Anyone else feel like a master watchmaker after changing a battery?

I've been doing it for so long that I feel it's just general tinkerer level. It's beyond casual knowledge, but removing the stem so the movement can come out feels like stepping to another level.

Sometimes I feel like I own the damn thing!

Never, just a madman with a screwdriver

To be perfectly honest, changing a battery can be tricky business. It's often very easy to break a plastic tab, or to bend something that was not meant to be bent. (Oh, look, the is a little screw on the other side.) Battery changes on Seiko Kinetics can be a pain in the rear, and are no small feat.

One slip of the screwdriver into a coil, and that's it. Battery changes are not a trivial matter.

So, long story short, yes:

https://www.watchcrunch.com/JBird7986/posts/it-s-alive-it-s-alive-the-skyhawk-saga-part-3-of-3-14789

But not as much as when I did this:

https://www.watchcrunch.com/JBird7986/posts/look-at-me-look-at-me-i-m-the-watchmaker-now-14306

Oh God no! Nothing as technically demanding as that...just changing straps at the moment. The Tag Heuer Link stumped me for a while. ☺

Master watch maker? Nope, not by a long shot. Competent hobbist possibly. 😉

One other comment. Anybody have any recommendations for a watch back press that actually works? My wife has lots of dead pressed back watches. The one press I bought just doesn’t have enough leverage to really work, especially with steel backs.

I put a gasket in properly in a g-shock once. The crystal stopped fogging up.

Surely Patek Phillipe will bring me in as a master watchmaker. The phone hasn’t rung yet. I’m guessing they’re just getting the funds together for my salary package. ;)

Batteries, crystals, hands, you name it. I can do it all. I found I have a knack for taking watches apart and putting them back together.

I know… it’s uncanny, really.

A little bit, after I did it for the first time this week.

Two days later, a job lot of vintage cheapos arrived from ebay, about £70 for the 4. I've put them on the timegrapher, and three of the 4 were between 90 and 150s per day in the wrong, to the 4th one it just said no. So, master watchmaker, are you going to open them up and service/regulate them, and fix the dodgy one? Hell, no!

I've limited myself to batteries and straps now but I'm itching to do a diy watchclub project next. After that, YouTube watchmakers and reviewers will be asking to interview me. 😂

Some are easier to do than others. I have a few that are far less annoying if I just have my watchmaker do them. You don't have to feel like you have to do them all.

I have to plead ignorance here, but on first impressions I noticed that those tools look rather similar on amazon. On AliExpress there is more variety, at a much wider price range. If you require heftly leverage something like this looks promising.

Ever since I changed a battery Lange won't leave me alone. Sheeesh

That’s why my g-shock keeps fogging up! This may be my next project!

Very very likely. I image after a few new Nautilus models are released they’ll have enough to ship you over!

You’re doing the right thing ignoring the calls, I’m sure a better offer will roll through soon.

If you’re gonna give it a go I’d recommend watching this;

https://youtu.be/0OzfgugMUtI

Good inspiration:)

My Swap Meet tech saves me from my overly optimistic belief that I can do anything despite my waning eyesight and my so-so fine motor skills. He has an extensive stock of premium grade batteries and charges about what a Big Mac costs. BTW I still haven't found the battery retention bar on my wife's Bulova that took flight but fortunately she hasn't noticed that it isn't back in her watch box yet.

Hardly... But my family and friends think I a miracle man because I can change their old straps and batteries 🤣

That feeling when they thank you for ‘fixing’ their watch, nothing beats it haha

I feel like that after I change the straps.

Even more of a master when I change the battery on my Apple Watch 👍

When you change a few at one go... yeah!

Hell Yeah

Does he change batteries in Hamilton Electrics?

What about batteries for Bulova/Omega tuning fork movements?

Looking for someone who can do this reasonably.

And all it cast me was a break from the chatter 😅

I can ask him or you can see him every Thursday at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet (free parking & admission on tue, wed, thur.). It's worth checking out. He's remarkably honest and will install more obscure batteries that you've sourced yourself. If you decide to go LMK and I'll try to meet you there.

I really felt like this after removing and replacing the bezel and all the other bezel accoutrements on my Vanuatu.

I also for sure thought I was going to break the bezel first time I pried it off and then snapped it back on.