5 Things to Look for When Troubleshooting Your Broken Watch
It’s a dangerous world out there, especially if you happen to be a wrist watch.
Alright, so maybe it’s not that dramatic, but there certainly are many things that can negatively affect the performance of your timepiece. We hope this list of the 5 things you need to look out for when dealing with a broken watch gives you some insight and “timely” advice to help diagnose your malfunctioning timekeeper.
Common Issues with Watches
1. Dead Battery
Dead batteries are the most common reason for a watch to stop working. Not all watches have batteries, but for those that do, you can expect them to last 1-1.5 years with a new timepiece and around a year if your watch is a replacement.
Have you noticed your watch skipping time and counting in two-second increments rather than one second at a time?
This is a common indicator that your battery is running low and needs to be replaced soon. Battery replacements are relatively simple procedures and better yet, they can be done in-store while you wait in most cases.
2. Water Damage
Another common reason for a watch not to work as it should is water damage. There are risks to wearing a watch in the water, especially ones that are not rated as water resistant or waterproof such as the Seiko Men’s Automatic Analogue Waterproof Watch which is certified as a timepiece for divers.
In fact, industry news site WatchPaper warns about the dangers of water damage on watches, explaining that “a single drop of water in the movement of a watch could ruin it”.
If a watch’s seal is broken, the gaskets may need replacing, and the repairs can intensify depending on the watch’s condition.
Additional Maintenance Considerations
The Importance of Pressure Testing
Did you know that the very act of getting your watch repaired can potentially cause issues with it if you miss this one step?
A critical step in the watch repair process that is often overlooked is a pressure test, which is the two-step process of testing the seals of the watch in a dry and wet setting to assure that the watch retains its original water resistance.
Conclusion
As you’ve read, from a dead battery to water damage, extreme temperatures, impacts, and simple human error upon assembly, there are many possible reasons for a malfunctioning watch. Fortunately, most issues can be resolved by professional technicians.
If you are interested in finding out exactly why your watch stopped working, reach out today with one of our certified watch technicians.
Before you go, we’d love to know:
Have you experienced any of these when your watch stopped working and how did you fix it?