Grand Seiko Battery Service + Lesson Learned

MY SBGN005 needed a new battery so I decided to take you along for the full AD service experience. This is an adult quartz watch but the 9F movement still requires a battery. What do you think? Leave your comments below or send me an email [e-mail].
Free Music from KZbin
On The Rocks by TracksTribe,
The Gentlemen by DivKid

[@aleksandargogic9084]

Nice watch, job well done, strongly recommend Lux Bond, very professional people, very helpful and willing to help, at least that was my experience… wear it in good health..

[@iancarnell5020]

I change my own batteries and replace the seals. That way I know it's done properly. Many dealers re-use the o ring seal and don't lubricate it when fitting the case back. You can get the dealer to pressure test the watch to check water resistance if you're concerned.

[@manning8]

That sounds like a really good approach!

[@the_shadow_realm5110]

The skipping is on purpose. It’s a built in mechanism just to let you know the battery is low. It’s a useful feature.

[@2manysigns]

Nice GS model . Maybe some day .

[@KacyKnight]

How can GS be using Quartz?

[@manning8]

GS has many types of movements including manual wind, auto, quartz, and Spring Drive (mechanical with a quartz oscillator). Even Rolex made a quartz watch at one time. Don’t confuse all quartz watches with cheap, low-quality watches.

[@kevinmosto]

Grand Seiko's 9F quartz movement are extremely well finished, and boast unrivalled high techs in accuracy, longevity, etc. As a collector of a few dozens low-mid market mechanical watches(from Miyota to ETA 2824 to many in-house movements), I am confident to say that 9F's finish and quality is at least one league above 2824/2892/7751 etc. It's even better than GS' own mechanical 9S65 series.

[@JM.TheComposer]

Paying $50 to wait? That's so offensive in a customer service business, I would have left just on principle.

[@manning8]

I wish I could have filmed the service counter because it was super busy and that is the other part of this story. Still, a one watch guy might very likely walk out the door. Thanks for the comment.

[@JM.TheComposer]

@@manning8 You'd think they might like to have more customers milling around, looking at other sales displays and products to buy. 🤔

[@manning8]

@@JM.TheComposer That certainly works for car dealers

[@valueprovider]

The alternative for a luxury watch dealer is to not offer service while you wait. I wouldn’t pay the $50 unless travel arrangements are a challenge but it’s nice to have the option.

[@JM.TheComposer]

Admittedly I was hasty in making that comment. I viewed "$50 to wait" as "you are required to leave the store unless you pay a $50 cover charge". Clearly that's not the intention.

[@alexkishkovich7806]

Is not it a little too much for a battery change?

[@manning8]

I think for a battery only, the answer is yes. This was a more comprehensive service so I’m not sure. I can say I definitely was not ready to add another $50 to the bill!

[@paulhaig2467]

100$ to change a 10$ battery that takes 10 minutes is a little over the top.

[@manning8]

When it comes to watches it seems nothing is cheap.

[@snakepitsam]

Imagine you have to do this every 3 years

[@manning8]

Servicing the SBGW231 will be far more expensive, especially if the Zaratsu-polished surfaces need work.

[@DzejWiJV]

Mate,look into camera 🤦

[@manning8]

What do you recommend?? I noticed over the weekend the battery was probably too limited.

[@DzejWiJV]

@@manning8 what I mean is look straight into the camera lens when you record video 🙂

[@manning8]

@@DzejWiJV I can work on that. So much to learn with KZbin, haha.

[@7s29]

They saw you coming.

[@manning8]

TY for your comment

[@bigbodykarate6403]

you know you can swap the battery yourself for like 20 bucks right ....... its really easy to complete most services on a watch and if its a battery operated watch your litearally throwing your money away and looking like an idiot to the dealer trust i used to be a watch maker . The moment you bring in a watch to change a BATTERY you lost respect in that shop your abouit to get over charged for repairs and god forbid you buy a watch from them in the future as you will be labeled a schmuck .

[@20cent]

True. I used to bring my G-Shock's to some watch shop to get battery replacement once in a while over the years. Until I didn't care and had accumulated 6 of them requiring replacement. I've noticed that the guy at the shop seemed a bit annoyed when I brought them to him. When I went back to pick them up later that day the guy told me that 3 of them were just dead. Since they were "dead", I thought, why not try to open them up and get some batteries and see by myself. 1 was working just fine after fiddling with the push buttons/contacts, and the other 2, they were just too "complicated" to disassemble to access the battery... The guy just took me for a fool. (also I was charged like $10/watch when a battery costs $1.5 where I live)

[@manning8]

Hello, thank you for watching and for the comment. You can go the $20 route *if* you don't care much about the watch. I would like for everyone to realize that water resistance can be compromised when you open up a watch case, especially in the DIY context. I depend on the water resistance so I had a watchmaker perform a water pressure test for my watch.