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The Arcron-Zeit Digital "Sports" Watch

It's time for a definitive report about my Arcron-Zeit Radio Controlled "Sport" Watch. I got it in December 1998 and, about a year later, it stopped receiving WWVB. I replaced the battery in hopes that it would fix the problem. But... it didn't help. The watch only had a 6-month warrantee so I was ready to just give up on the watch. But I felt I should report my problem on this web site, just in the interest of passing on information to anyone else who might want to buy one.

As it turns out, a very astute visitor to this web site noticed my problem and reported to me that he had the same problem with one of his Arcron-Zeit Digital "Sport" Watches. He also gave me a mini-lesson in watch technology. He explained that the crystals inside the watch may have been affected by age and by all the movement and "shock" sustained by these watches. So he figured that having the watch "re-tuned" would compensate for changes in the crystals... and the crystals weren't likely to change again. So the repair would, most likely, be permanent.

So... I took his advice and I sent my watch back to Arcron-Zeit for repair in May 2000. Since then, it's been working better than ever. When it was new, I expected it to receive WWVB a few times a week but not every day. Well, it has consistently received WWVB every day since the repair! (I live 352 miles from the WWVB transmitter and reception here is usually great.) The man who advised me to have the watch repaired said that his watch has also performed better since the repair than it did when it was brand new.

So... if your watch has given you the same trouble, here's what I did (and you might want to do the same). I contacted customer support at the Atomic Time web site. They advised me to send the watch in. They repaired it (the invoice called it a "recalibration") and they installed a fresh battery and they charged me $20 total. It took 2 or 3 weeks, if I remember correctly (and that includes the time the watch spent "in transit" in the mail).

There have been some changes recently at the "Atomic Time" web site at www.atomictime.com, but the basic contact information is the same. I returned my radio controlled, digital "sports" watch to these folks for repair...

Atomic Time, Inc.
1010 Jorie
Oak Brook, IL 60523
1-800-985-TIME

By all means, you should contact them before you send them the watch. The e-mail address they currently show on their web site is... support@atomictime.com.

In conclusion... it's a pain in the neck to have to repair this watch, but I do recommend you have it done rather than just give up on this product. In my own case, I was ready to just give up on the watch and move on, but even though it cost me $20 I'm really glad I got this watch fixed. It's better than new. And, as I said, I tend to believe the watch will remain in good working order for a long time to come.

Click Here to go back to my review of this watch.

Click Here to go to my "Atomic Clock" Home Page.