WARNING! BORING THREAD.
Those of you with something, (could be virtually anything) better to do, look away now.
Almost 20 years ago, I saw this watch in a shop window.
| Click to see full-size image. |
It cost £300, which was an astounding price for me to pay but the specs just blew me away.
It's made from super tough titanium so it's very strong but incredibly light.
It has a sapphire crystal glass that doesn't scratch.
It has a black face with big, easy to read contrasting white numerals which glow on the dark.
It's waterproof to 200 meters.
It is solar powered so never needs a battery.
Now the blurb said it has a rechargeable capacitor that is good for ~ 15/20 years so I thought, 15 years, that's good enough for me.
So I bought it, put it on my wrist, and there it has stayed, day and night, maintenance free for almost 20 years.
Then it stopped.
I was devastated. I sent it back to Citizen to have it serviced but they said it was too old an they no longer carried the parts. I spoke to a friendly technician and he told me that Citizen stock parts for discontinued models for many years but the 2011 tsunami in Japan washed their storage facility away and they lost a lot of stuff.
He went on to tell me that Citizen were bound by company policy to only fit original parts, but that a good watchmaker would be able to fit an aftermarket capacitor.
The trouble was, my watch has a monocoque case (cut from a single block with no back opening) and I couldn't find anyone to touch it.
| Click to see full-size image. |
While I was searching online I discovered that Citizen had brought out a replacement for my watch and it was almost identical. On the plus side it was now waterproof to 300 meters, but on the minus side it had a Royal Marine Commandos logo on the dial.
| Click to see full-size image. |
The other minus was it was priced at ~£360 with the titanium bracelet.
Still, my 20 year old model is making more than its original price, (sometimes double) on eBay so the RMC one should be a good investment.
I dithered for a while before deciding to buy it and then managed to snag the very last one in a half price sale. Woo!
Then, Ironically, I managed to find someone who could fit a capacitor into my old watch for the princely sum of £25. It's all fixed now and as good as new.
I could easily sell the RMC one for a profit but I'm going to keep it because even this 'new' model is becoming scarce.
Now. To my question.
When I store the new watch, should I
A- keep it in the dark so that after 6 months ish the capacitor goes flat and the watch stops?
B- keep it in the open so that the ambient light tops up the capacitor but eats into its admittedly long life span?
C- pull the crown out do that the watch hands stop but may leave the mechanism exposed to dust and moisture?
I would also be interested to know about distribution and storage of Eco Drive watches after manufacture. For instance, has a 2010 model watch sold in 2017 been lying around in a shop for 7 years?
Even with all the collected wisdom of the internet at my disposal, I can't seem to find the answers to these questions.
PS- I did warn you that this post was boring.
Author