Broke my Seiko. Now it's in its coffin
I never thought my watch was going to be placed back in its box again, but there it lies now. It took a drop a few days ago. Less than a meter high, on a carpet and had it on a NATO, which should have soften the drop even more. I think the hair spring is broken and it's not running. The watch has no obvious damage or scratches. I kind of babied this watch compared to my quartz watches that are obviously banged multiple times on hard surfaces and are running no problem. Are mechanical watches that fragile, or just the new ones? Any suggestions on what I can do to fix it? The warranty probably doesn't cover it.
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That is a bummer, and kind of surprising, those Seiko movements are fairly robust. On the plus side, you can buy a new NH36 movement on AliExpress for around $25 and swap it in yourself, or find someone to do it for you could even get the version with the black day and date wheels to match the dial if you wanted to try something different.
It's such a bummer, but it might be a simple fix.
Sometimes the impulse jewel jumps out of alignment with the pallet fork and gets stuck on the wrong side. I've never had this happen to a Seiko, but have seen it twice on an ETA. Both were the result of dropping from a moderate height. And as @Hrethgir said above, replacement is not expensive either.
While technically serviceable, it would cost a lot less to simply buy a brand new NH36 movement and swap the insides of the watch. You can do it yourself if you have the tools and skills, or find a local watchmaker willing to do it for cheap.
Worth trying to claim on the warranty, you've got nothing to loose!
Good luck 🍀🤞🏻
A drop from height, onto anything less than pillows/mattress always runs the risk.
Unless your automatic movement has additional shock protective measures, even then it's not guaranteed.
It's one of the few things that can usually kill a watch. Even from a short height, the g forces from impact wreak havoc on the small parts inside an automatic.
Impacts and shaking on wrist is different. Your body helps cushion/absorb impacts, and shaking it really doesn't do much.
Concentrated impact from a fall is different.