I puzzled over the frustration of watch batteries that die.  Taking a sack full of dead watches to a repair shop seemed expensive.  My musings led me to wonder if I could repair them myself.

Then, I laid all of my dead watches face down.  There were several varieties of ways to remove the back plate.  One used a friction-fit back that snapped into place.  A sharp knife would be needed to split the seam and pop that back off.

Another used four miniscule screws.  I have some jeweler screw drivers that might work for these.  Then, there were several varieties of backs that twisted off but need some kind of specialty tool for that job.

I held one of my watches in my hand, put a sharp pocket knife to the seam and pushed.  The knife slipped and scratched the back cover.  Now, I had made an permanent ugly gash.  Sighing, I attempted to ignore it. 

I tried again.  This time the knife sliced one of the fingers God loaned to me.  For a few moments I had to pause, dress that wound and clean up the blood.  Yuck!

Then, a thought occured to me.  On the internet I ordered a variety watch repair tools.  When they showed up in the mail I was ecstatic.  Quickly, I went into my office and went to work.  I successfully popped, unscrewed or untwisted the backs of several watches.

Then, I chose my favorite outdoor watch to repair first.  I replaced the battery and chuckled when the watch came back to life.  Finally, I tried to figure out how to replace its snap-back cover. 

I laid the watch on my desk and push harder and harder with both thumbs.  Rats!  The crystal shattered into a thousand pieces! Oh, bother!

I tossed that watch and all of its parts into the garbage can.  On to the next watch!  Again life was restored with new power.  The twist-on back made the finishing repair quite simple.  I put that watch on and smiled with satisfaction…fixed it myself! 

Three more watches were successfully restored to life.  I reset each to the correct time.  Then, I strapped each one on my wrist, making me laugh at myself like I was some Big-City-street-vendor hawking knock-off watches. 

Now, that I have experience and the tools, does anyone want a battery replaced in their wristwatch?  No guarantees but maybe a tongue-in-cheek blog at the very least?  Or if I wreck it you have a great excuse to buy yourself a new one!