Has anyone changed their own watch batteries

Archebaldo

I have a bunch of watches. I don't wear them that often anymore but went to put one on recently and found out that all my watches were dead. From what I recall it cost anywhere $10-25 per watch to replace the battery at some store in the mall. I'm considering ordering the tools to do it myself as I believe it will save time and money in the long run.

Has anyone done/considered this?

My main worry is I'm getting in over my head and that the inside of the watch is fragile enough for me to easily damage with a wrong move.

Last Son

What kind of watches are we talking here? Cause most cheap watches(like anything under $50) you simply pop the back off, remove the old battery, and stick in a new one. You might have to undo a screw or two.

I've no experience with any more upscale watches.

Brodo Faggins

Pretty much all consumer-priced watches are made so that the battery is the first thing you see when you pop the back off, usually with a flathead screwdriver. You'll be fine.

Archebaldo

Some are cheap, one is fairly expensive.

Absolutely no way to pop the back off w/ a flathead screwdriver. Nowhere near that much room between the backing at the watch. I would definitely need a tool to do that.

Would you say changing it myself is cost effective?

EggyToast

The big advantage to going to the mall is that the watch guy there will know all the different batteries and can do it in about 5 minutes. In your case, you'd have to open up the watch, find out what kind of battery it is, order it (or buy it), and then replace it when you get it.

That's not to say you can't do that, of course. Just pointing out why those mall guys typically stick around for a while -- they're fast and they usually know their stuff regarding batteries.

Last Son

You can buy watch batteries for about $3.00 at any drugstore/walmart... so yea in most cases its far cheaper to do it yourself.

Delzhand

I worked in a watch store for almost five years, and I was a fucking champion of taking them apart.

Type I:
If it's a cheap watch, you can usually take something like a pen-knife (be careful, obviously), there should be a tab on the upper right of the back (with the stem facing right in your hand). Apply pressure inward and rotate, it should pop right off. You'll probably be looking at a 376 or 364 size battery, you should be able to get them for a few bucks at any place that sells batteries. Do not get the wrong one! They look similar, but the difference is usually a matter of 1mm or so. Most importantly, look at the back after you take it off - is there a notch inside the lip? If so, make sure it lines up with the stem, or you could snap it off when you press it back on.

Type II:
Do you see 6 or 8 notches on the back? These things screw off with a special tool. If you have a firm grip, you might be able to reproduce it with a pair of scissors, preferably kinda dull at the tips. Wear gloves if you're not confident, because if you're using scissors you can slice your hand pretty easily. Just place the ends of the scissors in opposite notches and rotate the whole caseback counter clockwise. You might have to use a small pin to take apart the band at the clasp to get it out of the way. Don't lose it, they're easy to replace but replacements never seem to work as well.

A caveat for this type is that they're usually machine sealed, so the amount of water resistance it says on the label can probably be reduced to 1/4, maybe around 1/2 if you have the proper tool and know what you're doing.

Type III:
Are there numerous tiny notches all the way around the edge? Does it appear to be swiss army? The notches might be a red herring on a knockoff. Try the Type I solution, but this is immensely more challenging (depending on the brand/knockoff status). Some "swiss army" watches that aren't knockoff (Wenger, I think) actually have the notches, but pop right off. If it doesn't work, the case probably twists off like a type II, but is nearly impossible to do with scissors.

Type IV:
If it's a Citizen, Seiko, or anything more expensive than that, take it to a fucking jeweler. I can do it, but I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself.

Oh, the insides of the watches? Unless you jab them with a knife, they're pretty hard to fuck up. If you open it up and see gears, close that shit and take it to someone who knows what to do, because you've found a very expensive watch. The only thing you really need to watch for in inexpensive pieces is an exposed coil - don't touch that (but most watches cover the coil with a resin for that reason).

Edit: Also in Type IV are watches like mine, which have a recessed, rounded, square caseback. Getting them off is easy, getting them back on is hard.