old companion revitalised (with a battery)

When I was in school (so yes, around 1979) Seiko released a sort of budget water proof watch called the Sports 100. They weren't hard core bulky divers watches, but were styled divers and were 100 meters water resistant. True Divers watches were (at the time) quite chunky and even Seiko at that time were so expensive that I never thought I could afford one. The Sports 100 was at the time $199 retail, cheaper but still out of my reach. To give that a perspective I paid $800 for my first used car bought about the same time as the release of the Sports 100.

At the time I had a Seiko watch, but it was a LCD screen digital watch, but it wasn't very waterproof (perhaps 50m?), and while it had some nice features you had to press buttons to actually find the date or use the stopwatch, and the buttons were a bit stiff.

So one day I found this watch (looking almost new then, not "weather worn" like it does now) at a pawnbrokers shop at about the time that my Seiko Digital (with a cracked screen) was telling me "time had come" for a new battery. At that time it was already an older watch and I got it for a low price.  The serial number on the watch (7123 - 823A - 940634) suggests its now 40 years old. 

Back then the outside of the rotating bezel was blue and there was a visible red line around part of the edge, barely visible now. But still, what drew me to it then (in particular) was the almost orange colour of the face. I like orange.

That was in about 1982 and since then this watch has been on my wrist, across a number of continents, diving, driving, motorcycling and hiking. I can't say how many times its had the battery changed, but I'd say (on average) every 4 years. Its been in a box since about 2006 (over 12 years) now largely because the battery ran out and as I was by then carrying a mobile phone every day decided that I didn't need a watch. So it sat in the box with a dead battery. Given that its been in a box for the last 12 or so, thats over 26 years on my wrist.

The recent purchase of the Seiko 5 Automatic watch made me think "why don't I pull the old watch down and replace the battery". So I bought a tool ($7) and a battery ($5) off ebay and "had a go". It was as simple as it sounded.

and with the back off the battery just fell out. Basically on this model the battery is held in by the back. The printed circuit is a thing of beauty, thick and untarnished

There was a tiny bit of corrosion on the terminal on the outside of the battery (which I scraped off with a small sharp blade, taking care that nothing fell into the watch), replaced the battery and did it up. There is a small amount of corrosion visible on the steel, but nothing much really. 

If you do this yourself do not attempt to bend that bottom (relative to the picture) battery terminal and DO NOT touch that coil.

I believe its fared better than my fathers Omega Sea Master (automatic) which was pretty much fucked after 20 years (perhaps a little more less, I can't be sure), making the Seiko a true quality bargain.

Its now running fine and I'm quite happy to have an old companion back.

Win Win