Having
invested in excess of £7 in a new watch battery last week, I was rather annoyed
when my watch stopped again after only one day. I think it is now an
ex-watch, possibly killed by the strong magnetic clasp on my
bracelet. I'm not going to stop wearing the bracelet and I only
wear a watch for work, so I decided to buy a cheap replacement from
Boyes's. {I love this
shop. For the benefit of non-northern readers, it's a mini department
store, where you can buy pretty much anything.}
Picture © Copyright John S Turner and licensed for reuse under this CreativeCommons Licence
I found a
rather attractive watch for just £5, only to discover when I got it home that
that it didn't work. I assumed that it had been in the shop so long that
the battery had gone flat, but I certainly wasn't prepared to pay out another
£7 to find out. I already had a brand new battery in my old watch - how
hard could it be to swap it into the new one?
I could see
the groove where I had to lever the back off, but couldn't get to it without
first removing the strap. Those little posts are quite hard to find when
they spring off onto the bathroom floor. {The only room in my house with a decent light.} The back
resisted all attempts to move it using, in turn, a 1p coin, a steak knife, a
screwdriver and a pair of scissors. What on Earth do watch-menders
use? Ah, of course... eyebrow tweezers. This same implement
enabled me to easily remove the back of my old watch as well, and swap the
batteries. Wonderful! This was going to be easy after all!
After
checking that my new watch was working, I tried to replace the back. As
soon as one side clicked into place, the opposite side popped out! I held
it in both hands and applied pressure as evenly as I could... neither side went
in. I put it on the counter and leant my whole weight on it...
still no luck. It couldn't be that difficult, what do watch-menders
use? Ah, of course... a rolling pin. Held vertically, the
round end of my rolling pin exactly covered the round back of the watch, and
gentle pressure did the trick. A bit
more poking with the tweezers and I managed to get the strap back on.
Admittedly it's the wrong way round now, but I can live with that. The
holes that the little posts go into didn't appear to be very deep, but it seems
to be holding. At the moment.
The
following day I proudly wore my new watch to work. As I took my gloves
off, the front cover dropped out. I have stuck it back with sellotape,
until I can find some glue. At least it should stop the strap falling
off.
