Weird Quartz Watch Question

I started getting watches into my brain (partly due to this wonderful forum!), and I wound up receiving a decent "Wenger Swiss Military" swiss made quartz mvmt watch from my father-in-law (req'd new battery and strap - maybe I'll get around to reviewing the Crown & Buckle strap I picked for it!). However, I noticed that although it keeps perfect time during the day on my wrist, once I take it off for the night it will eventually start to RACE, like maybe almost double time by the looks of the second hand. What's up with that?!? I don't want to have to sleep with it on, nor do I relish the thought of resetting it each morning.

The battery that came out was a Varta V 396 button type, which I replaced with an Energizer 396/397 (SR726).

Any thoughts?

Quartz watches have a crystal that vibrates at a specific frequency. Temperature can affect the frequency to some degree, or if the watch has had a hard shock or jolt it could have knocked off the frequency of the crystal. a good cleaning and service may help, a fresh battery which you have already done. Quartz watches will alway be most accurate when worn as the temperature is a more constant variable. I would have it checked by your local watch maker or shop, have it cleaned, try another fresh battery and see if that alleviates the issues for you

And now you know why your FIL no longer wears it.

If the second hand is behaving erratically, that's actually a built in feature that let's you know it's time to change a battery before the watch stops completely. Put fresh battery in.

Did just put in new battery (see OP). Would a tired battery only act up OFF my wrist, though? I hope the strip of 5 batteries I just bought off Amazon aren't already dead...

Move your time machine to the other end of the house. The time distortion field is leaking.

CaptainTime said:

Move your time machine to the other end of the house. The time distortion field is leaking.

Click to expand...

I shoulda thought of that!

My watch did that a few days before the battery gave up.

I would guess that the battery you put in is no good. You could also try re-seating it, but based on your description I doubt that will have any effect.

On my Eco-Drive watches (solar-powered quartz), when the stored charge is low the second hand will "stutter" and move two seconds at at time. (It keeps more or less correct time, it's just that the hand just moves once every 2s)

I'll keep an eye on it over the next week. It's not just that the second hand is skipping a beat, though. It's moving twice the speed - making nearly two revolutions each true minute that elapses. BUT only when it is off-wrist. All through the work day, on-wrist, it keeps perfect time. That's what confuses me. If it really is just a temperature thing, then I'll likely give up, because resetting it every time I take it off will get old quickly. But if it's the battery, I hope I can figure that out quickly, so I can let Amazon know of the issue and get a refund/replacement.

That happened to me a couple of years ago on an old watch -- I replaced the battery, but the battery I bought was bad, old, etc. I put a second battery in and it worked fine. You may just have a bad replacement battery. It happens...

I'll swap batteries tonight and see what happens. Here's the culprit:

Popped in a new battery out of the 5-pack from Amazon, same result: even on-wrist it ran fast for a while. So, I contacted the seller, suspecting old batteries. Here's the response I received:

________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Customer,

-Defect rates for Energizer are very low, under 99%. It is highly unlikely that ALL of them would be bad.
-The batteries not working in your device does not mean they are bad. As your device might be not working, incompatible, or uses another type/size.
-The batteries that we sold you are the most popular batteries in the entire line of the MOST popular brand.
-We buy and sell these batteries from Energizer in LESS THAN 4 months, so there are NO OLD batteries or inventory allowed.

-----------------------------------
There is no date printed for the batteries since Energizer because the batteries sold are for industry professionals and not consumers. We are "authorized distributors" and were given the dates for the CODES on the back of your blister packet. They are on the right side of the back of packet. There should be 2-3 LETTERS. 1st 1 or 2 letters signify the month (some months are double digit). Last latter signifies the year.
Look at the back of the packaging right of where the battery comes out, there should be a
GZR or codes ending in R = made in late 2012 to early 2013
AB or codes ending in B = made in late 2013 to early 2014
ZU or codes ending in U = made in late 2014 to early 2015
Note that the "made in" is for the battery, which does not factor-in packaging and distribution times
Energizer Lithium batteries are good for 5-7 years after production date. Silver-Oxides are good for 3-6 years.
You can call energizer to confirm these claims for yourself with Energizer at 1 (800) 426-8268.
_________________________________________________________________________________


So, sounds like it may just be the watch. Weird to think a Swiss quartz would be this quirky, but who knows?!? Time for something new, maybe.