TAG Heuer battery

[Charlie D]

25 minutes ago, Richardtr3a said:

...I have given up on waterproof some years ago...

Richard,

I’m a great one for trying to spend as little money as possible, but I really think in your case you need to get it done properly.  When you say you have “given up on waterproof” I guess you mean that the watch might no longer be safe to 30 mtrs but you don’t expect to go diving wearing it.

The problem is that without the proper seal you may well find that even the occasional splash of rainwater could creep in  (Capillary action) over a period of time and ruin the innards. (You have it on your warm wrist and it gets damp. You take it off at night, it cools down, the air pressure inside reduces and the damp gets sucked in.)

I have a clockwork Omega Speedmaster that I once took the back off just to see how it worked. (It never worked properly after that!) The seal seemed to be just a simple “O” ring, but as I tightened up the back, the “O” ring twisted and a bit could be seen sticking out the side. I never did get it back properly. 10 years ago I sent it to Omega and they told me it would cost £500 to repair it. It has lived in a drawer ever since.

You may save a few quid by replacing the battery yourself, but I think you will regret it in the long run.

Charlie.

[RobH]

There is nothing magical about waterproofing a watch.  It relies on the o ring seal but this will be lightly lubricated with thin silicone oil before fitting to prevent the ring sticking as yours did Charlie.  A watchmaker will remove the ring and place it in an oil bath but for DIY a quick wipe in-situ with a siliconed cotton bud taking great care to only get a very tiny quantity on the o ring alone, is all that is really required.   ( a jeweller just replacing a battery is unlikely to do either). 

If the o ring is damaged you can buy new ones:

https://www.watchbattery.co.uk/shop/O-ring_Case_Seals.shtml

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by RobH

[harrytr5]

My wife Tag was around £70 to change so a life time guarantee from Timsons is good value at £85.

Regards Harry

[harrytr5]

Spoke to Timsons guy in his work place.He showed me the testing rig for water ingress

At 200m depth and guaranteed  all for £89.50 for lifetime battery's 

Good enough for me and my wife's Tag.

Regards Harry

[Ralph Whitaker]

On 11/21/2022 at 5:36 PM, RobH said:

An alternative is to take it to your local Timpsons (yes the shoe repairers).  They are quite good at watch battery replacement. 

Took my Casio Edifice to Timpsons, £40 for a normal battery or £80 for a lifetime guarantee one. They justified the price by saying that because mine was one of the Limited Edition Torro Rosso F! watches it had to be sent away. The watch only cost £150.

Anyway, after declining I bought a watch repair kit off ebay for a tenner, and 2 batteries for £3. Ten minutes later the battery was changed and 18 months on is still working.

Of course if I had an expensive watch like the Tag it would pay to have it done expertly, but it is not rocket science.

Ralph

Edited November 25, 2022 by Ralph Whitaker

[Keith Wigglesworth]

The lady in Timpsons hates me. I keep all the tickets for our family watches and just turn up for a new battery in each when they expire. I must have saved a fortune over the years. For what I can tell the job is done well if the Timpsons person knows their stuff. In this case they do. 
Keith

[Andy Moltu]

Call me ignorant but how many folk dive that deep? 200m is specialist diving territory.

In the end these may be very expensive watches but a battery is a battery. It’s an expensive item of jewellery that happens to tell the time. What was it that Gerald Ratner said?

If you cock it up you will end up with an expensive repair bill, but then again these wonder watches need expensive services somewhat frequently.

 You can buy watch battery changing kits on EBay and the batteries for not much. The tricky bit is identifying the the specific battery needed so you can buy it ready to swap. 

[Charlie D]

I wonder if there is a specific torque that the back of the watch has to be tightened up to.

If so, do you have to check the torque after 500 hours of use?

(Don’t forget to unscrew the back 1/8th of a turn first though.)

 

Charlie.

[RobH]

But seriously, as long as the O ring is compressed and the back is tight so that the thread bottoms out,  that is enough. It isn't the clamping force that provides the seal, it is elastic compression of the ring. O rings are clever things really and should not be squashed flat. A compression of about 30% is optimal and the groove depth should be sufficient to achieve that when the two surfaces are in contact. 

 

[stillp]

15 hours ago, Andy Moltu said:

What was it that Gerald Ratner said?

 

I used to work for a friend of Ratner, who told me he'd intended to finish the statement that what they sold was the Cheapest Reasonably Acceptable Product.

Pete

[Richardtr3a]

My new battery arrived today GBP 2,38 delivered and the back removal tools was last week GBP 3.98  I fitted it in less than 5 minutes. A small amount of silicon grease , from the tool box, around the edge and it was reassembled. I checked to make sure that no grease was in the works and now I can check the time easily.

How can major shoe repairers charge near GBP 100 ??

Richard & B

Sun shining in Sussex so out with the dog this afternoon.

[harrytr5]

The saying is "sometimes cheap can be dear"

Regards Harry

[Hamish]

3 hours ago, Richardtr3a said:

My new battery arrived today GBP 2,38 delivered and the back removal tools was last week GBP 3.98  I fitted it in less than 5 minutes. A small amount of silicon grease , from the tool box, around the edge and it was reassembled. I checked to make sure that no grease was in the works and now I can check the time easily.

How can major shoe repairers charge near GBP 100 ??

Richard & B

Sun shining in Sussex so out with the dog this afternoon.

Premises rent

wages and associated cost ni pension etc

elec

business rates

insurance

profit 

lifetime guarantee 

Etc etc

 

[Tony_C]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:24 PM, stillp said:

I used to work for a friend of Ratner, who told me he'd intended to finish the statement that what they sold was the Cheapest Reasonably Acceptable Product.

Pete

Pete, I used to work for ‘an associate’ of Ratner… (I was skipper on a big gin palace motor yacht) …… This is a major surprise to me.. that he even had ‘a friend’? .. Even before that ‘faux pas’…. In my experience, these guys used to socialise but never proper mates in the accepted way we know 

 

Back from the thread drift…… by further copy to all … get a ‘proper watch’…….. A Rolex will keep working so long as you are still breathing !

[RobH]

27 minutes ago, Tony_C said:

A Rolex will keep working so long as you are still breathing !

...but if you try to fight off the muggers you may not be breathing for long. 

 

[Ian Vincent]

1 hour ago, Tony_C said:

Back from the thread drift…… by further copy to all … get a ‘proper watch’…….. A Rolex will keep working so long as you are still breathing !

But it won’t keep such good time as a cheap digital watch and it will cost a fortune to get it serviced. I know, I’ve had one for the last 45 years. 

Rgds Ian

[stillp]

1 hour ago, Tony_C said:

Pete, I used to work for ‘an associate’ of Ratner… (I was skipper on a big gin palace motor yacht) …… This is a major surprise to me.. that he even had ‘a friend’? .. Even before that ‘faux pas’…. In my experience, these guys used to socialise but never proper mates in the accepted way we know 

 

Back from the thread drift…… by further copy to all … get a ‘proper watch’…….. A Rolex will keep working so long as you are still breathing !

Yes, perhaps associate would be a better word than 'friend'. The chap I knew was Rolf Schild, famous for having been kidnapped in Sardinia. An Austrian Jew, he was a refugee from Hitler in the 1930s, along with Peter Epstein, the co-founder of SE Laboratories. Epstein was later encouraged to take early retirement and accept the blame for a breach of VAT regulations.

Agree about the Rolex, but it's a pity they changed from making the world's best watches to making the world's most glittery bling.

Pete

 

[PaulAnderson]

Get a Citizen eco drive watch and it should last a lifetime and may only need new straps over its life. They’re solar powered so never need a battery.

Paul

[Tony_C]

12 hours ago, Ian Vincent said:

But it won’t keep such good time as a cheap digital watch and it will cost a fortune to get it serviced. I know, I’ve had one for the last 45 years. 

Rgds Ian

True Ian…… A bit sad but very true!….

 

(talking about servicing…… My wife - a natural blonde - hid her gold and stainless model in the slow cooker and then proceeded to make goulash for a bonfire party we had..

 

Rolex charged over £6000+ for the service/repair.. just about the price of a new one.. However, it was in a real mess… Rolex said they thought they had seen everything, run over by lorries etc but, nothing like this…. One guy said "it’s rusty.. it can’t be rusted "… Nope, that’s actually baked in goulash..!)

[Hamish]

46 minutes ago, Tony_C said:

True Ian…… A bit sad but very true!….

 

(talking about servicing…… My wife - a natural blonde - hid her gold and stainless model in the slow cooker and then proceeded to make goulash for a bonfire party we had..

 

Rolex charged over £6000+ for the service/repair.. just about the price of a new one.. However, it was in a real mess… Rolex said they thought they had seen everything, run over by lorries etc but, nothing like this…. One guy said "it’s rusty.. it can’t be rusted "… Nope, that’s actually baked in goulash..!)

Not quite a sixpence in a Christmas pudding !!

[stillp]