# Life Of A Quartz Movement



## andy100 (Dec 18, 2005)

I had a battery in my Tissot quartz changed a couple of weeks ago. It's the second time I've needed a battery change (averaging about every 3 years) but was told by the jeweller this time around that I'd probably need it changing again in about 18 months - 2 years.

So do quartz movements wear out over time and use more energy to keep running, or was this just the jeweller trying to drum up more 'regular' work?

I have to say, in the 6 year's that I've had the watch it's kept perfect time and I've not got any doubts that it'll keep on ticking for a good while yet, but I was just wondering about the going's on of the movements. Now if only it would take a 10 year battery!

Thanks,

Andy


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Andy,

I don't know why the watch should start to increase its battery consumption by 30% all of a sudden.









If the battery is changed in a dirty environment then that could increase any wear but quartz movements don't wear any where near as much as mechanicals, hence the need for jewelled bearings.

Maybe the guy is using batteries that are right on or past the shelf life date or he's trying to get you back sooner than you need too?


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Aw no.........why did you start this thread? Now my Citizen WR200 had started behaving wierd.......two second delay and two seconds forward.....now I would have thought it just means its running low on power, but as its solar and is sitting right under the window and desklight it gets plenty.....its this thread.......you've buggered my quartz watch!









How long should these solar watches last? And who else's watches are going to bust after reading this thread........que horror movie!









Best regards David


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## andy100 (Dec 18, 2005)

Crikey, sorry to hear that Boxbrownie...what have I started here!

Guess the jewellers (notice it was a Tissot-authorised dealer but a Jewellers nevertheless!) was either trying to encourage a more regular business/was in a pessimistic mood/is using crappy batteries.

Interesting to here though that quartz movements are solid. Guess the only way of really damaging one is to hit it hard or if the seals go and it succumbs to moisture.

Thanks for the responses...hopefully my watch'll give me another 3 years minimum of faithful service!


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

from my experience of Jewellers the staff there have very little training in anything technical, the watch training if any consists of how to get a back off and change a battery and a strap and they can't even do that properly half the time. I wouldn't put any store in what they told you re the life of the battery. And I don't see how an electronic movement can become less efficient, it either works or it doesn't, the circuit just makes a stepper motor jump a click every second why would it start using more batter power to do this after time?


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## normdiaz (May 5, 2004)

My understanding is that the battery life is determined by the watch in which it operates, not by the battery itself. If this correct, a "10-year battery" may be a misnomer.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Well yes and no I would guess. Most standard movements will be drawing the same power roughly so the battery life will not vary much from movement to movement so if you could fit a 10 year battery it would probably last 10 years in most movements.

however the difference comes with complications, like anything electrical the more you use the watch the more power it will drain so the battery life will be reduced, hence a 10 year battery in a chronograph may give up a lot quicker esp. if you are using the stopwatch day in day out.

A bit like those 70's led watches, the batteries would last forever if you didn't actually press the button to see what time it was. Or the LCD ones with the backlight, the more you use the light the quicker it killed the battery.


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## johnbaz (Jan 30, 2005)

hi

i recall reading somewhere that qtz analogue watches could be made to run like mechies-ie instead of one second jumps of the second hand, say, five beats to the second but it would use so much more power that the cell would only last a very short time, now does that mean that a watch with no second hand would run longer than the same movement that has a second hand?.

regards, john.


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## joolz (Jan 9, 2004)

OK this is only an opinion and should not be taken as fact.

I think your jeweller was covering his butt when he said the battery might only last 18 months, it''s what we were told to tell the customer when we changed batteries.









As for the "10 year battery" it probably lasts that long through lower power consumption. It's most likely that this is the result of a technological advance by the manufacturer of the module.

I don't see a major battery manufacturer producing a battery lthat lasts 10 years in any watch as most people only have one or two watches and it would reduce sales. Why sell you one battery every 10 years when they can sell you one every year.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

A jewelled quartz movement should take less current than a non jewelled quartz movement and particularly as the watch gets older.

The mAh of the battery will determine how long it lasts. The higher that is the longer it will last. Some watches will take one or two different batteries like the G10 e.g.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Joolz there are quite a few 10 year battey watches out there now using the big thin button CR batteries usually. I think it's a sales plus point, buy this watch, divide the cost by 10, that's how much it works out each year, never have to have it in to have a battery replaced (which costs a fiver a time at H samuel etc) and when it stops buy a new watch


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Go solar or Kinetic

Seiko or Pulsar solar have 2 jewels, one at each end of the stepping motor. Citizen have no jewels


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

I agree Griff, my Eco drive has been superb


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Boxbrownie said:


> Aw no.........why did you start this thread? Now my Citizen WR200 had started behaving wierd.......two second delay and two seconds forward.....now I would have thought it just means its running low on power, but as its solar and is sitting right under the window and desklight it gets plenty.....its this thread.......you've buggered my quartz watch!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To recap.....I thought it had gone wrong.....no idea what I did exactly but I know I stopped it by pulling the crown, turned it a bit....and after it worked fine.


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## marius (Mar 11, 2005)

A few months ago, I took a handfull of my my old quartz watches to the local jeweler here for battery replacement. (14 of them in all.) Since the local Wallmart wont change batteries any longer, this guy is not at all inexpensive. He charges around $6 per battery! But he uses a little handheld engraver and puts the date and signature mark on each battery before he sticks it into the watch, and guarantees a 5 year battery life. I do not know if anyone actually takes him up on his guarantee. I know that after sitting with no battery for more than three years, my old Sanyo sucked the life out of its first new battery in less than a year. Did it get "gummy" from sitting still so long? Drawing a slightly higher current untill it gets "run-in" again? Or is it just making up for being without power for so long? Thinking of it, I have a Tissot that also died a week ago, after less than a year. Time to see if the 5 year guarantee is good, or is the guy going to tell me that there 'must be something wrong with the watch'?


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## ENY55V (Mar 17, 2006)

Now if only it would take a 10 year battery!

Thanks,

Andy


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## johnbaz (Jan 30, 2005)

i have loads of qtz watches and most of the ones that have ETA/ESA movements have packed in and will not spring into life with a new battery, is it just that these (more expensive)movements are crap, or am i just unlucky?









my brothers g/friend asked me to have a look at two of her watches(need batteries fitting), it turned out they were both eta movements and both were shagged, it cost about thirty quid for the two movents, one was miyota that was a suitable replacement for the eta and cost about three quid, the other was a genuine eta, that one cost twenty seven quid-i wonder which will last longer, my money is on the miyota









john


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