Quartz Tester?

[Ashnz]

Hello to all,

My name is Ash (from NZ). Im a watch enthusiast and trying to learn more about Horology.

I have been picking odd watch repair jobs here and there and self-learning.

Firstly, thanks a lot to Mark Lovick for uploading fantastic videos on youtube that are so simple to follow. Keep up the great work

Question - is there a way to diagnose quartz watch circuit using those test probes (that have an LED inbuilt) or perhaps using a multi-meter? For some watch movements such as Myota 2035, it makes sense to replace the whole movement. In other cases, it make sense to repair it (if possible).

Is there a way to narrow down the faults in quartz watch? For instance, if a watch is gaining/loosing time, it could be the quartz crystal out of freq etc. how can it be scanned appropriately?

Im not sure if its even possible or not. Hopefully I could get some help here.

Thanks a lot in advance

Ash

[WillFly]

A friend of mine who's an amateur, but very competent, repairer, has a machine on which he places the watch - minus battery. When he presses a button, the magnetic mechanism inside the machine kicks in and turns the watch movement and hands at high speed. If the hands and movement don't whizz round, he considers the quartz movement to be probably beyond repair - broken circuit board, faulty coil, etc. If the movement does run on the machine, then it may well be repairable.

 

Apologies if you know this already - I speak as an observer - and apologies for not knowing what the machine's called!

 

Oh - and a warm welcome to the forum!

Edited February 20, 2014 by WillFly

[autowind]

Hello Ash,

                 Welcome to the forum,  which seems to be growing very rapidly, by the way.  I'm afraid I do not know the answer to your question, but I think a good place to start would be to find out the name of the quartz tester Will mentions above.  There are members at all skill levels on the forum and no doubt someone will have more advice for you.

[Craig]

I thought that if it's any other thing than the coil it's u/s. But isn't there something about a coil being separate from the board that changes the games a little. Like the boy's have said the name of that device would be handy and knowledge from the man would be good. There are many levels of skill on the forum so good luck with it and Wecome to the forum btw. ;)

[SeikoWatch]

Welcome to the forum ash.. yes there are so many ways to diagnose a quartz Watch ....

 

 

 

to name it. this is a video but there are many others

[Mark]

Yes you will need a multimeter and access to the data-sheet for the movement will be a help.

 

Israel's tool looks really good, but I have not got one. 

 

Other meter's made by Witschi are extremely expensive but are industry standard, they rarely come up on eBay but you could get a bargain from time to time.

[Ashnz]

A friend of mine who's an amateur, but very competent, repairer, has a machine on which he places the watch - minus battery. When he presses a button, the magnetic mechanism inside the machine kicks in and turns the watch movement and hands at high speed. If the hands and movement don't whizz round, he considers the quartz movement to be probably beyond repair - broken circuit board, faulty coil, etc. If the movement does run on the machine, then it may well be repairable.

 

Apologies if you know this already - I speak as an observer - and apologies for not knowing what the machine's called!

 

Oh - and a warm welcome to the forum!

hi WillFly,

 

thanks a lot for your comment. that machine is called 'demagnetizer'. if the movement runs freely on magnetizer, that generally means gear train is fine. it also means the fault lies either in coil or circuit. i do have one of those already. its a cheap chinese one but does the trick :)

 

I was more keen on learning how to fix the circuit, if possible. I have succesfully fixed few coils. they are not too bad. Le arsi has got a good video on it

 

 

Cheers for your help :)

 

Ash

[Ashnz]

thanks a lot to Autowind, Craig, SeikoWatch & Mark Lovick for their comments.

 

i have been thinking of building something similar to what LeArsi shows on youtube. looks like a good nifty project :)

 

Most of all, really appreciate the wearm welcome i have received on this forum so far. Glad to be a part of it.

 

i have got one more queestion re Watch crystal glass. I will make a seperate thread for it.

 

Regards

 

Ash NZ

[Mark]

that machine is called 'demagnetizer'. if the movement runs freely on magnetizer, that generally means gear train is fine. it also means the fault lies either in coil or circuit. i do have one of those already. its a cheap chinese one but does the trick :)

 

Not sure I recommend a de-magnetiser. I know it pushes the wheels around but my fear is it would potentially affect the stepping motor. I have no evidence of this - it's just that I can be a cautious bugger :)

 

The Etic Polytest and Omnitest both have that function plus they generate a signal to indicate if power is going through the circuit.

 

 

They are great machines, and come in very handy - I have had them for years.

 

Sadly they are no longer being manufactured but I do understand there are some alternatives out there.

 

 

I have fixed a few coils in the past but circuits are not my thing, if I feel one is damaged I would rather replace it if I can ;)

[bobm12]

Hi Ash welcome to the forum. I'm curious too about your question so please keep us posted of any progress...and if you build a tester I might be interested! Quartz is not my line of expertise ( and barely the others either, I'm a beginner).

[bobm12]

Dear fellow members,

 

I currently own the pictured tester, nevertheless, I'd like to do a more in depth testing on individual circuits in the watch, like component resistance/impedance, continuity, etc. This one is supposed to do some but is not a full meter.

 

 

 

Do you have a suggestion of what would be a good amp/ohmmeter and/or full tester for in depth work on digital watches? Thank you in advance,

 

Bob

[clockboy]

In my humble opinion most quartz movements are not worth the time & effort to repair. If it don,t run with a new battery just replace the movement.

Edited December 1, 2014 by clockboy

[bobm12]

Thank you clockboy, I do too, but regretfully this movement I will be tackling is US$100! I'm talking about the ETA 251.272 and the next in line in my workbench is not much better, ETA 251.471, same price! If all is well, it will be very rewarding to have them going again without a transplant!

[clockboy]

Good point. Not all Quartz movements are cheap & cheerful but most are. The ETA  251,s  are nice and made of better quality.

[jnash]

are there any good books on this, new to quartz, i saw a too on ebay, theres a few actually that seem cheap.

[bobm12]

I,ll be very re receptive to that too! I,m just going by the tech data on those movements!

[mwilkes]

I recently serviced an Omega DeVille quartz watch...

 

Held my nose while I opened the case, but lo and behold the movement was actually a lovely lovely thing. Thirteen jewels and the bare minimum of plastic.... i'll dig out a pic...

 

Actually Dave the Watch Guy has a teardown of exactly the same watch:

 

http://watchguy.co.uk/service-omega-ladies-deville-calibre-1471-quartz/

Edited December 3, 2014 by mwilkes

[bobm12]

Thank you mwilkes,

 

Excellent link. I appreciate it!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Lawson]

When replacing a battery in a Quartz Movement I check the consumption and rate.  This is a good indication of the health of the movement.

 

Consumptions:

 

Basic 2 Hand >900nA

Basic 3 Hand >1.5uA

3 Hand with Complication >2.0uA

Chronograph >2.8uA

 

Rate should be very low ... like +0.15 sec/day

 

If I get high consumption readings, the movement needs a strip and clean.

 

If I get no readings, I check the coil for damage or corrosion ... if it's good, then I isolate and check the Quartz is oscillating, and then isolate and check the IC.  Either of these two are the issue, then you need to replace the circuit ... because most manufactures won't sell you a crystal, or coil these days, which stinks!!

 

The machine I use is the Witschi Q1.

[bobm12]

Thank you Lawson,

 

Very clear instructions. Do you have a suggestion for a good volt-amp meter appropriate for this? I don't think I'll get into a witschi right now although I'm already drooling at the sight of it. :)

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[emso]

When replacing a battery in a Quartz Movement I check the consumption and rate. This is a good indication of the health of the movement.

Consumptions:

Basic 2 Hand >900nA

Basic 3 Hand >1.5uA

3 Hand with Complication >2.0uA

Chronograph >2.8uA

Rate should be very low ... like +0.15 sec/day

If I get high consumption readings, the movement needs a strip and clean.

If I get no readings, I check the coil for damage or corrosion ... if it's good, then I isolate and check the Quartz is oscillating, and then isolate and check the IC. Either of these two are the issue, then you need to replace the circuit ... because most manufactures won't sell you a crystal, or coil these days, which stinks!!

The machine I use is the Witschi Q1.

I believe you made mistake,there are maximum values for every movement provided in the technical document of the manufacturer of the movement, as it is written in your post now it seems that there are minimum values, whuch is not correct.

Besides the values of power consupmtion there are two values whiich should be checked also:

Lowest working limit(voltage on which movement stops working)

Rate i dont need to explain this

br

emso

p.s sent from my sh**y phone, so sorry for typing mistakes

[Lawson]

emso, on 06 Dec 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

I believe you made mistake,there are maximum values for every movement provided in the technical document of the manufacturer of the movement, as it is written in your post now it seems that there are minimum values, whuch is not correct.

 

ROFL! :D  Sorry I always get those stupid symbols back-the-front ... They are max values peeps, and I'm an idiot :p

 

emso, on 06 Dec 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

Besides the values of power consupmtion there are two values whiich should be checked also:

Lowest working limit(voltage on which movement stops working)

 

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the lowest working limit. 

To explain, this is when you connect probes to the battery terminals, sent a set voltage to the watch, and note if it's still running.  Starting at 1.5V and dropping down from there (you can set these voltages on the tester).  A good movement should still be ticking at 1.3V, and at this point, or below, should be going into it's "Low Battery Warning" mode of ticking off 2 seconds at a time.  Then lower the voltage more until the watch stops, and note down that voltage.

[Lawson]

Thank you Lawson,

 

Very clear instructions. Do you have a suggestion for a good volt-amp meter appropriate for this? I don't think I'll get into a witschi right now although I'm already drooling at the sight of it. :)

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

 

Sorry mate, I don't know of one.  I work on Quartz all day at work, so I only do mechanicals at home.  And the cost of these testers is crazy expensive!

 

I have been told, and seen, that cheaper one have trouble testing some of the Japanese Movements, so if you are serious about buying a tester make sure you do your homework that it covers all the bases.

[bobm12]

Thank you Lawson, glad you mention the problem. I'll check on compatibilities if I go the cheapo way...I may not after all...

[atimegoneby]

Hi all,

 

I just wondered if anyone has used one of these before, know if they're any good ?

 

Merci   Phil.

 

 

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