Corum Gold Coin Quartz Movement Repair

[CorumGoldCoin]

My father has a Corum Gold Coin watch that has stopped working.   It was recently taken to a watch repair shop to have the battery replaced.  The repairman said the movement is bad and needs to be replaced.  The movement is an ETA 959.001.  It seems a little odd to me that the movement suddenly died but I have no way of knowing what actually happened here.  Did the movement actually die and not the battery?  Did the repairman  damage the movement?  Who knows?  I have subsequently talked to a repair facility authorized by Corum in the US.  They say that the movement is unavailable but they can replace the circuit board and get it working again.  They are saying the labor to do the repair is about $400 and just the circuit board is around $900.  I have done a little digging and it look like these circuit boards generally sell in the $200-400 range NOS.  This makes me think $800-900 is a bit excessive if not completely ridiculous.  However, I essentially know nothing about watch repair.  I generally fix everything I own myself, but I haven't delved into watch repair and I'm not sure it would be the best idea to start with this one.  I'm guessing that replacing the board probably isn't a plug and play procedure.  If I could find a working circuit board is it a nightmarish process to replace it?  Could anyone offer any advice on how best to approach this?  

Thanks

[grsnovi]

Have you looked at eBay for working ETA 959.001 movements? Looks like there may be a couple (as well as a single NOS circuit).

Have you tried a new battery on your own?

[JohnR725]

6 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

that has stopped working

Was it running and then stopped or had it been stopped for a while? Often times with quartz watches people notice they're not running but how long have they been not running? Then if they haven't been running for a while often times the battery will leak that is very very bad.

Just in case you want to service the watch yourself I have technical literature attached.

6 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

Corum Gold Coin watch

Problem with something like this is its in a coin which is usually thin and when you look at the specifications it's a thin movement. That's why everything related to it is going to be expensive. Plus one look at the tech sheet tells me it's an older movements and unlike mechanical watches where parts could be around 400 years plus typically on quartz watches there are not a lot of parts available.

 

6 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

I essentially know nothing about watch repair.  I generally fix everything I own myself, but I haven't delved into watch repair and I'm not sure it would be the best idea to start with this one

Where is your spirits this is a watch repair discussion group you should just jump right in this is an excellent watch free to start on what's the worst that could happen? Oh well technically on quartz watches if you're doing it right you do need a little test equipment beyond your normal mechanical equipment. Then this is a super thin watch so yes you've already mastered one of the most important lessons In watch repair when not to do something and this is definitely not a beginner's watch.

Realistically because of the age the watch will need a full service. Then of course whether or not the circuit is good or bad also would have to be ascertained. This is of course why test equipment is nice to have for quartz watches.

673_ETA 959.001.pdf

[Neverenoughwatches]

6 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

My father has a Corum Gold Coin watch that has stopped working.   It was recently taken to a watch repair shop to have the battery replaced.  The repairman said the movement is bad and needs to be replaced.  The movement is an ETA 959.001.  It seems a little odd to me that the movement suddenly died but I have no way of knowing what actually happened here.  Did the movement actually die and not the battery?  Did the repairman  damage the movement?  Who knows?  I have subsequently talked to a repair facility authorized by Corum in the US.  They say that the movement is unavailable but they can replace the circuit board and get it working again.  They are saying the labor to do the repair is about $400 and just the circuit board is around $900.  I have done a little digging and it look like these circuit boards generally sell in the $200-400 range NOS.  This makes me think $800-900 is a bit excessive if not completely ridiculous.  However, I essentially know nothing about watch repair.  I generally fix everything I own myself, but I haven't delved into watch repair and I'm not sure it would be the best idea to start with this one.  I'm guessing that replacing the board probably isn't a plug and play procedure.  If I could find a working circuit board is it a nightmarish process to replace it?  Could anyone offer any advice on how best to approach this?  

Thanks

Hey CGC , its doable for you but probably not as a first try. You'd be well advised to practise on some scrap quartz watches first to get a feel. I did this at the start of last year with a whole bucket load of quartz movements, it went a long way with my understanding and testing of them. If i remember rightly a lot of the circuit boards even some pretty old ones lifted straight off held in place by a few screws. I cant comment on yours in particular without some research but its very possible. The coil could also be faulty as well as a gummed up movement, even the quartz crystalcan fail, but thats quite rare. All are testable and fixable with some learn and skill advancement. Even the basic test equipment i have can manage the quartz, coil, circuit and check the cmos for working or non working. The cost for the circuit board sounds way over priced unless these have gone up dramatically since last year. Personally this is something i would be attempting, mayby not for everyone. You could potentially do more damage to the dial especially as hand removal and remounting has its risks for a beginner. This is something you dont want with it being the most viewed part and central focus of the watch. My advice if you have no experience in watch repair is set it aside and then get some. Practice practise and practice then evaluate you skill set and then decide whether to dig in or not.

[CorumGoldCoin]

Thanks everyone for your input, this is exactly what I was hoping to get here. 

12 hours ago, grsnovi said:

Have you looked at eBay for working ETA 959.001 movements? Looks like there may be a couple (as well as a single NOS circuit).

Have you tried a new battery on your own?

I can't believe I missed that NOS circuit board.  Great find!

Also, that is a very good suggestion to try a new battery myself.   Plus, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a look inside to see how it looks and if there is battery leakage.

 

11 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

Was it running and then stopped or had it been stopped for a while?

Just in case you want to service the watch yourself I have technical literature attached.

 This is of course why test equipment is nice to have for quartz watches.

673_ETA 959.01.pdf 3.43 MB · 2 downloads

My father thinks it had been about 6 months since it stopped working before he took it to have the battery replaced.  The place didn't say there was leakage which he should have if there was.  So this could be a good sign.  Of course, I really should see for myself.

Thanks for the service manual, that is EXCELLENT!

Any excuse to buy more test equipment is a good excuse as far as I'm concerned.  I'll have to do a little research to see what I'll need in order to test the circuit board, I imagine it is more than a DMM.

 

11 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Hey CGC , its doable for you but probably not as a first try. You'd be well advised to practise on some scrap quartz watches first to get a feel.

The coil could also be faulty as well as a gummed up movement, even the quartz crystalcan fail, but thats quite rare. All are testable and fixable with some learn and skill advancement. Even the basic test equipment i have can manage the quartz, coil, circuit and check the cmos for working or non working.

 You could potentially do more damage to the dial especially as hand removal and remounting has its risks for a beginner. This is something you dont want with it being the most viewed part and central focus of the watch. My advice if you have no experience in watch repair is set it aside and then get some. Practice practise and practice then evaluate you skill set and then decide whether to dig in or not.

This is good advice.  I don't know if I want to jump in head first with this watch.   At the very least, I would really like to be able to determine the state of things myself and test the coil, circuit and cmos.  I don't want to be at the mercy of an unknown repair person who says I need a new movement or circuit board when in reality the problem may be much simpler.   Do you know if the circuit board has to be removed in order to test these components or can it be tested in the movement?

I completely agree, dealing with the dial isn't something I would want to do on this watch unless I had done it a LOT on other watches.  The potential for error there looks very high.

One other question.  I have seen listings for various 959.001 movements and many of them indicate that they are for a particular brand, like Longines for example.  Are there different 959.001 movements made for different makers or all they all generally the same?  I understand there might be brand engravings but in terms of dimensions and functionality etc. are they actually different movements?

Thanks again for your very helpful responses!

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

Thanks everyone for your input, this is exactly what I was hoping to get here. 

I can't believe I missed that NOS circuit board.  Great find!

Also, that is a very good suggestion to try a new battery myself.   Plus, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a look inside to see how it looks and if there is battery leakage.

 

My father thinks it had been about 6 months since it stopped working before he took it to have the battery replaced.  The place didn't say there was leakage which he should have if there was.  So this could be a good sign.  Of course, I really should see for myself.

Thanks for the service manual, that is EXCELLENT!

Any excuse to buy more test equipment is a good excuse as far as I'm concerned.  I'll have to do a little research to see what I'll need in order to test the circuit board, I imagine it is more than a DMM.

 

This is good advice.  I don't know if I want to jump in head first with this watch.   At the very least, I would really like to be able to determine the state of things myself and test the coil, circuit and cmos.  I don't want to be at the mercy of an unknown repair person who says I need a new movement or circuit board when in reality the problem may be much simpler.   Do you know if the circuit board has to be removed in order to test these components or can it be tested in the movement?

I completely agree, dealing with the dial isn't something I would want to do on this watch unless I had done it a LOT on other watches.  The potential for error there looks very high.

One other question.  I have seen listings for various 959.001 movements and many of them indicate that they are for a particular brand, like Longines for example.  Are there different 959.001 movements made for different makers or all they all generally the same?  I understand there might be brand engravings but in terms of dimensions and functionality etc. are they actually different movements?

Thanks again for your very helpful responses!

You can do some  testing without removing the movement from the case but if you are going to service it then it would need to come out. You should also also be able to swap some components. From a quick look at a couple of examples the coil and circuit board are combined. But John's service manual will confirm this. As far as i know the movements supplied to different brands are basically the same. Ideally you would be wanting nos components with no branding.

[grsnovi]

10 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

I have seen listings for various 959.001 movements and many of them indicate that they are for a particular brand, like Longines for example.  Are there different 959.001 movements made for different makers or all they all generally the same?  I understand there might be brand engravings but in terms of dimensions and functionality etc. are they actually different movements?

Any ETA959.001 movement should be the same size and while there may have been 959.001 made specifically for Corum (with Corum branding and specified metals and finishes) the movement should be functionally identical.

[JohnR725]

11 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

Do you know if the circuit board has to be removed in order to test these components or can it be tested in the movement?

Usually always measure everything in the watch because that's where the circuit is running. Depending upon the circuit board there may be one or more grounding screw is indeed all of those connected to ground to get the thing to run.

11 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

Are there different 959.001 movements made for different makers or all they all generally the same? 

I suspect on this particular movement they're probably all the same. Usually on the quartz movements the difference is stuff on the dial side to accommodate thicker dials did

I also found you a different tech sheet this one is for the Omega version. You don't look at the parts listing compared to the other one they should all looked the same as a guess

 

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&ETA-ESA_959_001

Omega DeVille 1377.pdf

[CorumGoldCoin]

Since all of you were so helpful when I first posed my question, I wanted to give you an update on the Corum.

Before devoting the rest of my life to watch repair, I took grsnovi's advice and had my father take the watch somewhere else to have the battery replaced.  I told him not to mention the previous experience with the other shop and just request a battery replacement.  If in fact there was a real problem with the movement, they would likely find it and let him know.  Much to our surprise, the shop called a few hours later to tell him the watch was ready!  When he picked it up, the watch was working perfectly.  All they did was replace the battery.  Incredible. What a relief!  I have no idea what happened at the original shop.  Maybe the new battery was dead.  Who knows.  Regardless, this was great news.  This isn't to say I won't be getting into watch repair at some point in the future, but for now there is no immediate need to dive in head first and the original problem has been resolved.  Thanks again for all of your help and input.

[grsnovi]

9 hours ago, CorumGoldCoin said:

I took grsnovi's advice

You (usually) need to double-check anything that guy tells you!

- Gary