This is the third episode in a series where we rescue something from the wild. 

For those following along, this story has two common themes with previous episodes - Salvation Army cabinets and hot pink. 

This time the cabinet in question was in Queenstown. Whilst purchasing some complete-in-packaging coffee filter papers, I noticed a Casio Baby G watch in the cabinet. It had no signs of life and was hence selling for $8.

The baby G, sans life
When I was younger, I loved the Baby G watches. Their screen bumper bars and animal animations are iconic feelings of childhood - as is the taste of the rubber strap when chewing it (anyone else?). 

The iconic Baby G dolphin animation

I decided to risk that the reason for the lack of response was due to a battery issue and paid the $8. When back in Wellington, I popped into a watch shop to find a replacement battery would cost $79. 

I’ve never seen the inside of a watch before, and had assumed the batteries in them were proprietary, or only accessible to people who had undergone a top secret underground watchmakers course. 

I was therefore shocked to find, after taking a photo of the back of the watch and asking my local ai chatbot, that this watch took a simple CR2025 battery - available in a double pack for $9 at Woolworths. 

I popped into Woolworths on my way home and grabbed the batteries. Using my tiny screwdrivers, I popped off the back of the watch, and to my horror, the battery in it was far smaller than the one I had bought. It turns out ai isn’t always correct. Who would have thought?

Exposing the insides of the Baby G

This time I looked up the battery code on the real battery in the watch and was pleased to find this one was even cheaper - $6 at the Warehouse. 

I grabbed one, and with some tricky tweezer manipulation, managed to get it into the watch. Which turned on to a delightful pufferfish animation. 

I carefully put the watch back together, so as to retain the famous waterproof and shock tolerance of the Baby G series. Before making a common mistake I have come across in this series: showing it to my wife. 

Overall costs:

Watch: $8
Incorrect battery: $9
Correct battery: $6 

Total cost: $23
Estimated value: My wife’s happiness (~$300)