Two Quartz 7223-6010 "Bell-matics"

Two very nice examples of the 7223 often though of as the Quartz Bell-matic. Note the white faced model has a French language day wheel, Ven= Vendredi=Friday.
Photographs courtesy of Stefan Molin SCWF.

4006-7000 7 digit 27 Jewel.

Saw this on one of the auction sites and bought it not expecting allot (correctly described by seller) but i wanted it for the 7 digit case back.
Well when i got it the sellers description was totally correct it was "dead" and in very poor condition, it looked as though it had been used with the crown and alarm buttons missing allowing water to get into the movement, after removing the case back i was confronted with lots of rust and corrosion. I had to pry the movement out of the case as it was rusted to the sides of the case !!
After examining the good and the bad:
Good:
a) The Hands in pretty good shape.
b) The case back good and of the solid type not the later pressed ones.
c) The dial not as bad as the sellers pictures portrayed it.
d) The alarm ring visually from the top perfect (the gearing was clogged with rust but after a painstaking clean i managed to salvage it with no problems)
e) The extra long alarm spring, see the last picture, A being the stand length and B were this model comes to, i think i would be about right in saying the only mod done by Seiko on the 4006 movement was to shorten the length of the sounding spring.
e) The actual case after a good clean to remove the staining and surface rust was pretty good.
The bad:
a) Crystal kaput.
b) Case spring present but corroded away.
c) One of the dial feet missing.
d) No crown, stem, alarm button.
e) Both alarm setting ring holders corroded and the screws seized in the movement.
f) Alarm setting lever and spring totally rusted away and again the holding screw seized in the movement.
g) The rotor lightly corroded as were many other parts and gears etc.
h) The date wheel poor in areas.
i) Crystal bezel missing.
But instead of stripping it for spares i decided to try and restore this one for a bit of a challenge and enter some uncharted areas for me.
So after stripping it right down, replacing all the parts that needed replacing a really good clean and oil and quite a few hours pain staking work i finished up with what i consider a beautiful early 27 Jewel 7 digit June 1967 Belle that after three days of its time trial has gained about half a minuet !! and all functions working perfect. As you can perhaps tell by the long winded write up i am quite proud of how this one has turned out ( i dident think i would be able to get it back to life).
The feeling of pleasure when the second hand started to run after all the work made it worth while ha ha ha

Quartz "Bell-matic"

This model 7223-6040 is a Quartz and though not a true Bell-matic really, it was a successor to the Belle and the alarm set up and dial configuration is very much the same. This model belongs to John W of the SCWF and the photographs are reproduced with his kind permission.