Static electricity stops watches and phones.

timoc

timoc

Well-known Member
Location
UK
I was talking to a bloke in Tescos recently.

I asked him the time and he told me that he couldn't wear watches or have mobile phones, because the static he generates in his body reacts with watches and phones.

So, when I got home I googled the subject, and I was surprised to find that, not only was he right, but the problem existed for many people.

Have you ever had problems with static from your body?
 

I mostly have static charges during the winter months, when a blue spark can be seen arcing from my fingertip to anything metallic that I touch. I once had a cat who would shrink away from me for fear of being shocked by static.

Remember when Timex advertised that their mechanical watches could “take a licking, and keep on ticking?” Static didn’t bother their operation much. I know that quartz watches are more accurate, but you have to replace the battery in them every year or so, and many places while they will sell you watches don’t want to be bothered changing batteries for you. Sure, do it yourself, if you can get the back off, the tiny battery inserted, and the back on again! Screw backs require a special tool to boot.

Cell phones are convenient, but can also be balky and fragile. Static interferences aside, drop a cell phone, and you may be in trouble.

An EMP attack could pretty much disable a lot of modern technology! 🤔
 

timoc said:
I was talking to a bloke in Tescos recently.

I asked him the time and he told me that he couldn't wear watches or have mobile phones, because the static he generates in his body reacts with watches and phones.

So, when I got home I googled the subject, and I was surprised to find that, not only was he right, but the problem existed for many people.

Have you ever had problems with static from your body?
Click to expand...
yes I have a similar problem. It used to drive my husband nuts because Phones, watches etc all stopped working properly when I'm around.

I can wear my analogue watch without a problem.. but most electrical items near my body stop working ..or stop working as they should...

I never keep my phone on me.. I keep it either in my bag when i'm out.. or at least 10 feet away from me at home..
 
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I had a lot of static electricity in my body when I lived in the Frozen North, where it was very dry in winter. I could actually make the little fluorescent bulb in my desk light faintly glow at the ends by touching it.

I had a lot of trouble with my computer terminal until the IT guys "grounded" it.

I blame this all on my grandpa, who spent a few years with the circus, being "Electro the Amazing Electric Man" in the sideshow. I think he passed it down to me....LOL.

Very little static electricity here in Florida, where a spark doesn't have a fighting chance against the humidity.
 
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My mother couldn’t wear a watch for long. They quit working whether they were a Timex or an expensive watch. She just figured that it was all the medicine she was on. Other than her, I’ve never heard about this. Hmmm
 
timoc said:
I was talking to a bloke in Tescos recently.

I asked him the time and he told me that he couldn't wear watches or have mobile phones, because the static he generates in his body reacts with watches and phones.

So, when I got home I googled the subject, and I was surprised to find that, not only was he right, but the problem existed for many people.

Have you ever had problems with static from your body?
Click to expand...
Not that I know of. Of course, I have static on my phone and on my radio at times, and when I get it on my phone, someone usually wonders what's causing it. Who knows?
 
Nathan said:
I wouldn't get 6 months use out of the cheap Casio watches back in the 80s-90s, they would just end up dead as a door nail.

What's a door nail?
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Charles Dickens had a similar question in "A Christmas Carol "...

"Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

Doornails are the large-headed studs that were used in earlier times for strength and more recently as decoration. The practice was to hammer the nail through and then bend the protruding end over to secure it. This process, similar to riveting, was called clenching. This may be the source of the ‘deadness’, as such a nail would be unusable afterwards.
 
stretch5881 said:
Usually in the winter months I'll be throwing lightning around. Sometimes worse than others, depending on what shoes I'm wearing.
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yes I have that..where I touch a shopping cart and I get an electric shock. depends on what shoes etc..but it's not that kind of static that rules my life...
This is something you can't see or even feel... just clocks , phones electronic gadgets all start working strangely that were working perfectly well before I toughed them

It used drive my o/h up the wall. He is an electronics genius.. and he would ensure something was working absolutely perfectly and he would hand it to me and instantly it wouldn't work.
He was always absolutely flabbergasted, and sometimes I have to say quite annoyed almost as tho' I was doing it on purpose..
 
hollydolly said:
yes I have that..where I touch a shopping cart and I get an electric shock. depends on what shoes etc..but it's not that kind of static that rules my life...
This is something you can't see or even feel... just clocks , phones electronic gadgets all start working strangely that were working perfectly well before I toughed them

It used drive my o/h up the wall. He is an electronics genius.. and he would ensure something was working absolutely perfectly and he would hand it to me and instantly it wouldn't work.
He was always absolutely flabbergasted, and sometimes I have to say quite annoyed almost as tho' I was doing it on purpose..
Click to expand...
Soooo.....you're saying you might have some wires crossed? :LOL: :LOL:
 
I don't know if it's a problem with static, but whenever I use the self-checkout at the market, it makes one of my watches go blank. It will eventually recover in a few hours, but then I have to reset the time. I have another of the exact same watch, but that one isn't affected.
 
I had been a huge fan of Timex watches until about 30 years ago, when I replaced a Timex with another bought from a small local chain called Pamida (it was kind of a Walmart knockoff chain). The Timex failed within weeks, so I bought another, because I always trusted Timex. That one failed within weeks. OK the third time's the charm, right? The third one failed right away. Haven't bought a Timex since, and have had good luck. I don't know what caused the failure. I often wonder if the store was selling watches that were rejected during quality control. But I'm done with Timex.
 

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