My home was burglarized in October, and a beautiful Armitron LED pocket watch, given to me by my then wife, was stolen.  It worked.  Since then, I have acquired two similar watches but they do not work.

Will anyone repair them?

Both run, but their readouts are too dim to see.  With one, as near as I can tell, that is the only problem.  The other, however, while the seconds move, the time does not change.

Can anyone help me with these?

OR

Does anyone have a similar watch from c1977 which does work?

OR

Both.

I really want to see at least one of these beauties function properly again.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Have you tried new batteries, and cleaning the contacts which often oxidise?

Yes.  I had a watch maker look it over.  He put two new batteries in each, and was actually able to get the one, where the time does not change, to light up normally.  However, this did not last.  He was the one who tested them and found that they are running.

And whereabouts are you, in London, presumably?

I know it is confusing, but my name is London.  I live in the US.  Sorry for the mixup.

I would be happy to do business with anyone in England, or anywhere else, if they can help me.

Addendum:  I would be happy to do business with anyone in England, or anywhere else, if they can help me.

It’s most likely to be either oxidised contacts on either the battery terminals or buttons, possibly incorrect battery type used, or sometimes the quartz crystals can fail, also the LED displays are often fragile as they use very fine wire contacts.

I would suggest carefully opening up the module for a look-see (they are usually pretty simple inside), and cleaning up any oxidisation/corrosion and trying it again.

My watch maker tried this.  He worked on it for a while, and then the readout became bright, and the only problem was that the time readout did not change (although the seconds ticked off).  He tested it, and said it was running fine.  The other one is, apparently, running fine, but you have to look at the readout very carefully to see anything.  The one which lit up, is not lit up anymore.  He put two batteries in it (they take 2).

It is possible that he may have used poor batteries (were they new, or just used ones lying about?), that when put under load (LEDs lit), could not deliver sufficient current.

Worth buying a couple of new ones and trying for yourself…

They were new in the package.

And are both modules identical? If so, maybe one good one could be made up out of the two, by mixing and matching the parts.

It is most unusual to have the seconds working but not the time! Have you tried varying combinations of the buttons, including pressing all at the same time? Some watches also have an all-clear (AC) or reset terminal that you short to the battery + terminal when changing the batteries, to reset the chip.

There is only one button, where the winder used to be.  To set the watch, you press a pin on the side, and you get the hours, minutes, AM/PM, day, and date.

Try pressing both the normal button and set buttons at the same time.

No go.

Well, I don’t know what else to suggest, other than as above - dismantle the modules, and try to fault-find or mix and match components until you achieve a working one.

Sometimes, I find that a module may take a few attempts at getting it to work, other times it may be something quite simple. Perservere and you will probably get there…