Maurice Lacroix quartz watch won’t restart after battery change

[MikeFloutier]

Hi, I’m totally new to the forum and watch repair.

My wife’s Maurice LaCroix quartz watch had stopped and she went to get the battery changed. After new battery inserted it wouldn’t restart.

It’s around 20 years old and has never been serviced. I think it’s a 956.112 movement. Will try to add some pics.

I’ve done the following:

1. Fitted new battery - showing 1.58v

2. Checked 1.58v was present around the motherboard, it was.

3. Checked that the mechanical side of things moved ok using a small magnet…all ok but I’m guessing it may have been more powerful than the internal coil magnetism…

4. Checked the coil for continuity, was around 100 ohms, which I’m guessing is ok; certainly not open circuit.

At this stage I’m stuck, being a total newbie, and wondered if you could suggest how I should proceed.

Kind regards, Mike 

[AndyGSi]

6 minutes ago, MikeFloutier said:

4. Checked the coil for continuity, was around 100 ohms, which I’m guessing is ok; certainly not open circuit.

Coil resistance should be 1.7k to 2.1k

[rjenkinsgb]

Some quartz movements have a reset or clear / AC  pad, but I cannot find any mention of it for that one.

Try taking the battery out again and leave the watch for 15 minutes for any residual charge to dissipate, then re-fit the battery?

Also try setting the watch after fitting the battery.

(I'm guessing that with the battery in and the coil connected, coil resistance readings could be misleading due to the drive circuitry in the IC?)

 

[MikeFloutier]

Ok, thanks guys, sorry for my slow reply, to be honest I realised that I didn’t understand just how to use the multimeter; eg. What is the “range” feature, and how to read the result on the screen.

To start with, why do all the range numbers start with a “2”?

I used the “200” range setting to get my 100 ohm reading; ie the screen said 100. I’ve now read stuff about moving the decimal point to the right different amounts when using different range settings but I still confused.

Next, because I’m measuring the coil “in circuit”, albeit battery removed, I can now see (I think) that, even if the coil was broken (open circuit), the meter might still show a reading relating to the rest of the circuitry.

I’m not sure what to do next, any suggestions?

Many thanks for responding?

Kind regards, Mike 

[AndyGSi]

What type of meter are you using as most digital ones these days have an auto range.

Coil resistance should be measured on pads marked 4 below.

[MikeFloutier]

Many thanks Andy, that’s good to know, that’s where I measured.

Anyway we’ve now got a great local repairer to change the movement for us. It’s a 30 year old watch and the cost is minimal compared to the value of the watch.

 

Thanks so much for all your contributions and welcomes!

Kind regards, Mike 

[CYCLOPS]

I wish you had a Cyclonic spinner, it spins the gear train, some of these movements have a feature to do the same using tweezers, some say they can do the same with a demagnetizer but I have not tried or recommend that, if the watch sat for some time before the cell/battery was replaced then it could just be hardened/old oil holding the wheels from moving, I wish you could have changed the battery yourself before taking it somewhere, we do not know if the old battery was bad and other things.....