WHY YOUR WATCH SKIPS A SECOND

All the time, people come into the jewelry store saying “There’s something wrong with my watch. It skips a second.“

They hand me their watch and I look at it. Sure enough, the second hand only ticks once every 2 seconds.

Skip, Pause!

It’ll tick once, pause, jump 2 seconds, pause, jump 2 seconds more… The really odd thing about this is, the watch is still keeping accurate time. How is this possible?

People think something is wrong with the movement… Maybe the inner mechanism got wet? It could be rusting? Maybe the watch got bumped? Who knows?

What causes the second hand to skip a beat?

The watch has a warning signal. That’s right! What warning might the watch be sending you?

Low battery.

Some watches have the ability to tell you when your watch battery is going low by skipping a beat. When the watch starts skipping every other second, it’s the watch’s way of conserving precious energy. It’s doing everything it can to keep the correct time and if it has to sacrifice ticking every second, it will.

It’s actually a great little tool to have. No more will you have to wonder if your watch battery is low. No longer will you have to take it to a jeweler and have it tested. One simple look at your watch and in a second you’ll know (or in 2 seconds). I think it’s an awesome feature and a great function to have.

I wish all watches did this neat little trick.

Most watches just up and die on you with no warning. And usually it’s at the worst possible time, like when you’re out on vacation. That’s a drag.

Something else…

If you happen to look down and the second hand is frozen in place, but jerking like it’s trying to move… then you have more serious problems. Mechanical ones. More than likely you’ll need a cleaning, alignment, a new movement. It could be lots of things. You’ll have to send it out for an estimate to see what the real problem is.

Pretty much any jeweler can change your watch battery for you.

You can buy batteries and do it yourself also, but I don’t advise it. Jewelers have all the knowledge, tools and presses needed for such tasks…

The last word…

If you decide to change your watch battery, be careful. You could break the crystal or the seal (gasket) in your watch. You could warp the lid putting it back on. You could even void your watch warranty if you don’t know what you’re doing. I always advise people to not change their watch battery themselves! Let a pro do it.

It’s a risk you take… Just don’t beat yourself up about it.

Cheers! :)