Most of us all have those favorite watches we love to wear or that match a certain outfit just perfect. When we see that second hand not moving our world stops with it. Having to change a battery in your watch can be a very hard thing to accomplish, and in a lot of cases people just would rather throw it away than bother finding a jewelry place that will change their battery at a reasonable price. Here are a few tips on getting it done easily and without a big strike to your wallet.
First look at the back of your watch. A lot of times you will find a three or four digit number, that is actually the battery number you will need to buy to replace it. In most cases if it is a three-digit number it will start with a three, 377 is a very popular size in the average twenty-dollar watch. If it is a four digit number that will usually start with a one or a two. This means that it is a lithium battery, which is mostly used in digital watches.
If you can locate the number that is a great advantage, if not than the next step is to get the back off your watch to see what number is located on the battery itself. Getting the back off depends on your watch. There are usually three typical ways to do this. Most common on regular analog watches is the “pop off” back. You will find a little lip somewhere on the round edges of the back of the watch. This is where you stick an object such as a very thin knife to “pop” it off. This motion is similar to an oyster shucking. You wedge the knife or other instrument of your choice under the lip and push up towards you to get the back to suction off.
Another type of back could be the “screw” back. You will see usually four tiny screws on the back of your watch. Obviously you will need a tiny screwdriver such as the ones used to adjust eyeglasses.
You could turn your watch over and see notches all around the back of your watch. This you will need a special jewelry tool and cannot do it at home, so hopefully you have one of the first two styles on your watch.
Now that you have the back off, you are looking at the inside of your watch. Some will have very little parts in them which is normal and others will have a mess load of things in there and have to dig out the battery. Either way, you can do it, most of the times there is a little spring like metal bar that you just squeeze to a side and the battery will come right out.
Once you have the tiny battery in your hand look closely at the numbers on it. You will need this when you go to purchase your battery. At stores like Target and Walmart they are generally around three to no more than five dollars each. The flea markets you can get a bunch of five together for very cheap but you get what you pay for and not all the batteries are guaranteed to work and last long. Batteries do lose their energy over time and go bad so I don’t recommend getting them from a flea market or dollar store.
Okay now you are back home with your new battery. You firmly put it back where you have taken the old one from and make sure it is securely inside; not sticking out anywhere. It should be snug in there. And now your wondering, how to get your watch back together? If it was a “screw” back then you have it easy! Just screw it back together very tightly and you’re all finished. If it was a pop off you have to strategically push your back down very hard to compress it back together. In some rare cases you might not be able to do it yourself, if that is the case then go to a jewelry store or watch repair place, and in most cases they wont charge you anything or very little since they are just putting it back together for you. The one thing to remember when trying to reassemble this style of back is to make sure you don’t push to hard as to crack the face of your watch. Remember that is glass and will break if you smash it or push down and push the face on a hard surface.
If you have a digit watch I strongly recommend taking it some place to get it changed. Doing it yourself is very difficult, and taking it to your local Wal-mart or target could be hazardous to your waterproof feature. So if you have a digital one be careful where you take it cause a lot of things could go wrong. On average though you still should be able to swim in a pool after replacing the battery in either a digital or analog watch.
I hope this information will save your watch from the trash and keep you wearing those fabulous watches that go great with your outfits. Remember watches are like shoes; you can never have to many
