Citizen Navihawk Blue Angles - Display failed?

Was there any evidence of battery leak when you replaced the battery?

The display looks like this (when the movement is dismantled)




it is connected to the PCB with two conductive strips (top and bottom)




its held in place by this plastic retainer




which clips onto the back of the movement (2 clips at the top, 2 at the bottom)




it is possible that something is preventing good electrical contact to the display.

If you can't fix this yourself, Citizen UK will for about £70.

Hey all

Thank you for all the replys!! Sorry for not getting back to you all sooner.

I appreciate the time you are all taking to help me.

I checked the new battery with a meter today and its showing 1,56V. So its all good from that side it seems.

There is no evidence of a battery leak. I can't see any leakage when I open the watch and the old battery seems to be fully intact (except for the fact that its empty ).

I did check out the C300 technical manual that was linked. Judging from the front face my watch seems to be more similar to the C320. But when I compare both the technical manuals, it looks like the inside of both watches is the same.

I tried to disassemble the watch further, but I've run into a problem. I open up the watch, take out the battery strap, the battery, and the buzzer contact spring. Thats about the furthest I get. I'm able to remove button B from the case, but that doesnt seem to help much. There is a white circular plastic ring around the inner works, which looks like the LC display panel supporter from the manual, but its inserted from the lower end of the watch! I'm unable to remove the circuit board supporter due to this white circular supporter. To be more specific, I can get the white circular thing out about 90%, but the rest is stuck on the Mode M button. No idea how to remove that button or if its even allowed to remove it. To see what white circular thing I'm talking about have a look at the youtube video with the title "Citizen Skyhawk C651 Problem Fixed" by hl chang. You can see it at minute 3:15. Unfortunately I cant link the video as my post count is still too low.

I also seem to be unable to remove the entire center piece/module from the casing, as is seen in Sir Alans pictures. Again, the Mode button seems to be in the way.

Any advise or ideas? :/

Best regards,

Michael

OK, disassembly is quite easy.




You need to remove the mode select button / stem. You do this by pushing on the small dimple (marked with the yellow circle) and then pulling the button out.

You can then remove the movement holder (white). You'll notice that on the 4pm position (the mode select) there is a hole rather than a slot. That's what is preventing you doing this at the moment.

Then the movement holder then lifts out easily. Then the movement can be dropped out of the case.

Be careful not to lose the contact switch to the buzzer on the inside of the caseback. This is easily dropped and lost.

I would say that if you're going to proceed you have to be prepared to make things worse (than they already are). If you're not, then stop now!!!

In order to get to the LCD display, you're going to have to remove the hands, and then the dial.

This is the trickiest part (unless you're going to take the whole movement apart). Again, only proceed here if you're confident.

If you damage the hands and/or the dial it's game over.

If you do proceed, set the mode to TME (so the mode select hand is at 12pm. When you put the hands back on, put this hand back on in the same position. If you don't, the mode you've selected won't match the mode the watch is actually in.

Remove the hands, then the dial just lifts off (its a press fit with two dial feet).

Then you'll see the LCD on one side (the dial and hands side) and the other will look like the picture above.

I can't remember whether you need to remove the metal back plate to unclip the LCD.

If you do, you need to remove the 5 screws (with green circles around) and then lift of the metal back plate.

Its worth going this far to generally clean the movement up (with rodico) and inspect things.

make sure when you clip the LCD back in place that the clips are fully engaged. If they're not, you will either get a blank LCD display, or one where only some segments are lit.

If you're not confident to do this, then send the watch for repair.

Good luck.

Hey Alan,

thanks again for the reply. Your posts are truely excellent!

I can't open the watch right now, I'm on the road. I will as soon as I get back home. I will have a general look around and see if I can find anything, such as leakage, anything being physically broken or so. I dont mind fiddleing around a bit, I think I'm quite handy, though I have to admit this is the first time opening a watch.

I do have one more question though. Is there anything I can do if I dont actually find anything physically broken or such? Is there some way to test the LCD for example? Would it make sense to somehow measure the circuit board, measure voltage, resistance, continuity? And if so, how?

Thanks!


Michael

I think the fault is either in the PCB (circuit) or the contact to the LCD.

The Technical Guide for the movement will include some fault finding tips. As has been noted the C300 guide isn't available, but the C320 guide is.

Given the C300 and C320 are very very similar I would expect the fault finding techniques to be similar (or even the same).

You could try these, but I have no experience myself.

If I was in your situation I would do the following:

1 - assess whether I was comfortable to disassemble the movement.

if not, then either:

a) buy a working donor Blue Angels watch and swap the movements (including dial and hands) over

b) if the above costs more than approx. £60 then send the watch to Citizen UK for a repair (they fit a new movement).

2 - strip the movement down, looking for evidence of damage and cleaning as I went

If this fixes things excellent

3 - If it doesn't, look to buy the cheapest working donor watch (I suggest Accurist World Timer) - if you spend more than approx. £60 it would be better to send the watch to Citizen for repair.

4 - when you have a working donor watch, swap the dial and hands over, and if non-Citizen, the back plate (for completeness).


There is a lot of fun to be had, but also frustration .........

Mike1981 said:

Hey all,

I'm new to the forum and hope I found the right subforum to post my question. If not, please feel free to move it to the correct place.

I tried the search function as well, but couldnt find anything.

I own a 1st generation Citizen Navihawk . . . . ...

Click to expand...

Me too. . except with the red and black one.
I do have a different problem. The minute hand had fallen off years ago and I just got around to having a local jeweler put it back on and replace the battery. I did the reset proceedure and got the digital and analog back in sync. However the 24 hour world time hands are not aligning properly. For example at 12 noon eastern the 24 hour clock reads 3am.
I dunno if the attached pic will help or confuse but here is the watch at almost 10am and the 24 hr is at 1am.
I did the reset 2 or three times with the same result.
Any ideas?
This is not a deal breaker by any means. This watch will once again be my daily watch to wear.

That being said, the jeweler mentioned the pinion for the hands was delicate and may have suffered damage and be the reason the minute hand fell off in the first place. If there are problems in the future with this watch I would like to repair it if I could. For some reason I expect problems

My Thought/Question? If i were to get a new C300 movement replacement would that replace everything but the hands? battery? The face?

For sentimental reasons I would fix it up to a point (maybe 100-150$US?) After that just by a new one.
I like to work on things myself but I have never worked on wrist watches. I would not mind learning.