Watch conundrum
Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)
Posts: 23,514
I have an electric watch that I really like:
But since the last battery change, it has behaved in a very unusual way. If I leave it on my dresser, it keeps perfect time for days on end. However, if I wear it, it starts losing time at a rapid rate beginning on day one. I've checked, and the watch stem is pushed all the way in, so wrist action on the watch stem is not a factor. I'm completely baffled by this behavior. Is it a sensitivity to body heat? It wasn't a problem before the new battery, so I don't think it's endemic to the watch movement itself. Are some watch batteries sensitive to heat?
The outermost hand is the second hand, and it is nowhere near the inner surface of the watch crystal, so I don't see an issue with interference there.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
-Phil
But since the last battery change, it has behaved in a very unusual way. If I leave it on my dresser, it keeps perfect time for days on end. However, if I wear it, it starts losing time at a rapid rate beginning on day one. I've checked, and the watch stem is pushed all the way in, so wrist action on the watch stem is not a factor. I'm completely baffled by this behavior. Is it a sensitivity to body heat? It wasn't a problem before the new battery, so I don't think it's endemic to the watch movement itself. Are some watch batteries sensitive to heat?
The outermost hand is the second hand, and it is nowhere near the inner surface of the watch crystal, so I don't see an issue with interference there.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
-Phil
Comments
How about putting it on your wrist for a while then remove the battery and reinsert while placing it back on your wrist.
Maybe it is something that dumb.
Temperature, vibration, orientation, intermittent battery connection. Sounds like it calls for some experiments that can vary those parameters without you actually wearing the watch. Perhaps start with another new battery.
This seems most plausible. Re-seat the battery and make sure the contacts are firmly touching?
I was finding it impossible to close up a watch last year. Then I realized I had the wrong battery type. The right diameter but just a tad too high. If it were the other way around I could imagine a tad to low battery not making firm contact.
304 Carbon Conductive Assembly Paste is an electrically conductive :
https://www.ebay.com/i/252295835878?chn=ps&dispItem=1
Can you re-install the old battery, or is it totaled?
Cheers,
Peter (pjv)
-Phil
Hope you git her going again soon. My brother bought an Accutron (tuning fork) watch back ~1970 when $300 was a lot of money. It's still going strong.
Nothing else seems out of order, so I guess I'll just replace the back and see if it works.
-Phil
I actually went to school at the school the company name founded, for repairing computers.; Both instructors wore them. We use Dallas Semiconductor branded RTC (Real Time Clock) devices, as it happens they used the timing module that Bulova created for the Explorer project as their idea for the canned devices. Your brother's Accutron is a descendant of that module.
Phil, is possible that it's the environment where you are that's doing it?
No, the interior of the watch is O-ring sealed against dust and moisture. It's rated to 10 atm. depth in water. Of course, there's some humidity to consider when I open and close the back. But not enough to cause any problems.
-Phil
-Phil
Er, um... I can think of two reasons, both empirically testable. You can determine if it's caused by your body heat by placing the watch near a lamp where the ambient temperature is close to your skin temperature (about 91-93 degrees F, according to multiple sources). If it's mechanical (vibration, poor contact, etc.), you could rig up any motorized platform and have it replicate normal body movements.
Personally, I'd put in a new battery purchased at a different retailer, in case your other is marginal. Since batteries out of a box will likely be from the same batch, get the replacement at a different store. Remember to wipe off skin oils from the battery. Pop it in with a clean non-residue tissue.
If it's time for a new watch and you can do without the E6B I love the Casio Pathfinders. I've had the 3134 model for over 10 years. No batteries, no setting time
-Phil
Wear both and take the average! While you're at it, wear a Swatch too!
The Hopalong Cassidy watch fits like a tourniquet, though.
-Phil
The benefits of shedding a wearable time piece are astounding, as in a more mindful life experience (if you're into that sort of thing). Few of us actually need a watch, a constant reminder of being a slave to the passage of time. In the rare instances of needing to keep appointments, there's now smart phones (I don't use one) with calendar and reminder functions that beep to get your attention. Otherwise, you don't actually need to look at the time. If the appointment is at 4:00, it does no good to look at your watch at 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45, and 3:55.
When I was a kid I really wanted this divers' watch that had a rated depth of 30 atmospheres (far deeper than humans can safely go on air tanks). I didn't dive myself -- and in fact suffer form a block sinus that makes diving in more than five feet of pool water painful -- it just looked cool. The first time I showered with this watch, it got fogged up, then seized.
-Phil
Just a few hours ago,
I prefer digital watches and have always liked the Suunto range....This thing appears to be fully functional and looks as new....bracing myself for a disappointment
Ah, the Sinclair Blackwatch (?)
Made that mistake myself. Built mine (flexible PCB was a PITA) and then all my buddies wanted me to build theirs.
That's just it Phil, you don't. Glancing at one's watch in front of people is one of the most rude things in society. Imagine a class full of co-workers who keep looking at their watch while you're giving a presentation. A one hour meeting lasts an hour, watch or not. The habit of looking at a watch doesn't make the time go any faster, and for other people in the room, it's just a tacit reminder that they're not important.
I'm certainly not criticising, and it does require throwing out old habits. After a bit of practice, it's not hard to refine one's internal clock. Besides, there's something more honest about clocks on smart phones, or pocket watches for that matter. There's no pretending with them. In my experience, people distrust those who keep looking at their watch.
The last watch I wore was a gold Mickey Mouse watch. No, really! It was only available to Walt Disney Studio employees (my wife worked there in the 80s). It eventually stopped working (I still have it), but I've never used one since.
Or -- good grief! -- it's three hours into the game, and it's only the bottom of the seventh inning?! I'm out of beer, and the store closes in fifteen minutes!
But more to the point, if I need to see what time it is, and I'm not being rude by checking, it's much easier to glance at my wrist than to pull something out of my pocket -- especially if my hands are full, as they might be at the local market -- with a six pack in one hand and snacks in the other.
-Phil