Notes on Watch Repair
2024-12-24 21:30
watch repair

Some very basic notes on analog watch "repair":


1. Two main types of analog watches: Quartz (battery), and mechanical (mostly automatic, some cheaper ones manual).

2. Main watch features: day/weekday/month display, chronograph (stopwatch), moonphase (29.5 day wheel). Chronograph and calendar display are typically not found on the same watch.

3. Best cheap watches: Quartz calendar+moonphase, or chronograph (manual or automatic).

4. How to save over $9,000 on expensive watches: When you see a watch you like, take a photo or download an image of it. Put it in a special shopping folder that you can look at whenever you are actually delusional enough to consider spending over $9,000 on a watch (or whatever 10x the reasonable budget is for you).

5. Instead of showing your peers the watch, show them all the pictures of the expensive watches you didn't buy, and watch them all buy those watches and get poorer because you have great taste!



6. Actual repair: 1) Battery change. You need a watch case opener, the battery, maybe some tiny screwdrivers to move a battery holder around, and the case closer.

7. Snapback case = can be opened with tiny flathead screwdriver + tiny mallet or stubby claw hammer. For closing, use a watch case press with the appropriate die size.

8. Screwback case: There's a standard 2-3 prong opener, and for the fancy Rolex type watches with the textured border, a different type of opener (the Bergeon 8008 8-ball works well on these).

9. Sourcing batteries: Look at the battery part number of the old battery and write it down. It's inexpensive to buy a variety pack of button cells, or many of the same type of battery online.

10. Note that batteries types can also be matched by measuring diameter + thickness; this sometimes comes in handy when the old battery is missing.

10.5. If you break the O-ring while opening a snapback case, know that a variety set of replacement O-rings in various sizes can be had for $10-15 easily off Amazon or AliExpress. One set covers many botched battery replacements.



11. Other common repairs that cost way less than buying a new fancy watch: Stem repair, Glass repair, new watch hands.

12. 2) Stem repair: These are easy to break, and easy to replace. You need a replacement stem + stem crown + possibly a stem extension. And possibly 1-2 sets of tiny pliers to screw the crown on properly.

Open the case, press a tiny needle or thumbtack on a lever somewhere (look up your model of watch before attempting to use force!), then you can remove the old stem.

Next, cut the old stem to size, so that when pushed in (with the crown on), it will flush with the watch (better too long than too short on this cut); use a combination of wire cutters and a brick / sanding stone to get the stem to the right length.

Then, stick it back in and screw on the crown. You may need to hold the long end of the stem with pliers as you screw the crown on. If necessary, use a 2nd pair of pliers on the crown to screw/unscrew it.



12. 3) Glass Cover repair: A broken watch case looks horrible, but it's an easy fix to replace the front glass. Use a caliper to measure the total inner diameter where the glass sits: It's smaller than the case but larger than the clock face. These can be sourced at specific sizes from various suppliers. Sometimes instead of a glass round, the case is an acrylic bubble, which needs to be pinched when removing and when replacing (there might be a special tool for this).

12. Replacing watch hands: Whether it's just a few hands that came loose (second hand is most suspect), or some that need to be replaced, the process is the same; For new hands, these can be sourced in bulk from AliExpress.

You pick up the old hand (tweezers?), then press it onto the center axle. The tricky part is putting force on the center of the hand without crushing either side; There are watch hand push tools to help with this.



I forgot about watch band resizing and replacement, but that's easy to do:

12. Metal watch band resizing (by removing links): Use a link replacement tool (a thin metal needle) to push out the link pins (check which side. You want to push on the 2-pronged side, not the 1-pronged side.) There are also tools that can screw the needle up/down for tricky bands; The trickiest band I saw required a tool that let you push the remover pin straight down while holding the link in place; even with this there was a special type of jabbing movement required to actually get the pin out.

Remove a 2nd pin to remove some links, then put a pin back by pushing the 1-pronged side in (and the 2-pronged side will expand and prevent it from going any further).

12. Changing bands: Typically, there will be two spring bars, one on each side of the watch, which hold the band in place. Use a spring bar removal tool to push each spring bar down and remove it in turn. CAUTION: Wear safety glasses and be aware that you can easily launch a spring bar directly at your eye.

You might lose a spring bar here so be sure to have extras; a set of spring bars is easily obtained for a low price ($5-10). Most new bands also come with more spring bars than necessary, and some of the better ones have a push lever to where you can remove or insert the spring bar without a separate tool.

Once you have the old band off, simply put the new band in place, attaching each spring bar to the watch.



12. Band recommendations: Gold-tone, silver-tone (stainless steel), and 2-tone metal watch bands are easily available. Silicone, nylon, and even wood watch bands are also options that will be more colorful and easier to wear than a metal band. For nylon bands, you can also get one of those continuous-resizing options, where you can easily remove or resize the band on the fly.

12. Watch recommendations: For digital watches, it's hard to beat one of those multifunction Casio Illuminator watches which shows multiple time zones, moon phase (on some models), and has a stopwatch too.

For analog watches, a "costume watch" can easily be had, whether moonphase/calendar, chronograph, or automatic, for $50-100 USD. Fancier automatic watches with more features may run a little more. But there is a great variety of China watches around this price range. Moreover, knowing how to do the most basic repairs will allow you to draw from a large pool of "broken" used watches which really just need a new battery replacement.