bulova computron

[digibloke]

Hi, I've got a computron (not a drivers) watch with a bit of a problem and I was wondering if anybody can help me diagnose the cause. The watch is running and the minutes and date are keeping great time - thing is that the hours are all over the place. They light up ok and change on the hour but aren't in any sort of order. 12 for instance will be followed by 4 and so on.

Is it worth looking for a wirebond failure to the digit driver or display or is this an IC (dead watch) problem?

[Planet-LED]

I don't see this being a wire bond problem. I would bet on IC failure.

[digibloke]

Yup I think so too. I've has a good look at it and I can't find anything amiss. It's a broken module in a lousy condition case so I'm going to just take the batteries out and let it R.I.P. Watch euthanasia.

[bruce wegmann]

Have you tried engaging the seting mode and completely cycling through all possible time displays [0-12in HRS, 0-60 in MINS, etc]? Sometimes LEDs go into odd logic states on initial power-up, and going through the cycling process re-initializes the display logic [I have seen this on many Pulsars]. Once the anomalous logic condition is cleared, the watch displays correctly. If, after you try this, the display of time is still "crazy", chances are you do have a chip failure [and my deepest condolences].

[DragonFly2]

It's probably worth trying a 'hard reset', to do this the power (in this case the battery circuit )needs to be interupted for a five minutes ie remove the batteries for five or more minutes, then put them back in re-set the time and check for normal operation. If this does not restore normal operation the I.C is defective.

[digibloke]

No dice with the total reset idea I'm afraid.

I left it overnight without batteries, put them back in this morning and the damn thing's been keeping perfect time all day.

I'm calling it the "damn thing" because it's now started blinking with a "0" on the first digit whenever the time is viewed between 1 and 9 (am/pm).

On the bright side if I only use it between 10 and 12 then it's working great.

(Good tip with the hard restart though DragonFly2).

[Planet-LED]

One adavantage that an analog watch has over an LED watch is that a completely dead analog watch still tells the correct time twice daily.