How to change a watch battery: the method on video

Chapters

1. 0:00Stopped watch: is it the battery?
2. 0:17The signs
3. 0:33The right battery
4. 0:56The case back
5. 1:28The right moves
6. 1:46Water resistance after the battery
7. 2:16Lifespan and leaks
8. 2:29No battery

Transcript

Your watch has stopped. Almost always, it's the battery. It looks like a trivial job. Yet it's one of the things that damages watches the most. And it isn't the battery's fault: everything happens around it. Before it stops, the battery warns you: the seconds hand jumps two or four seconds at a time. It's the end-of-life signal built in by the manufacturer: you have a few days, or a few weeks, left. The right battery doesn't depend on the watch brand, but on its movement. Read the reference engraved on the old battery: a standard code, and a maker's number, which often name the same battery. Beware of false twins: an alkaline battery of the same size isn't equivalent, and a lithium battery delivers twice the voltage. Next, turn the watch over: the case back decides. A battery hatch opens with a coin. A snap-on back, with a case knife slipped into its notch. A screw-down back, with notches all around, needs a claw wrench: at home, it's not advisable. And no notch, no ridges, no screws? It opens through the crystal, in a workshop. Handle the battery with plastic tweezers: never with your fingers, nor with metal tweezers, which can short-circuit it. A snap-on back is closed with a press. Pushing with your thumbs puts all the pressure on the crystal. Then comes the step almost everyone forgets: the gasket, and the water resistance test. Once the back has been opened, the water resistance written on it is no longer guaranteed, until it has been tested. And the warranty never covers water resistance: a watch that lets water in after a badly closed battery change is covered by no one. For a watch rated five ATM or more, take it to a watchmaker with a testing machine. A battery usually lasts two to three years. But a dead battery shouldn't stay in the watch for months: as it ages, it can leak, and attack the movement. And without a battery? An automatic has none; a solar watch recharges an accumulator with light, for about ten years. Discover a whole selection of watches at Montres Outlet.