Reliable sources for replacement battery/capacitors for Seiko kinetic's

[Doobs]

So,

I've been snagging Seiko kinetics off the 'bay on the cheap which usually need a battery/capacitor replacement.

Typically I've bought them from Amazon, and yea verily that has already bitten me.

An Amazon procured battery that I put in a watch I bought about 18 months ago is already dead. Showing classic signs of being past it's useful life. 

Best guess is the battery/capacitor was sitting on a shelf for who knows how long.

Any thoughts on sources for these things that I would have some sort of assurance they weren't older than the hills?

Thanks in advance,

Edited February 5, 2024 by Doobs

[rehajm]

I used watchmaterial.com for two of them. both gave me the max reading on the seconds hand test but they’ve only been running a few months…

[spectre6000]

I've sourced and replaced one for a friend, but I'm not a quartz guy. No idea how long it will last. It honestly didn't even occur to me that the supplier's stock might be old enough to reduce service life. It was genuine Seiko, and my mechanically oriented brain stopped there.

[JohnR725]

One of the problems you're running into for the kinetics are The capacitor idea didn't work. Then the upgraded and replaced them with lithium batteries. They work much better they changed slightly how the watch works and lithium batteries have problems. he problem with lithium batteries are they do not like to be discharged to close to 0 V then their likelihood of recharging again becomes problematic. The problem with using them for watch batteries is eventually will discharge all by themselves and kinetic technology is relatively old so conceivably are purchasing old batteries.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

This place has them, cheaper than I saw on ebay and they appear to be a legitimate supplier:

https://maddisonsofdurham.co.uk/watch-parts/capacitors/seiko-batteries-capacitors/seiko-capacitor-kinetic-30235mz-tc920s-5m42-5m22-5m23-battery-3023-5mz-3023-5my/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCASmviGb9G2ZGW3CtcUZBkNgglcgfPKoqnpOzrzruiPtm69f6DX7UGhoCKl4QAvD_BwE

There is also a note at the bottom of the page about them being a newer type, with a slightly different part number.

 

[xyzzy]

Cousins has them at pretty good prices, but I haven't tried shipping them to the US yet.  There's a note about shipping restrictions.

Battery I recently bought from ebay wasn't good.  I constructed a charging circuit from a bench supply and tested it that way.  Doesn't hold a charge just sitting on a mat for a few days.  Takes the movement entirely out of the picture.

In the watch, it went from dead to max reading on the seconds hand in a couple dozen shakes.  Should take a few hundred shakes to charge that much.  And then it only runs for a few hours at most.  I measured the movement circuit's power consumption and it's right where it should be according to the Seiko spec sheet.

I've also read these batteries are very sensitive to being shorted.  The way the contacts poke out, it would be very easy to do.  So maybe I shorted it.

Edited March 20, 2024 by xyzzy