The background light comes on when placed in the vertical. I need to turn it off to save battery life

I would try replacing the battery in your watch to see if it comes back to life. So-called "atomic watches" have tiny radio receivers in them that periodically listen for the official atomic time being broadcast via WWVB in Colorado. However, as you might imagine, it takes a lot more power to operate a radio receiver than it does to power a typical quartz wristwatch, and even with larger-capacity or double batteries, it's been my experience that these watches burn through batteries more quickly than traditional "set them yourself" watches.
An additional factor is that a watch that cannot find the WWVB signal will scan for long periods of time before putting its radio receiver into hibernate mode. So, if your watch has been stored in a basement, an interior room in a large building, or some other place where a radio signal can't penetrate, that would also shorten the watch's battery life.

just try it out it come out perfect

Change battery. Watch can be brand new, but battery is fitted when watch left production line.

mcdevito75 here, If your watch is brand new, it simply may have to be started, Most NEW!! qoartz watches come from the factory needing to be started a s to save on the batteries power, (Life). You can try to press the function buttons 1 at a time and see if it starts. If you have a stem (winder) look for a small piece of plastic just under the stem, if so remove the plastic, push down the stem to start the watch.

check batterys are not faulty, but i think you need to AC the movement,ok. refit both batterys then onthe movement itself there should be two letters AC or AR or sometimes AS and close to these letters a small area no bigger than 3mm in diameter you need to place one prong of a pair of tweezers on this area and the other prong on the movement itself make sure its the metal part of the movement do this at the same time like tapping two fingers together on a desk but remember you may need to do this a couple of times

You cannot change the light. It is an electro-luminescence layer behind the display. It is something like a large LED. They are designed to not be very bright to save battery life. I have a number of Casio watches. They are all not very bright. Also the non silver background type watches tend to be much darker than the silver background with black symbols.

As you will see from the extract from the web site, these watches are solar powered.

" Tough Solar Power

• Shock Resistant
• 200M Water Resistant
• 29 times zones (48 cities), city code display, daylight saving on/off
• 4 Daily Alarms and 1 snooze alarm
• Countdown Timer
  Measuring unit: 1 second
  Countdown range: 1 second to 60 minutes
  Other: Auto Repeat
• 1/100 second stopwatch
  Measuring capacity: 23:59’59.99”
  Measuring modes: Elapsed time, split time, 1st-2nd place times
• Auto Calendar (pre-programmed until the year 2099)
  12/24 Hour Formats
• Accuracy: +/-15 seconds per month (with no signal calibration)
• Storage Battery: CTL1025
• Battery Power Indicator
• Power Saving Function
• Approx. battery life: 6 months on full charge (without further exposure to light)
  Module 5055"

There is a very small sticker with very small red print just adjacent to the battery compartment. This little sticker states "once batteries are replaced, you need to touch AC with tweezers". I did it with metal tweezers and the watch display came to life. Good luck!

To all who need to change their Timex Ironman Triathlon watches:

It is a little confusing, but this is a watch you can change the battery by yourself!

First you will need:

-A big clear area (i.e. a table or counter) with lots of light to see what exactly you are doing.
-Small screw driver (like the tiny ones for a glasses care kit)
-Paper clip


Directions:

1. Remove all screws from the the back of the watch (there should be 4). Make sure that you take note of which screws are coming from which spot on your watch and keep them separated as such.

2. Next, you should see a white circular sticker with directions on how to change your battery. They aren't clear as "how to" but they are the basics.

2a. Take off the white sticker once you have memorized the places it is pointing to; set it up as such in front of you so you can refer back to it from time to time.
2b. You should see two silver pieces. One should be a circle (which is the battery), which is held in by another silver piece. This unlatches. In order to do so, you need to simply pop it open on one of the sides (as it tells you in the directions). You may use the same screwdriver or even a paper clip works wonders!

3. Replace your battery (should be CR2016) with the + on top, facing towards you. make sure it is flat, not just shoved back where the old battery was. This make take some extra time and patience to make sure it is done right.

4. Snap the silver part back into place (should look like it is holding the battery in place i.e. a gate).

5. THEN: this is the most important and confusing part in my opinion. On the white sticker the directions read: "after battery insertion, short pads to reset". this should look something like an oval with a line cutting it in half (vertically). It is not on the battery but next to it. You will need the paper clip here to hold down the right most side (at somewhat of an angle). this should do it! you'll know if your digital faces flashes numbers at you and may even light up. Make sure you hold down long enough.

6. Once you have the numbers flashing, you are good to go. Put the back of your watch back on, taking note of which screw goes where. Then, set your watch accordingly and you have just changed your watch! Ta-da!

Follow these steps and you should be good. Good luck to all!

The "eye" icon appears when you have your backlight set to auto. that means when you move your wrist to look at your watch the light comes on automatically. I have found this to be a huge drain on the life of the battery. to turn it off hold down the light button (the grey button on the front with the red "g" on it) untill you hear it beep.

As for the watch dieing when the alarm goes off that is a good indication that you need a new battery.