[NJCurmudgeon]

My wife bought me a Movado Bold digital watch for our anniversary and, for the most part, I really like it. I'm at that age where my close-up vision is crap, so the bold numbers are great. Plus it's more stylish than the typical digital. There is the mode "dot" button in the 12 o'clock position that you hold for 2 seconds to get the illumination and swipe through the modes. I find it will beep and illuminate on its own, even when I am not touching it. It even did this sitting on my dresser at night with nothing touching it! It does seem rather sensitive - I have accidentally set it off just crossing my arms. I was wondering what would cause it to trigger even when it's not being worn, though? I try to keep it clean, but would residual finger grease do it? The battery was just changed, so it's not that.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

 

[mikeyt_53]

I'll admit i have no concrete ideas. All i can suggest is to go thru the instruction book and figure out what features cause the watch to 'beep' and/or illuminate and then determine if there is a setting that is set in the "on" position that would trigger that issue.

Edit: The only other thing i can think of is if you have just replaced the battery there may be a 're-set' procedure that needs to be followed after doing so. It's possible that the beep/illumination is a low battery warning that is re-set following the procedure.

 

[Jay_R]

A Google search indicates that others may have this problem with the Movado Bold Digital:

"After about a week it started switching from one mode to another and constantly beeped."

I hope you get it sorted out!

 

[CometHunter]

Is the watch still under warranty? If so, maybe get a replacement? I have no answers, only an alternative guess: an overly-sensitive motion detector. The backlight on my two Casio digitals is designed to come on whenever I cock my wrist forward to read the display. It is sounding like your watch does this whether you tilt it forward or not.

 

[NJCurmudgeon]

Thanks mikeyt_53. The battery was changed by a Movado-authorized jeweler, so I would hope they would know about any resets, but who can tell! But I don't think that's it because when I went to try and set it the first time, it gave me a low battery icon in the middle of the screen (there was also a December 2019 change date imprinted on the plastic protector, so it was evidently indeed due for replacement). That seems to be the low battery indication, as opposed to a beeping.

Thanks Jay_R. I will do some more Google searching too, but what you found is what I was afraid of. It's not a cheap watch, so it is distressing to think it is just a piece of junk!

 

[NJCurmudgeon]

Thanks CometHunter. I will check on the warranty. I believe it should be. The light is only supposed to come on when you touch the silver dot at the 12 o'clock position for 2 seconds. I don't believe it has a motion sensor. Plus if it did, it shouldn't go off just sitting still on the dresser.

Either way, I am guessing it is overly-sensitive. And, according to what Jay_R found, I guess this isn't uncommon.

 

[mikeyt_53]

Best of luck and let us know what you find out?

 

[NJCurmudgeon]

I would like to follow up on this thread, though I now have a different problem. To be honest, my schedule has just been too full to do much more than learn to live with the occasional random beeps. Otherwise, the watch works.

Until this afternoon.

I was walking outside on a very rainy day. The watch was covered by my sweater and coat sleeves and my hand and wrist with the watch on it was inside a coat pocket. I went to look at the time and the screen was blank. I held the touch button and the screen became filled with fine horizontal lines, almost like the scan lines in an old fashioned TV. I took it off and placed it in the console of my car.

My wife looked at it and also held the button. It beeped and now displays a screen that looks like this:



(For some reason I can't upload the image from my computer, so I am using a third-party host URL.)

I am guessing this is moisture related? It was never in any direct water and I thought it was supposed to be "waterproof." I tried holding the button down but nothing happens. I was thinking of taking the back off and resetting the battery to reset the watch, but since I had to have a jeweler change it, I'm concerned about voiding any warranties or doing any unintended damage.

My wife says it was a eBay dealer and not cheap...I'm beginning to think she got ripped off, but I did find other reviews about the random beeping from what seem to have been genuine Movado watches, so maybe this is just an overpriced piece of junk. I guess there's a reason they stopped making them!

But in the meantime, anyone have any suggestions?

Many thanks!

 

[mikeyt_53]

Sounds like you have a bad one. It seems that Movado still sells the "Bold" line so you can always log onto the Movado.com support site, explain the problem and see if they will do anything for you.

btw... .i dont think that they advertise that watch as being "Water Proof" just as "water resistant".

 

[NJCurmudgeon]

Thanks for the link, mikeyt_53. I will contact them.

Yes, I meant "water resistant." My mistake. But, again, it's not like it was dunked in water - it was just a rainy day! Presuming, of course, moisture is the cause...

I'll report back if I get any joy from Movado.

Thanks again.

Sounds like you have a bad one. It seems that Movado still sells the "Bold" line so you can always log onto the Movado.com support site, explain the problem and see if they will do anything for you.

btw... .i dont think that they advertise that watch as being "Water Proof" just as "water resistant".

 

[Jay_R]

I am completely unfamiliar with that watch, but the photo is showing what looks like it might be a setup or configuration screen? Reaching out to Movado is definitely your best bet.
Good luck, I hope you get it corrected!

I would like to follow up on this thread, though I now have a different problem. To be honest, my schedule has just been too full to do much more than learn to live with the occasional random beeps. Otherwise, the watch works.

Until this afternoon.

I was walking outside on a very rainy day. The watch was covered by my sweater and coat sleeves and my hand and wrist with the watch on it was inside a coat pocket. I went to look at the time and the screen was blank. I held the touch button and the screen became filled with fine horizontal lines, almost like the scan lines in an old fashioned TV. I took it off and placed it in the console of my car.

My wife looked at it and also held the button. It beeped and now displays a screen that looks like this:



(For some reason I can't upload the image from my computer, so I am using a third-party host URL.)

I am guessing this is moisture related? It was never in any direct water and I thought it was supposed to be "waterproof." I tried holding the button down but nothing happens. I was thinking of taking the back off and resetting the battery to reset the watch, but since I had to have a jeweler change it, I'm concerned about voiding any warranties or doing any unintended damage.

My wife says it was a eBay dealer and not cheap...I'm beginning to think she got ripped off, but I did find other reviews about the random beeping from what seem to have been genuine Movado watches, so maybe this is just an overpriced piece of junk. I guess there's a reason they stopped making them!

But in the meantime, anyone have any suggestions?

Many thanks!

 

[NJCurmudgeon]

That's what I thought too, Jay_R.

Movado just told me to find an authorized repair facility...they were no help at all!

Does anyone have any suggestions where else I might look? Maybe a more Movado-specific forum? If it is a set-up screen, there should be a way of getting out of it that doesn't mean a repair bill!

Thanks!

 

[mikeyt_53]

Unfortunately, i dont know of any Movado specific watch forums. You may not have much choice other than to take it into a Movado authorized repair facility and have them look at it / provide an estimate or see if it will be covered under warranty. For that though, you will likely require the original purchase receipt.

 

[CometHunter]

You can use this link to find a Movado service facility. If you're REALLY lucky, you can probably download a needed owner's manual. Good luck.

https://www.movado.com/us/en/ca-after-sale-service.html

 

[NJCurmudgeon]

I have a positive update to this story!

I found a Movado group on Facebook and posted my problem there. After a week of no real answers, I was about to file a claim with the warranty company when the answer appeared. It goes back to what Jay_R suggested above - that it was a set-up screen. Turns out it was basically to calibrate the touch areas. By paying attention to the circles that appeared and disappeared around the letters and swipe arrows, I was able to cycle through and get back to the normal screen. I had to reset it since it was showing July 2015, but it's back to normal now. It still randomly beeps, but I guess I can live with that.

I still have no idea how it ended up on that, though I wonder if it isn't as water-resistant as advertised since it was a rainy day when it first happened? The horizontal lines make me think something somehow got wet and it "glitched," so to speak, and reverted back to a calibration start-up mode when it came back.

I was looking for a digital watch with nice big numbers for my crappy close-up vision but that wasn't a big honking "sports watch." I wanted something "dressier" since "sporty" is not a word one would use to describe me! My wife got it for me as a gift since it was sharp looking and easy to read. And that it is. But I can't help but think she really just paid for the Movado name since it's overpriced to malfunction so easily and beep randomly! The jeweler who replaced the battery thought it was genuine.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the suggestions!

 

[CometHunter]

Thank you for keeping us updated. I am (and a few others are) filing that information away for when these problems pop up in the future. :thumbup1: