Well, flip

[enismirdal]

Watch battery decided to go flat this afternoon.

The obvious thing would be to change it, right? Yeah...I've tried about 8 different screwdrivers and none of them will unscrew the screws on the back. Not one! Waaah.

Options:
1. throw watch at brother and offer him £1 if he can get the back off without rendering the watch useless
2. buy a new watch (about £7)

I think I'll try 1. first then give up and go with 2. The watch is about 2 years old, I think, so it's had a good run.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Tell me the name and address of the manufacturers!
I would offer to open the watch with a ASM but the watch would be open as in open order (i.e. dispersed) if it was tried.
Abner

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

I think it's a Zeon. Most of my watches are Zeons from Argos. (My method of watch shopping is: "Go to boys' watches. Select the cheapest watch that is digital, has a timer, date display and day of the week display and isn't hideous. Purchase.")

Hmm. I doubt dispersed watches are terribly useful for telling the time with!

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Take it to a watch shop and say "Can you fix this fro less than £newwatch"? Or do you have a battery already?

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

I think we already have any battery it might conceivably take, though since I haven't opened it up I'm not totally sure which one that would be, and I lost the instruction manual a long time ago.

I actually don't know where the nearest watch repair place is...I can't imagine anyone in Argos would know what to do with it except send it back to them manufacturer. It may still be under warranty but if the manufacturer intended to take 2 weeks to fix it, I'm not sure it's worth it.

[naurring.livejournal.com]

If you're already out shopping you could buy a new alarm clock for me, too. And a new mobilephone. And a new television screen. And a new PC screen. I have no idea why such things always die at the same time.

[king-thran.livejournal.com]

In France, lots of shop, like photographers and most places that sell magazines and cigarettes, offer the possibility to change watch battery. They have most of the tools to open them and they just ask for the price of the new battery. Those saved my life many time, I’m a girl of few watches, I only have, in my nearly 30 years, 4 watches including my new one.
At least you noticed that your watch died at a good time, mine had to die in Switzerland, on a Saturday, and I ended buying a new one there. Very cliché ;-)

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

What you are likely to need is a set of watchmaker's screwdrivers, which are optimised for dealing with the small and fiddly screws on the back of watches. I don't know how much they cost or, indeed, where to get them from. My father has a set, not that this is terribly useful to you...

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

*googles this*

Oh, yeah, I have two sets of those and mum has one. The trouble is, only the finest of my screwdrivers would fit, and the corner snapped off it a while back so it doesn't work. Mum's flat ones are all too thick, or too thin so just jump out of the hole, and the kind of Philip head ones have all been worn down by similar such screws until they're sort of...circular.

Dad's offered to have a bash at it, so we'll see if he has any joy.

Also, the metal the screws are made from seems abnormally soft and so the heads are threatening to become messed up beyond usefulness any time now.

[(Anonymous)]

Pin vice. Drill out the screws and get new ones?
Abner