"Mystery" Fairchild Watch.... A Little Help Please

[Ryaan2000]

Hey, I'm I huge fan of retro technology and I've always wanted an LED watch, and I finally found one about a week ago at a garage sale. This is the one I found:





The only reason I know that it is Fairchild is because there was a plastic piece that slips over the module that said so. I was just wondering if anybody knew anything about this watch and perhaps what kind of batteries it uses. I've looked online but I haven't seen any watch similar to this one. Also, there is a sticker inside the back that indicates that it either was repaired or had a battery replaced in 1976. The casing is made in USA and has a serial number of 575369.

[james_stan]

Hi Welcome from a fellow beginner.

I will share with you what I know that may help. Typically these watches use 1.5 V cells. Best are silver oxide types but to test it you could use Alkalines but these have a poor life in comparison.

Two cell sizes are common 386 and 357 ( a web search will yield more info). The 386 is the smallest and the size you should try first. If you try and jam the larger ones in and close the case there is a grave danger that you could damage the delicate ceramic cicuit board terminally !

Well there you go try this for starters. If the batteries do not help
thena a quartz crystal swap is the next step. Plenty of posts here about that.

Good luck

James