★★★★★ 4
Nice Watch... But Buyer Beware!
Color: Black/Black/Black, Color: Black/Black/Black
This is a great looking and very functional watch for the price, so I was very disappointed to find it didn't work properly. Close examination revealed a tiny plastic collar preventing the crown from being fully depressed as necessary. I'm aware most new watches come with a small plastic tab that must be removed to activate the watch: this was not that. Those tabs are designed to be easily removed with one's fingertips. This collar (shown in the photo) was barely accessible due to the crown, and could not be removed even with fine-tipped watch repair tools.
I contacted Timex customer support and sent them the photo. They evaded my question as to what the collar was and why it was there, but confirmed it needed to be removed for the watch to function, suggesting I bring it to a jeweler/watch repair shop. Well, the watch isn't such a bargain anymore if I've got to pay someone to get it to work -- so I returned it and requested a replacement.
Wouldn't you know it? The replacement had the same stupid plastic collar preventing it from working. This time I decided to see if I could fix it myself. I removed the case back with a pry knife, removed the plastic battery cover, used a pin-punch to release the watch stem, and fully removed the stem from the case, finally freeing the offending plastic collar. Pretty straightforward if you have the tools.
Reassembly was trickier, as two miniscule push bars fell out when the plastic battery cover was removed. These allow the chronograph pushbuttons to activate the stopwatch. They're smaller than a grain of rice and sit loosely within tiny channels in the battery cover, so they are very prone to falling out as the cover is put back in place. It took several attempts to get the battery cover situated with them still seated. Then it was just a matter of carefully placing the watch in a case press to snap the case back in place.
Once reassembled, the watch worked fine. I replaced the rubber strap with a NATO strap, and it's now a favorite daily beater watch. I'm astounded no other reviewers seem to have encountered this issue when I encountered it TWICE, but I've detailed it here in case others run into the same problem. Disassembling the watch to remove the troublesome plastic collar isn't that big a deal if you have watch repair tools and steady hands -- but if that's not you, you might have to decide whether it's worth paying a jeweler to repair your brand new watch.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023