Timex watch mystery

[kaneohe]

Here's one for you theorists w/ too much time on your hands:
Cheapo Timex watch has been sitting in the bathroom keeping perfect time for 6 mos. or so in it's "second life". It has not been worn during this time.

Main watch went wacko recently so I started wearing this Timex. It worked fine for a few days and then stopped. Pulling out time setting button on this analog watch and then pushing it back it restarted it as it has in the past but it continued to stop after short periods of time. Originally when I discovered this, it seemed like that button had somehow pulled itself out w/o help while it was being worn which was a mystery to me since it takes some force to do that.

Now the watch has been sitting on a table w/o being worn for a day and it is keeping perfect time.

Background on "first life": somehow moisture accumulated inside clear face of watch (possibly from washing dishes or very brief dunk into shallow water--supposed to be water resistant). Eventually watch stopped. Tried to revive it by long (weeks) of sitting inside plastic food saver container that had been evacuated. No success. Watch was put aside and many months later I discovered that it had revived itself .

What is the problem when I wear it.....mechanical from being moved, jarred, shaken? thermal sitting on wrist. It works fine except when I use it.

 

[TromboneAl]

I suspect that the moisture has caused some corroded or otherwise flaky connections inside. It could be the observations of it working on the table and not while on your wrist may just be chance.

This may fix it: Spray WD-40 into in. really saturate it with WD-40 -- depress the buttons and spray it in. Then exercise all the buttons.

Some of the buttons on my Timex Ironman stop working periodically (or need to be pressed hard). I spray in the WD-40 and depress and release them hundreds of times. This always fixes it.

You can also use "TV Tuner Cleaner" available from Radio Shack, but I've found that WD-40 works better.

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks TAL........is the Ironman a digital watch? Mine is analog....old fashioned type w/ moving hands. Might try your idea anyway.

 

[TromboneAl]

Oh, with moving parts and gears and springs and stuff? No, I don't recommend the WD-40 in that case. I'll read more slowly next time.

 

[SteveL]

If the timex has a battery, most do even if they look analog, then it could still be the contacts and corrosion.

Alternatively, perhaps you mistreated a watch in some past life and this is just Karma.

 

[ladelfina]

I met someone who swore they couldn't wear a watch because their personal aura/magnetic field/pH/resonant frequency made any watch quit working. Maybe whatever happened to them happened to you, seeing as you claim your main watch is also "wacko" (very suspicious!). Booo eeee oooo (spooky noise).

 

[TromboneAl]

As a Timex, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Have you tried licking it?

 

[kaneohe]

I met someone who swore they couldn't wear a watch because their personal aura/magnetic field/pH/resonant frequency made any watch quit working. Maybe whatever happened to them happened to you, seeing as you claim your main watch is also "wacko" (very suspicious!). Booo eeee oooo (spooky noise).

My main watch is a $5 Big Lots China special which I went to after two successive Timex "analog" watches went wacko in the same way as described in OP . The second Timex is my emergency backup still ticking in my jacket pocket.....can't wear it because I cannibalized the good band for whatever watch is working well. I guess I learned something from this discussion that I didn't think about previously.

Yes the "analog" watch does have battery....so I misled you. What I should have said it has hands but does have a battery. Does that make the WD40 a valid solution again. It just has the one button to set time.

And yes, the $5 China specials have value....the first one went 3 yrs.
The current one is blinking and I can't get it back to normal mode. I'm thinking if I can reboot it, it might start. Have to figure out how to get it apart.

All these watches had warranties but the shipping/handling charges
are greater than replacement cost.

 

[Nords]

Here's one for you theorists w/ too much time on your hands:
Main watch went wacko recently so I started wearing this Timex.

OK, I'll ask the Zen question:
Is there a need to wear a watch?

 

[kaneohe]

OK, I'll ask the Zen question:
Is there a need to wear a watch?

That's a good one.....mostly habit, I suppose. Not a life and death situation. Could move between reliable plugged in clocks in home, car, destination.
Only close-to-must might be catching planes but even there not a must.
Mostly for convenience so you can use up the last minutes before you have to be somewhere else w/o getting up to look at a trusted clock.

Only must might be if you frequent beaches sneaking around points at low tide and need to return before you get trapped by incoming high.

 

[W2R]

OK, I'll ask the Zen question:
Is there a need to wear a watch?

Maybe to remind the early retiree of the time that is now his?

 

[Nords]

Maybe to remind the early retiree of the time that is now his?

Well, you know the universal excuse is "Eh, brah, Hawaii time..."

I tell people that I'm frequently early to their appointment because they won't accept any excuses from an ER. The fact is that once you get onto H-1 or Moanaloa Freeway your schedule is at the mercy of your fellow drivers.

 

[unclemick]

OK, I'll ask the Zen question:
Is there a need to wear a watch?

Yes. She gave it to me and she notices those things- aka naked wrists.

heh heh heh - a small price to pay.

 

[Gail]

Don't know if it's due to my personal aura/magnetic field or just plain bad luck, but I'm another one of those people who has trouble with watches that won't run on my wrist. They are just fine as long as I'm not wearing them, but as soon as I put them on, they run erratically, lose time, etc. I've tried expensive and cheap, and no difference.

I have a couple of old Timex windups that I wear and they're just fine.

 

[Rambler]

I met someone who swore they couldn't wear a watch because their personal aura/magnetic field/pH/resonant frequency made any watch quit working. Maybe whatever happened to them happened to you, seeing as you claim your main watch is also "wacko" (very suspicious!). Booo eeee oooo (spooky noise).

I had some friends, a girl and a guy, when I was a teenager, both in the same family, who could not wear analog watches of any kind and expect them to keep time. Their magnetic field...or whatever...would kill them...absolutely. They would not restart if left on the bathroom counter...or anywhere else. They could wear digital without problems. The other two kids in the family had no problems with analog watches.

R

 

[jambo101]

Either throw it away and get another one or drop in to your local watch/jeweler shop next time you are at the mall and they will probably clean it and install a new battery for under $20.

 

[TromboneAl]

Waterproof digital watches are available at Walmart for $5.

 

[Rustic23]

I have a Casio Atomic Watch! Accurate to the billionth of a second, and looses or gains a second every 10,000 years or so! I find it very handy. I always know the exact day and date. The time? Who really cares!