CHANGE DATE, DAY AND TIME ON WATCHES
IS YOUR DAY, DATE OR LANGUAGE SET WRONG ON YOUR WATCH?
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Everyday someone brings in their watch because their watch is set wrong.
People get frustrated and don’t know how to change it.
“It’s always off!”
Either the date changes at noon instead of midnight, or the day is off, or the language is in Spanish (like in the picture, Lun – short for Lunes, is Spanish for Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are: Martes, Miercoles, Jueves, Viernes, Sabado and Domingo. So if you see those, you’re seeing Spanish.)
Don’t fret…
It’s easier to fix than you think.
The good thing is, changing the date and setting the day is a breeze. All it takes is a couple of pulls and a couple of twists and you’ll be good to go.
It’s all in the stem:
The stem of your watch is that little ridged knob on the side of your watch face. If you pull that stem out all the way, you can spin it and it will spin the minute hands and hour hands so that you can set the time on your watch. Most people already know this…
So if you know that much, you’re on the right track.
The funny thing is:
You pulled too much.
You see, on watches that have a day and a date, the stem has a dual purpose. It controls all the settings.
So to change the day and date of your watch, pull the stem out slowly…
(Note that if you have a waterproof watch, you’ll need to unscrew the stem counter-clockwise first, which is towards you, until it unlocks, then you can pull the stem out as described to change the day, date.)
One Snap Two:
This is what you need to do… Pull the stem out slowly and listen for the snap (the stem stops on the first notch). If you pull the stem out all the way, it snaps twice and ends up on the second notch (see picture below). That second notch is where the stem needs to be to set the time (but you already knew that).
The first notch is the secret!
The key to setting the day and date is the first notch, or first snap.
In the first notch position, you’ll see that if you spin the crown one way, it will change the day. Spin it in the opposite direction and it changes the date.
English or Spanish?
Do keep in mind that you may have to spin the day and date a couple of rotations because it most likely will alternate between English and Spanish. Just pick the correct language for you and it’s done. When the day and date are set, push the stem in all the way and enjoy your watch.
If you still have the problem with your watch changing dates at noon instead of midnight, that just means you’re on the wrong 12 hour cycle (it’s set for twelve at night instead of twelve at noon). All you need to do is pull the stem all the way out, (second notch) and spin the minute and hour hands ahead 12 hours. If it’s twelve o’clock, spin it ahead until it’s twelve o’clock again. Doing that will put the watch on the correct 12 hour cycle.
Granted, you may have to reset your day and date again since you just advanced, but at least you’ll be in the correct time zone now.
Cheers! :)
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Diddent help at all
Many thanks for first class help, my sekonda watch now tells the correct time and date matches the day yippie one happy chappie pity the shop where I bought it could not set it correct in the first place lol regards Charlie
THANK YOU! it helped and only took me 2 seconds to do it plus helpful hints!
Thanks a lot… Really helpful… My wrist watch is up-to-date now… :)
That was great advice. I now have a watch with the correct date to match the day.
Is it normal to see the day displayed in the wrong language for about 20 min after midnight?
Hi Michael. Good question. I have seen this happen on plenty of different watches and brands (I see it when I’m setting the time after a battery change), so it must just be the way that the gears are joined together and rotate around in incriments, one after another. I wouldn’t worry about it much, not a lot of people are up at midnight to actually see it anyway. :) -Richard
Thanks Richard,
That was my logical assumption too, but this is my first watch featuring more than a date display and I was hoping to get an experienced response. If other brands have been observed with lag before the correct language rolls over, then that’s likely the case with my Seiko.
I have my father’s Citizen mechanical automatic watch but there is only one notch on the winder which advances the hands and changes day & date after passing midnight. Good, Now how do I change the day or date separately ?
Thanks
Thanks very much, you have of great help to me. It was pounding my head for the past 3 days.
Hiya. I have a Chisel men’s watch which has separate dials for day and hour. Plus the main analogue face for time. I can change the date and hour just fine. But I cannot find a way to set the day. If you need me to I can send a picture of the watch face itself. Please help :-)
Hi Scott. Pull crown out to the first position to change the date. You may have a second position for the day, but usually it’s on the same level as the date. You may have to experiment with the watch. It may have a second position, or it could spin the opposite way. Some watches you can only advance the date with the crown. And then to adjust the day you have to spin the hour hands around and around until it gets to the correct day. Good luck, -Richard
my watch has 3 small dials, day, date and 24 hour time. everything seems to work but the day. I’ve been trying to fix the day, but nothing seems to be working. I’ve tried to turn the hour round and round or tried to find another position but there wasn’t any. Today is a Tuesday but it was showing wednesday, and after fiddling around with it for ages, it’s now stuck in the middle of wednesday and thursday, and winding it the opposite way of date-changing on the first position is not working.
Hi Nathan. The stem could be broken, catching, or the instructions are different for that particular watch. Check the booklet that came with it, or go to the company’s website and see if they have a PDF you can download. And if all else fails, take it to a jewelry store and see if they can figure it out. :) -Richard
my Seiko SRP277K changed it’s date “1-31” earlier as 11:35pm, it is OK or it is normal in that way? please help on this folks.. thanks
Hi Rey. Some watches do change within an hour of midnight. Usually it’s after midnight, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see some that changed before. If it changes at that time every night, it’s probably normal. Otherwise, you could send it back to Seiko to have it adjusted. You can contact them, email, or send watches to Seiko here: Seiko Service Center.
Thanks, the timex site was slightly helpful, but the unscrewing it counter clockwise was the ticket!
Thanks!
This worked perfect for an August Steiner watch. I had tried pulling out a little, but apparently didn’t try to rotate enough.
Hi, great article. My rotary Windsor is stuck on LUN and just keeps it going round and round .doesn’t change from lun no mater how many times I turn the screw.thanks. Paul.
So like my day of the weak of the watch is not on track
How to solve?
Great article, it worked!
For people that didn’t work, don’t wait for a click, just go exactly halfway between the knob and the pulled knob.
If your watch doesn’t change date backwards, just go forward a month (this is what I did.)
I hope this helped you!
I bought a Curren watch for the accurate timekeeping and mainly for the day of the week . The date is there after your help but I kept forgetting the Day of the week . That`s old age creeping up on me .
I am tryi.ng to change my amitron watch from spsnish to english. HOW DO I DO IT?
How to correct date on a 30 day month
Hi thanks so much for your detailed information it was a breeze to change date but struggled with month changed time to English from Spanish and it worked on a sekonda watch excellent instructions