Greetings, I have inherited a 1983 Omega with a quartz 1420 movement. When I received it the battery was dead. Proceeded to a new battery and the watch ticked fine for about a minute then started jumping in four second increments. Thought the new battery was going dead so bought and installed a new battery. Same deal. Watch is skipping every four seconds. Keeping time fine. Thoughts? Thanks, Rad
The skipping every 4 seconds is the EOL - End Of Life indicator, indicating that the battery is below a certain voltage - typically in the 1.30 volts area. The first thing to check is the battery contacts inside the watch to make sure they are clean - if you see dirt of corrosion there, try cleaning the contacts. The second thing is go buy a new battery, but from a different place than you bought the other 2. Buying batteries that are already 1/2 dead can be a problem if the store you went to does not turn them around very fast. After I have had batteries here for a certain amount of time, they get checked before being put into a watch, and if they are not still 100%, they get recycled. If you have a small multimeter and can check the battery voltage, that is a good idea - should be 1.55 volts. If all this fails, then time for service. Cheers, Al