Watch behaving oddly

[Dr Jekyll]

I've just noticed that the second hand on my 20 year old watch is moving in 5 second jerks rather than every second or so. The watch still seems to be keeping good time. Battery on the way out? Needing a service? Impending mechanical disaster?

[UnclePat]

Sounds like the battery is on the way out & letting you know via the 'end of life' indicator (i.e. skipping several seconds at once).

[Spydaman]

All my Seikos do this. They start by skipping 1 second then 5. I've never had one actually stop as I get the battery changed before this. Better hope it doesn't need to go back to Seiko as my Golden Tuna cost £192 for a battery and 1000m pressure test.

[MitchT]

I think this is quite common - my Omega does it. The documentation with it explains that it indicates a low battery. It should go for a few weeks like this before stopping. I've taken up to two weeks to swap mine and it's never stopped.

[Big Al.]

Yep, agree battery.

My Rado second hand ticks at two second intervals went the battery needs replacing.

[Dr Jekyll]

Thanks everyone.