New Battery, please wait 4 weeks!!

[Holst]

Ive owned my Seiko titanium watch for 5 or 6 years and this week the second hand is jumping two seconds at a time which indicates the battery is going flat.
No problem I thought, ill just take it to the "jewelers" (H Samuel) that I bought it from and get a new battery.

The woman in there told me that she can change the battery, but if she does it the watch will no longer be waterproof (its rated to 100M) and that if I want to keep it waterproof they will have to send it away and this will take 3 to 4 weeks!!

Sounds crazy to me, where are they sending it? Back to Japan?

So where can I take it for a new battery? where I dont have to wait? Or can I buy the parts and do it myself?

I didnt think that buying a quarts watch was a bad idea at the time, but now im thinking that for practicality you watch section guys have the right idea staying away from batterys all together.

Thanks for any advise.

[Rgee]

Try this place http://www.qualitybatteries.co.uk/. Sent my g/f's Seiko Titanium kinetic there last year to have the battery changed and it came back like new. Or you can purchase the battery and diy.

[Civpilot]

Rgee said:

Try this place http://www.qualitybatteries.co.uk/. Sent my g/f's Seiko Titanium kinetic there last year to have the battery changed and it came back like new. Or you can purchase the battery and diy.

You sent a KENETIC powered Seiko to get the battery changed? Really??

[grumbledoak]

That sounds pretty normal for a battery change. The shop can do it, but they won't guarantee waterproof. So, normally, you send it off to someone who will.

And, mechanical/automatic watches need servicing too. Similar deal (send off), more money.

[Rgee]

OK, I'll rephrase that. I had the capacitors replaced.

[lowdrag]

Cyberface was right then, as usual. This point cropped up in another thread about cross-overs between quartz/automatic and whether the Kinetic's needed a "battery" change. Seems not but capacitors instead. Now in the new Spring Drive Seiko range they have electrics of a sort so will that go the same way I wonder? At £3,500 a Seiko I am not prepared to find out though.

[blueST]

lowdrag said:

Cyberface was right then, as usual. This point cropped up in another thread about cross-overs between quartz/automatic and whether the Kinetic's needed a "battery" change. Seems not but capacitors instead. Now in the new Spring Drive Seiko range they have electrics of a sort so will that go the same way I wonder? At £3,500 a Seiko I am not prepared to find out though.

It's hard to say but I don't think the spring drive watches will have the same problem. From what I can tell they don't store electrical energy anywhere, no capacitor, no battery. The electrical power is generated directly from the mainspring and fed straight to electronics. Should the watch stop completely it seems there is a short (1 second) wait until electrical power is restored when the watch is wound again.

This article explains it http://www.timezone.com/library/rdnotebook/2005090...