So, you have found yourself in the position where your quartz watch has stopped working, and you seem to know the reason why… the battery! Always the bloody battery. Anyway, you know the battery has died, because nothing is actually moving on the dial and you haven’t damaged the watch in anyway – which lead you to this article, and to save a couple of quid, you want to learn “How to Properly Replace a Watch Battery Yourself?”, in which we will discuss just that.
We at Lux Horology, love sharing our tips and tricks, which will hopefully benefit you, the reader in some way or another. And if it’s not specifically going to help you in this article, we hope you can find something else which will accommodate that, throughout all our posts. So, let’s get into it, and talk about how you can change your watch battery, with some basic tools.
THE EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED TO CHANGE A WATCH BATTERY
The tools and equipment you will need, are slim to none. A sharp object will do the job just as much as the specific caseback opener, such as the one on the left of the image. A pair of tweezers (non-conductive) are also very helpful, as they are the most precise when taking the battery in and out the watch, without having to worry about your fingers etc. from damaging any other components. As well as some other tools, such as a magnifying glass, and a different style caseback opener.
The reason we mention the magnifying glass, is because of the precision element – as it will decrease the likelihood of you damaging or knocking another component. But also a different style caseback opener, as your own watch might not have a snap off caseback. If this is the case look up your watch and see the various caseback openers which look to be the right fit. Click here for a list of caseback openers.
Additionally, you will obviously need a watch battery – which will only become accessible to you once you either look up the specific watch you own online, and take a look at the battery details (you can usually find a PDF), but you also have the option of opening up your watch and taking a look at the battery first hand, and going from there.
HOW TO TAKE THE CASEBACK OFF YOUR WATCH?
When it comes down to taking the snap off caseback off your own watch, there’s a few things to look out for. One of the first steps you need to take, is identifying the open gap between the caseback and the case itself. As you can see in the image the caseback opener slots right into the gap, and from there it’s a case of slowly applying pressure and lifting the caseback upwards.
Once you have raised the caseback even a little bit, it’s in your best interest to slowly go around the caseback and push up other areas so the applied pressure is evenly spread, resulting in a successful lift.
Now, for those of you reading this, you might already have a snap caseback, but for those of you who don’t here’s a list of caseback openers which should accommodate your watch.
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE BATTERY IN YOUR WATCH?
Once you have opened your watch up, and taken the caseback off, it’s then time to identify the watch battery, which shouldn’t be too hard, but it’s also the time to figure out how to get it out. This is as some watches have various safety measures in place etc. An example of this would be a cover or a little lip which covers the battery, and needs to be unscrewed for the battery to be taken out. Whereas, in this example image above, it has a small cover, but it can still be taken out and inserted back in, without the need to unscrew or screw anything.
Also, if you don’t know what the battery looks like, it’s round, slim and shiny!
HOW TO TAKE THE BATTERY OUT OF YOUR QUARTZ WATCH?
Taking out the battery in your quartz watch isn’t impossible, in fact, it’s very possible. The battery in which powers the movement, is robust and won’t be damaged unless seriously mistreated.
So, when you are about to take the battery out, just make sure you have checked two things. One, being the non-conductive tweezers, and two, being the angle you’re about to approach the battery in. Make sure that when you are taking the battery out, that you are only touching the battery, and not slipping off and accidentally touching other components, as this could cause for irreparable damage for the movement.
Quartz movements are far more fragile than those of an automatic of such, as they’re made out of completely different materials.
HOW TO INSERT THE NEW BATTERY INTO A WATCH?
When placing the new battery into your quartz watch, it’s important that again, you are using non-conductive tweezers, and that you are slowly placing it into it’s position.
Once you have taken the battery and gently placed it into it’s section, it’s ready for positioning, so take your tweezers and apply pressure to the top of the battery, which ultimately presses it down into it’s proper position. This should be all you have to do, unless you have a cover which protects the watch battery. Which, in that case, you should screw that back on to it’s original position too.
After you have placed the watch battery back inside, you should then check if the hands start moving again, if they do, then the replacement of your watch battery has been successful – however, if the seconds hand doesn’t start to move, then perhaps there is another problem.
HOW TO CLOSE THE CASEBACK ON YOUR WATCH?
So, as we mentioned previously, a little further up, we know that a lot of you might not have a snap off caseback, in which case you can check out these caseback openers here. But, if you do have a snap caseback, the way to get it back on, is simple, just either push down really hard with your hands or use a watch press. If you want to find out “How to use a Watch press to close a snap off Caseback”, then click here.
