Watches have become our reliable tool in modern-day life, no matter it's for showing time, matching outfits, showing our financial status, tracking our health or recording our sports activities.
If your watch is not moving, or it's fast or slow than normal, don't worry.
First, you need to identify the type of your watch. There are 3 main types of watches - quartz, mechanical and smartwatch.
How to identify the type of your watch?
Identifying a smartwatch is easy, it's just like a phone, and has a digital display. It has a lot of functions, like heart rate monitoring, and sports mode... and it usually comes with a sensor.
To identify quartz watches and mechanical watches, you can observe the second hand of the watch. If it's jumping every second, it's a quartz watch. If it's sweeping smoothly, it's a mechanical watch.
If it's not moving, you can't identify it through the second hand, you can look at the back case of the watch. If it has a see-through glass black case, you can see the parts of the movement, then it's a mechanical watch. But if it's totally closed and you cannot see anything from the back, it can be a quartz watch or mechanical watch.
Then, you need to look at the words written on the dial and back case of the watch. If it's written "AUTOMATIC" or "XX JEWELS", then it's a mechanical watch. Or you can also find the movement number and search it on Google to know if it's quartz or mechanical movement.
After you identify the type of watch, then we can talk about the next part:
What is the problem with each watch and how to fix that?
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Quartz Watch
Usually, if a quartz watch is not moving, it runs out of battery. So, you just need to replace a new battery.
After replacing a new battery, if the watch is moving too fast, it means it's magnetized, it requires a demagnetization. If it's running too slow, it means the oil in the movement is not enough, so it requires a maintenance service.
If it's still not moving after replacing a new battery, then the best way is to replace a new quartz movement. Or open up the whole movement and change the broken part of the movement. It depends on which method is cheaper because disassembling the watch movement requires a lot of time and skills.
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Mechanical Watch
One of Patek Philippe's company slogans is "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation."
It shows the reliability of a good mechanical watch. No matter how broken it's, it can still be repaired.
If it's running too slow or fast, usually it means it requires a maintenance service, disassemble the whole movement, clean every part, reassemble it, and put some new oil. If there are any broken parts, it needs to be replaced.
If you cannot wind your automatic watch, it means the mainspring is broken. It needs to be replaced too.
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Smartwatch
Smartwatch is just like a smartphone, but less likely able to be repaired.
If it's not functioning, then you need to charge it first. If it cannot be charged or the battery is drained too fast, it's the battery problem.
You need to check the warranty period of your smartwatch. If it's still under warranty, claim the warranty as soon as possible. The service centre will replace a new unit for you.
If the warranty period is expired, then it depends on the service centre's policy. Some will offer to repair at a price, some will offer to exchange for a new model at a discount price.
Can you find any smartwatch repair shop? It's super hard to find one because only the service centre has spare parts, so other shops/technicians can hardly find new parts to replace.
If you have any watch that you want to repair, you can search the service centre or watch repair shop near you on Google.
If you live near Selangor, Malaysia, you can also come to our watch shop to repair your watch. You can contact us here.