Victorinox Excursion - now not pulsing suddenly (just stopped a few days after battery change and restart)

[Confused]

I'm new to this, and trying to restart my late step-father's watch in time for my wedding in 2 weeks time....

I wore it a year ago, it lost a bit of time, I stopped wearing it and when I came back to it recently it had stopped.  I put a new battery in and it did not start.  Following advice on here I put the orange plastic insulation disc in the right place to stop the battery touching metal, still did not start.  

I bought a cheap Biaozhun Microtester from Amazon.  It detected a pulse with the "IC" function but watch did not start.  After spinning the hands using the "Mecanic" function it started, and ran and kept good time for a few days.  I cleaned and reattached the strap and all seemed well.  This was a few days ago.

I noticed today that it has stopped again.  Ive swapped the battery for another new one.  There is no pulse on the "IC" setting.  The hands can be spun.

I don't understand why it ran fine for a few days, but now seems electrically dead.  The case was not opened in between - so no opportunity for me to have damaged the coil.

Watch is 22 years old, but was worn regularly till June last year 

I can't see how to post an image but it is like this - https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSKM-747Aws2waLK2LAJ9-UwkfJSuhVHmA3eAbHIFza9icQTAZcxL5LPFUfPQ&s

The movement says "Swiss" "Ronda" and "One 1 Jewel" - I can't see anything else

Any ideas please ?

[AndyGSi]

If you were still getting a pulse then I'd expect it would just need some lubrication.

Are you sure that the battery you fitted is OK?

If you can post photos of the movement by clicking the choose files...

[Confused]

Thanks for replying

I'm not 100% sure - I've fitted 2, both were (supposedly) Renata from Amazon.  I bought 3, the other one is in another watch which is running fine.  

I'm no longer getting a pulse.  When I first got it going a few days ago the pulse was obvious and strong - but now it is just dead (and I've tried with 2 batteries)

Struggling to get a good photo in electric light ...

[AndyGSi]

The insulating disc isn't positioned correctly.

The tab circled in red should go under the contact circled in yellow.

 

[Confused]

2 hours ago, AndyGSi said:

The insulating disc isn't positioned correctly.

The tab circled in red should go under the contact circled in yellow.

 

Thank you

I've now corrected that - but no change

Would I have done damage putting the battery in with the disc in that location ?

My next step is to dig a multimeter out and check battery voltage...

 

[AndyGSi]

I wouldn't have expected it to cause any damage but could have shorted and flattened the battery.

Is there no battery tester on the Biaozhun Microtester?

[Confused]

6 minutes ago, AndyGSi said:

I wouldn't have expected it to cause any damage but could have shorted and flattened the battery.

Is there no battery tester on the Biaozhun Microtester?

There is - and it is showing low voltage, but has since I got it (a few days ago) so I thought it was just poor quality as it was cheap and as the watch was running with what appeared to be a low voltage battery....  I'm off now to get my good quality test meter from the garage and verify.....  I'm wondering if my assumption (based on 2 batteries measuring the same) that the Microtester was just not calibrated / working well was wrong !  Thank you - I'm off to check now .... 

[Confused]

Well, I've just checked with a decent meter (RS Pro RS-14) and am getting 1.56 and 1.57v DC on both batteries.  The Biaozhun has 2 scales, Lithium 3V and Silver 1.55v and both are reading 0.75 ish on the silver scale (so I think I was right that the Microtester is misreading them)....

So I'm still without a pulse

[AndyGSi]

I presume you can't see any visible twitch of the seconds hand like it's trying to run.

Have you got another watch to confirm your tester is reading a pulse.

[Confused]

2 minutes ago, AndyGSi said:

I presume you can't see any visible twitch of the seconds hand like it's trying to run.

Have you got another watch to confirm your tester is reading a pulse.

no twitching - looks totally dead visually

yep, just put a running Casio MTD-1051 on it and its beeping away once per second in time with the second hand movement

thanks for replying

[Confused]

also can read the pulse on a casio MD-753...

[AndyGSi]

Sorry but it does look like for whatever reason the movement has failed and needs replacing.

You could try measuring the coil resistance as a possible easier fix if that's the problem.

Edit

Just realised that if you're not getting a pulse then the coil is irrelevant.

Edited August 22, 2024 by AndyGSi

[Confused]

15 minutes ago, AndyGSi said:

Sorry but it does look like for whatever reason the movement has failed and needs replacing.

You could try measuring the coil resistance as a possible easier fix if that's the problem.

Edit

Just realised that if you're not getting a pulse then the coil is irrelevant.

I feared as much.....

Oh well, a new skill to learn !  (After I work out how I identify the movement and find a new one ....)

Thanks for your efforts

 

[AndyGSi]

There's a number around the edge, possible the little square in the clip below.

It looks like a 505 movement but then you've got the problem of identifying which variant, sorry it's so complicated.

 

[HectorLooi]

I hate this movement design. The location of the battery retaining spring is an invitation for disaster. One slip of the tweezers and it's goodbye drive coil.

Can you check the coil resistance with your multimeter? It should be around 1.2K.

[watchweasol]

Hi in a case such as this it’s best to replace the movement. You have done all the obvious checks and the result is the same.  If you find the calibre number either 505 or 515 as mentioned it’s in a little box on the plastic rim. Then print out the spec sheet, available fron Cousins or the Ronda site.  Remove your dead movement , remove dial and hands and measure the height of the movement (thickness). Cousins Uk. Stock them  about £10 or 12 .

[AndyGSi]

4 hours ago, watchweasol said:

 measure the height of the movement (thickness)

It's not just the thickness of the movement but the height of the hour
wheel over the dial seat that matters which isn't easy to measure.

[JohnR725]

16 hours ago, Confused said:

Watch is 22 years old, but was worn regularly till June last year 

One of the minor problems of mechanical watches including quartz watches is they need to be serviced occasionally and squirting it With oil here and there is not servicing.

13 hours ago, Confused said:

Would I have done damage putting the battery in with the disc in that location ?

The purpose the tab in that location is to keep the contact from shorting to the main plate when the battery is in. If you would assure that the battery out the watch would not run at all.

Then in the midst of all of this if you managed to scratch the quail you're not going to pick up the impulses because typically these machines pick up the magnetic field off of the coil which would not produce a magnetic field if somebody scratches it for instance. Also if your measuring resistance you want to be very very careful to stay away from the wires which are practically invisible because if you just touch them with your probe you will probably break them

that's why it's usually best to measure the coil resistance with the circuit removed C could be farther away from the coil wires

Then here is an image of where the model number can be found. Notice even in the image it's hard to see C might have to angle the light correctly to get the right reflection.

 

 

[CYCLOPS]

you said it was running and stopping, sounds like cleaning/servicing/replacement, if not pulsing anymore you may have hit/touched/damaged the coil as many do when pushing/sliding the battery holding spring to change said battery.....check