement side.

Ratchet wheel and balance removed.

Train bridge taken off.

Barrel bridge now removed exposing the barrel.

As we take a close look at the train wheels we can see decades of use. The old oil has congealed and created a beautiful grinding paste.

Movement is now stripped down.

If we zoom in to the main plate jewels you can see the old oil buildup. It has become thick and hard creating a type of crust.

The dial side is now almost completely dismantled. Only thing left to remove is the shock settings.

The mainspring in the barrel. With most vintage Seiko's we reuse the old mainsprings if they are in good condition, as replacements are hard to come by. In the case of the 4500 they are very hard to come by.

Here we can take a close look at the pivots of the gear train. We can see they are no longer polished, and smooth. Train wheels need to have highly polished pivots to reduce friction and perform at their best.

Here we see another example where surface rust has formed. We need to polish these to reduce friction and for the watch to perform well.

We use the Jacot pivot polishing tool to clean up the wheels. We had to polish almost all of the train wheels but have only shown two for example.

The after result we can see a smooth, even surface now.

Same again, smooth, shiny, and no more rust.

The movement has now been through the cleaning cycles and is ready to assemble. We lubricate each part as we go. The barrel without mainspring.

The balance shock settings are installed and oiled.

Barrel and gear train coming together.

Gear train put in place.

Train wheel bridge in position.

Balance in position and ratchet and crown wheels in place.

Dial side is complete and ready.

Movement is completely assembled.

Finished product with a new crystal installed. Now it's complete the watch will go for final testing