Guess: Battery change, a brave attempt

Well, one day I decided to surprise my wife by changing the batteries in her Guess watches. I am after all trying to learn more about watches, servicing and assembling them. I have the tools, so why not.

So the first step was to remove the back cover. Not a problem, find the tab on the back case and use my newly acquired case back opening knife. Off came the case back.

Then I remembered that one should not work on a watch with the strap in place. So off with the strap. Took the battery out and off to the local friendly watch shop to get a replacement battery. 20 minutes later, with battery in hand I am back to change the battery.

Had a good look at the watch and realised that that was some clouding on the inside of the watch crystal. Water ingression. Time to check the seals as well. Ah, time to take apart the watch and clean it up. How difficult can this be? Remove the crown, drop the movement out and clean the crystal. Yes I can do this. So time to locate the button/ screw that releases the crown/ stem. After 10 minutes, no button, no screw???? Then I remember an article I read sometime ago about crown/ stem removal. Pull out the stem and see what moves on the movement. I did that and found a cam that holds the crown in place. Push the cam and the crown/ stem drops out. Ah, success.

Time to clean the crystal. Now what to use? Here comes the Bergeon No 1208 cloth. Use that and the crystal looks new. Now time to put it together again. Just reverse the process. Yes, my wife would be proud.

Use a blower to clean any dust, lint or whatever else that may have gotten in and put back movement into the case. So far so good. Now for the crown/ stem. Oppsssss not so easy. After 10 minutes (problem with the cam) the crown/ stem goes in. Everything should be ok. Check that the crown is ok. The hands works. Lubricated the seal. Now for the battery change.

Removed the old battery and put in the new one. No need to reset (like some other quartz movement). Turn the watch around and wait 1 minute (no second hand). After a minute, no movement. Argggggg I screwed up. I have damaged the movement. Looks like a visit to the watch shop was due. Sigh!!!!!

At the local watch shop, the service guy had a look at the watch and says, 4 days time. Ok, it can be repaired. Happiness. After 4 days, I collect the watch. The problem? The movement was contaminated with water, so they had to dry out the circuit. Everything fine now.

Did I impress my wife? No. Am I going to stop doing this? No. Did I have fun? Yes. Was I worried? You bet. But everything turn out ok.