Wearing a wrist watch is something nearly everyone does, and even though there are different pros and cons with each type of watch you buy, there is still one problem that seems to occur with all of them at least occasionally: the watch stops working. If you’ve been told that the watch would work as long as your wrist is moving, having a watch that stops suddenly can be a little frustrating.
Nevertheless, once you know what to look for when this happens to you, you can move a little closer to doing something about it. Below are five of the main reasons why your wrist watch will sometimes stop working.
1. Dead Battery
This is the most common reason for a wrist watch that stops working suddenly, but it’s still amazing how many people forget that this is a possibility. Society is so used to things working by solar power or without a battery that they sometimes overlook something this simple. And while batteries are high-tech like never before, this doesn’t mean that they will last forever.
In fact, the average watch battery lasts for about two years, so when your wrist watch stops, all you have to do is ask yourself how long it has been since you changed the battery. If it’s been anywhere close to two years, it’s very likely that your watch battery is dead.
2. Physical Damage
Also called impact damage, this can happen when you drop your watch frequently or even if you use a lot of repetitive motions during the day. Sometimes items on the inside of the watch become loose or broken, and you won’t know this for sure until you take it to a service technician. Often, a technician can repair the watch at that particular location. Other times, the watch may have to be sent off to the manufacturer to get repaired. In either case, that person will be able to tell you for sure what the problem is and recommend the next course of action.
3. Issue with the Manufacturer
Regardless of the brand of watch you have or the reputation of the manufacturer, accidents do happen. You could merely have a shoddy watch that just wasn’t made right in the first place. In fact, companies offer warranties on their watches for this very reason. Watches have a lot of tiny gears and delicate pieces on the inside, and you may have just gotten a bad watch in the beginning.
If you registered your watch with the manufacturer, you should be able to get it repaired or replaced for free. Taking it to a service technician is the first step to take because it’s the only way to know for sure what the problem is.
4. Water Damage
When you buy a watch, the manufacturer will tell you whether it’s water-resistant or waterproof, and they should recommend what to do and what not to do to keep the watch safe from water damage. If it’s 100% waterproof, you can usually swim or take a shower while wearing it. If it’s water-resistant, the manufacturer will let you know how much water it can take and still work properly. Water damage can ruin a good watch, so if the manufacturer tells you to take the watch off before you go swimming, this is exactly what you should do.
They also may mention “IP” ratings, and each number will tell you how much water you can expose the watch to safely. Depending on how much water gets inside of the watch, it can do a lot of damage, which is why you need to heed the manufacturer’s warnings about water and your watch.
5. High Electrical Currents
Everyone has electricity in their body, but the amount of electricity varies from one person to the next. For people who never seem to have success wearing watches before they give out on the wearer, the amount of electrical currents in their bodies might just be the problem. This isn’t a common problem, of course, but it does happen.
If you have purchased watch after watch and they stop working after wearing them a very short period of time, this could very well be the culprit. The same thing can happen if you’ve ever been directly exposed to electricity, and it happens because the electricity affects the battery so that your watch doesn’t work anymore.
Conclusion
A wrist watch that stops suddenly can be very inconvenient, but once you realize that there are only a handful of reasons why this happens, it’s a little easier not to get frustrated. If you’ve replaced the battery and your watch still doesn’t work, don’t give up just yet. There are several reasons why your watch has stopped working, and it shouldn’t take long for you to figure out which of them applies to you, which means that you can do something about it quickly.
