Hello, All:

I attend auctions on a regular basis and sometimes see electronic wristwatches (almost always not running) and am hesitant to purchase them; it seems that if a battery will not get them started then I am "out of luck" in terms of getting them to run.

Examples of electronic watches I have seen: Omega F300HZ; Omega F300; Omega 32KHZ; I.W.C. Electronic and other "solid state" watches. Are these watches pretty much "dead" or does someone know of a repair person who can get these types of watches running again?

Thank you for your response,

Barry

This is Omega 1250 I presume. These were made by ESA/ETA (caliber 9162) under license from Bulova as they use Accutron tuning fork technology. Critical electronic parts are all but impossible to find, as these movements were not produced for long before the quartz revolution made them obsolete. So I would stay away from these unless you have some running backup movements. Some material houses have complete movements available but I think they are around $250.00. They came from Switzerland out of storage from some obscure brand that quit using these back in the 1980s.

You frequently see Titus tuning fork watches on the bay and other auction sites. These are identical to the movements in Longines, Omega, and other tuning fork watches that use the ESA movement, and are usually pretty reasonable, so if you need a parts watch, this is an option. I don't know if it's true, but I have been told Omega sold all of its T/F movements to Titus when they discontinued the F300 movements. I own many tuning fork watches and the ESAs are the most trouble free, incidentally. My Omegas and Longines all purr happily along and are among the most reliable and accurate watches I own. If quartz watches had not been invented, they would still rule the watch world.

Jon,
I find it amazing that full movments are still available. I know that Otto Frei still has them. They are the nicest looking tuning fork movments made.