Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Leader 10 Digital Wristwatch

A Leader 10 old-school digital watch from Belarus... Actually it's from my collection but is made in Belarus by the Kamerton factory located in the city of Pinsk. In fact, it is none other than the Electronika 5-29367 in disguise, i.e. with a new name and on a wrist strap, whereas straightforward Electronikas were mainly attached to bracelets, stainless steel or not so stainless.

There is also a video review available on my channel.



So, Leader 10 (Лидер 10), bought by me for my collection for RUB 400 which is about US$13 in the month of February in 2012 -- almost two years back. 
 


It shows time -- hours, minutes and seconds, date, weekday, has a stopwatch, an alarm, an hourly chime/signal, plays two simple melodies which can also be used to sound the alarm or, somewhat truncated, for the hourly signal. 

Some interesting points about this watch. You can turn off display indication -- you use button one (upper right), press and hold for two seconds -- with the display turned off the watch continues to work, the hourly chime and the alarm are sounded if turned on. This function harkens back to the early days of digital watches when, in fact, you had to press a button to bring up time indication. No Casios or Seikos have anything similar. Apparently this function allows you to conserve some power and make the battery serve longer. As far as I know no-one has yet tested how effective this function is. But it is a thirsty watch; it likes its (electrical) juice and is the fastest to drain the battery of all Electronika watches in my collection, usually in about a year, faster with chimes and alarms on.



Also interesting is that many operating modes and functions in this watch are activated not just by pressing buttons but by pressing and HOLDING them for 2 seconds.

The watch uses a curious method for turning on the hourly signal -- you just press button three (just pressing not holding this time) (lower left) and the indication switches between showing seconds and the date. When the date is shown on the display in normal time mode, the hourly signal is off, but when the seconds are on the display, the hourly signal is on. The hourly signal can just be a beep sequence or an initial fragment of one of the two melodies that the watch can play.



It so happens that the battery has run flat and it's now time for a battery replacement job. The back is a snap-on (pressed) back, you pry it open gently with something, like, a screwdriver or a pocket knife blade.




Under the upper case back there is another flat back which is pressed on by the upper case back to the module and holds it where it should be in the watch. Underneath is some sort of a basic rubber seal. 




The battery is in its place, just move the contact leaf away to get it out or to install a new one, no need to remove the little screw. 











Important not to confuse the old battery with the new one. It is a 392 unit, aka LR41, G3 or 192.





The battery is in its place, it's time to close the back; it is a Hong Kong something or other battery; I am also going to test how long it lasts. This battery replacement job was done on November 27, 2013. The watch will have its hourly chime on at all times. The rubber seal broke in one place but it won't affect anything, I think. 

You can snap the caseback in its place just with your fingers, no need to use a press or anything. 



Now with a new battery, you may have to reset the watch after installing a new battery, everything works perfectly.



The correct time is set.




The hourly chime/signal is really loud, I can hear it from all corners of my flat; at first it used to awaken me at night even but now I am used to it. It is a good watch, an old-school digital, exactly how I like them. But I like proper Electronika branded watches better than "Leaders". 


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