Right, my Dad was into Scuba a long time ago, and I always remember him having a cool dive watch. I remember being allowed to wear it as a kid and loving it. I asked a while back if he still had it, and it was duly found rather knackered and stopped in a drawer. My dad loves working on the garden and cars is so an accidental destroyer of watches. All of his watches are utterly utterly beaten up.
So I got some case tools online and got the back off. I found that I needed a '399' type battery which again was duly bought from eBay. However on putting in this I am not getting any luck at all. I was wondering what the consensus was about it perhaps just being a dud battery?
If the quartz movement is at fault ( I guess I need a multimeter to test the battery ) then I don't know what the options are. I don't care about being cost effective as such as I have sentimental value attached to it, so don't want to just buy the same one from here or eBay. I held of replacing the strap till I can get it working. The strap seems non std and knowing how its been used I reckon its a cheapo from a shoe / key cutting place. :D
So I have attached a pic of another one stolen from another thread pending some more photos tonight if I can. The bezel on mine is knackered as well as a lot of scratching on the glass. I really do think it is glass not plastic so I guess that will need to be replaced rather than polished?
Can old quartz movements be serviced? If so how much does it cost roughly?
It depends on how comfortable you are working on it yourself, but if it carries real sentimental value then I think sending it to a professional would be a good course of action. A service is never going to be loads of money (sub £50), and they'll at least be able to say in advance if it's a gonner, new movement job, bit of clean - whatever.
There are plenty of decent watch repairers that are used/recommended by folks on here, and quite a few here who are very competent hobby repairers.
I've resurected car alarm key fob's, and various bit's of water damaged electronics by washing the circuitry with iso-propyl-alcohol.
It's what we used to use in the maintenance department at work to clean electrical test gear.
Try a proper watch repair workshop first.
Then if it's still destined for the bin, get some industrial alcohol cleaning solvent and clean it very carefully with a cotton bud.
Leave it somewhere warm overnight to dry out properly before applying any more volts.
as mentioned above try the isoprol, but if it still doesnt work, just get another movement and stick it in, should be cheap enough.
cheers
mike
I think a pro - repair, may well be the way. The bezel damage is the killer as otherwise I could envisage getting a new glass for it and doing the seals and the battery...
So sub £50 that sounds reasonable, I guess it might be more with the bezel etc. Any recommendations on who to go to?
TBH, other than for sentimental reasons I would give it a miss - the trade price for these was less than £30 when they were sold.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Anyone have someone they would recommend posting this to. I really REALLY would like to get it back working and cost is not an issue really.
I am taking this as a challenge. Like most people end up spending more than the car is worth to geta classic restored. The fact that its my Dad's and I spent many years as a boy looking at this watch and wanting it.
I can recommend Duncan aka cannop on here, this is his website:Originally Posted by BluePurpleRed
https://thewatchbloke.co.uk/
Let's have a pic
Happy to have a look at it for you if you want
If the watch is the type pictured below (borrowed pic)...
...then that's a Monnin cased diver. There were numerous companies that used that case style. I have an Orsa with that case. I had to have the movement replaced in mine, and if memory serves, it takes a Ronda quartz movement. If nothing else, you might consider reviewing the different brands that come up on the Monnin Google image search and see if you can find a working candidate to cannibalize for parts to use to repair your dad's watch.
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