I bought a Seiko M354-5010 ‘Moonraker’ Memory Bank Calendar watch, fitted a new battery and got it running nicely. Proudly showed it to my brother, who pressed the light button and now the display won’t stop flashing!!!

I’ve removed the battery, tried shorting out the contacts, left it for an hour or so and refitted it - same thing.

Odd thing is, the watch functions OK otherwise. The display stops flashing if you hold in the light button, then restarts again.

Previously, if you pressed the light button twice it would flash, then another press would switch it back to normal.

Does anyone know any tips for stopping the flashing?

Thanks,
Maurice.

It’s OK, I took a look through the M354 Parts/Servicing Guide and it says that all the digits start flashing to indicate low battery life.

So, I put another new battery in and all is now well again 😊

Oddly, the one I took out measures ‘Good’ on my battery test meter, no different to the new one. So, I can only assume that this watch is very sensitive to battery condition.

Is it possible to reprogram the calendar, as bizarrely, it ranges from 1930 up to 2009?

Also would anyone happen to have a spare bracelet/strap for this watch?

Thanks,
Maurice.

Well, after a month or so use, the display started flashing again so today I tried another couple of good batteries in and no difference. Put the original one back in and all was well again!

Fortunately, the watch keeps the time for long enough to change the battery without having to set it all again.

Don?t forget that some batteries may look similar and have the same dimentions; however, they produce more or less of electrical power. Buy the most powerful one. Those old watched need really strong batteries.

Good tip there - they are just cheap batteries purchased from my local market. What’s generally considered the best brand?

Thanks for the advice, I may well try that sometime.

Currently busy with stripping, cleaning and rebuilding a Weber twin-choke carb today, so it will have to wait…

Thanks! It came out quite nicely, imho: