[Sir Alan]

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.

 

[Sir Alan]

Also, the Accurist World Timer uses the same movement (though its referred to as the CP00) - these watches can be picked up much more cheaply than the Citizen C300 based Navihawk and can be used as a donor.

 

[Sir Alan]

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.

 

[Sir Alan]

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 .........

 

[Sir Alan]

Hi there, I also own a citizen skyhawk blue angels edition, a C300 one but all of the sudden the Mode button does not work, it press it and press it and the mode never changes, or I hold it pushed down and the digital numbers don't blink like they are supposed to, what would you guys recommend me to do/check?, thanks in advance for any help/advice you can give.

Each time you push the mode button in, the small hand at the 6pm sub dial hand should move clockwise to point to the next mode.

When you pull the mode button out to the first 'click' position the watch should go into SET mode - typically this will cause the main LCD segment digits to flash.

So, can you try pulling the mode button out. What happens?

Now push the mode button back in (to the normal position).

Now try and push it in, you should feel a definite click, and the 6pm hand should move to the next mode.

If this isn't happening then it is possible that there is gunge behind the pusher preventing it from travelling in as far as it should. This is VERY common on old watches that have been worn. To sort this out you will need to remove the button and stem and inspect and clean the cavity the pusher fits into.

It is also possible that the movement is damaged from abuse (I've had two of these watches with broken stems which can only happen from severe force). There isn't a simple fix to this I'm afraid (it depends what is damaged).