Watch Puzzle

[troutfisher]

I wonder if anyone can throw a bit of light on this.
I have just spent vast sums , well £40 on a battery powered watch.
When I wear it it keeps good time no problem, I took if off when I went to bed last night and put in on a shorthand pad with a metal spiral binder , for no other reason than it was on my desk.
Got up this morning, watch stopped at the time I put it down.
This morning I corrected the time , it started and I wore it for a couple of hours then put it in the box it came in and its sat there for 1 hour working and keeping perfect time.
Some form of magnetic field set up between the watch battery and the spiral binder?

 

[Box Brownie]

Is it a standard watch or one that sets/maintains its time via the UK radio signal system?

 

[troutfisher]

Its a standard one, not that sophisticated.

 

[Box Brownie]

Its a standard one, not that sophisticated.

Hmmm
Perhaps do some empirical tests......
Same location on the desk but not on the jotter pad?
Different location with the jotter in play?
etc

If you find a pattern as to any specific locations that cause it to stop that then have a common 'component' e.g. close to something with a magnetic field..........just don't leave the watch there in future

 

[TCR4x4]

Any magnetic force will cause a quartz powered watch to either stop completely or loose time, as it uses a magnetic stepper motor.
It won’t damage it, but still best to keep it away from such things. However a spiral binder shouldnt be particularly magnetic I wouldn’t have thought.

 

[troutfisher]

Thank you for that.
I was not aware that was how the watches worked, nothing to do with the binder but being adjacent to a radio would not have helped, so I imagine that was the problem.
I will have to move the radio
Many thanks indeed.