Re-awakening several 80's and 90's Timex Watches

[barnfind]

Back the day, I generally kept several Timex watches that I wore at work, or wore while outdoors.

Two are Indigo models, one a titanium model, and one multi dial World Watch.

Back when cell phones became the norm, I stopped wearing a watch, so I pulled the batteries out of them all and put them back in their original box and put them away in a dresser drawer.

I dug them out the other day and put fresh batteries on them all. Only one would run, the largest Indigo model with a massive face.

I put each one under a magnification lense, and I see no corrosion, and the batteries weren't left in to leak, but only one of them will run, and that one has now killed its new battery in about 6 hours.

What goes wrong with this kind of watch when it sits? They were in cases, and clean. Most look brand new as no one got worn for very long.

Any ideas?

[Marc]

3 hours ago, barnfind said:

Any ideas?

Dry lubricant.

20 or 30 years sitting in a drawer without anything moving and the lubrication is likely to have gone a bit gummy, which is why the one that does run is draining the battery so quickly, and the others won't run at all.

One little trick that you could try is to allow the watches to warm up a little on a radiator or perhaps with a hair dryer. Don't cook them, just get them warm to the touch. With any luck the warmth may loosen up the gummy oils a little and allow things to start to move. You could also try a line release tool to spin the movement up which may get things going again.

[watchweasol]

Hi another trick to loosen the gunge is put a little drop of benzine or white spirit on the pivots and spin up on a line release.  The movement will only be temporarily work an will need a clean at some point.

[BillM]

What is a “line release” ? 

[watchweasol]

Hi a line release is basically a demagnetiser that creates a magnetic field and once you introduce the watch to the field the rotor spins turning the hands. Purpose built  “ quartz watch “ testers have the facility. EBay around £30 .

[Neverenoughwatches]

As marc and ww have stated, just like mechanical watches quartz analog battery watches with a dial face and hands also have a mechanical side that needs periodic maintenance that includes servicing, repair and replacement.  Wise of you to remove the batteries which has saved you some extra misery.  So the line release is a little gadget that operates a small magnet from inside of it. The watch is placed on the device's surface and after a button activation a motor spins the magnet that acts upon the magnetic rotor inside the watch. The rotor is meshed to the mechanical side of the watch hence the gearing up to and including the hands spin to free things up. The old lubrication is still old lubrication and will almost certainly solidify again at some point. Warming up the movement is a good idea and will help the line release to do its job.

[barnfind]

I tried the heat trick, it got all but the two newest watches working, and each has been working fine since. The one that kills batteries takes out the 1025/3v battery in about 6 hrs, but I seem to recall it always was a bit hard on batteries, maybe lasting only a month or so when new.

Both of the watches left are Indiglo models. The one that won't run at all is the newest of them, the original receipt is dated 1/3/2000 from Sears. I probably wore that watch for three or four months tops, then it got put away when I started to carry a cell phone full time.
I probably hadn't planned for them to sit forever and simply removed the batteries to cut wear and tear on them just sitting figuring that they'd likely run a few years before the batteries gave out. (A few of the batteries were still holding voltage, and were put away with them in small plastic bags. A few were put away with new batteries in packages I kept around for spares, mostly from Radio Shack at the time. None of those still show any sign of power).

The one that's not running is the one that sat the least amount of time, and the one I most expected to still work.
None are worth much but they were at one time at least reliable.
I wanted to start wearing one again as I tend not to carry my new cell phone on me all the time these days, its just too bulky to carry, so I was sort of looking to go back to wearing a watch.