While 95% of the Orient Watch USA collection is made up of mechanical watches, covering the basics about battery-powered watches is still a must. If you have a quartz watch, you probably know that it’s a good idea to swap out the battery in your watch for a new one about every two years, based on usage. However, if you’re not sure that it’s that time yet, we’re here to help. Here’s how to tell if your quartz watch needs a new battery.

The most obvious way to tell if your watch requires a new battery is, of course, if it has stopped. When this happens, none of the hands will move and all functions (chronograph, alarm, etc.) will appear not to work. In this case, you can either replace the battery yourself or take your watch to someone to have it done professionally; the latter option is better if there are any concerns about ensuring the water resistance.

Another way to tell is if the watch has been showing signs of slowing or stopping completely before restarting. This is when the battery is closed to being drained but not depleted just yet. If you see signs of this, it’s best to replace the battery as soon as possible before it dies.

With Orient Watch quartz models, there’s actually a third way to tell if the battery should be changed, and it happens before either of the above happens. The timing remains steady for a while, but you may notice the second hand begin to behave a bit strangely. Instead of ticking with every second, it will pause for a second and then jump two seconds. This keeps the watch from gaining or losing time, but it won’t be long before the battery begins to show further signs of needing to be changed (as outlined above), so this is the best time to get it replaced. Having the battery swapped out ensures the watch will continue running smoothly without any timing issues.

Now what happens after you witness one of the tell-tale signs? It’s time for a replacement. And it is as easy as visiting a nearby watch shop (like a shopping mall kiosk/store for example) or sending it into us for service. You are certainly welcome to attempt to do it yourself by removing the case back (as seen above), however you will need to source the correct battery yourself which is usually available at your typical drug store.