I worked in a jewelry store for several years and changed about a billion watch batteries. The battery packaging isn't there to keep them "fresh", so your idea would work in theory.

Things your storage system should do:

- Watch batteries can be problematic because their entire surface area is their contact surface, so it's very easy for them to short out. So you have to design your storage system so that it completely surrounds each cell in all directions.

- Like all batteries, when they get old or they have a defect, they can sometimes leak/corrode. So your storage system should fully seal each cell, so that it contains the mess if leakage ever happens.

- The identification markings on the batteries are frequently hard to read and ID. Two different watch batteries may be very similar in size, shape, and appearance, but still not be interchangeable. There are also multiple identification systems with different numbering schemes. So your storage system should have room to print as much information about the battery as possible, in a way that is larger and more legible than the etching on the battery's surface.

- Your storage system should also be able to show each battery's shelf time and/or expiration date, if possible, so you can tell at a glance if the battery is likely to be a good one.

- Some brands of battery can be better than other brands, so your storage system should allow you to differentiate the batteries by brand.

- Your storage system should have a method for keeping the battery's information coupled to the battery itself, so that if the storage unit is tipped over or shaken, you don't lose the information for each battery.

- Because the storage system needs to fully surround each battery, you would need to make sure that the battery itself is visible from the outside of the storage container, so you can tell whether the container is empty, or if the battery has leaked.

I think the best idea would be to start with a large tray, perhaps a foot or two wide, a foot or two long, and a few inches deep. This could be on some kind of rail system so that it slides out from the side of a larger storage area when you pull upon it. Then, inside this sliding storage tray could be many small individual containers, each housing a single battery or a small group of the same battery, to keep them sealed against leakage and shorting. Each container could cleverly double as the place on which to print all of the complex information about each battery. Ideally, each container would be partially transparent, so that you can see inside to assess the condition of its contents, perhaps the top half of the container could be clear plastic if possible. There will be two long-term difficulties with this system: making sure that you create the right number of storage containers to match the number of batteries that you intend to stock, and the inscribing of the detailed information about each battery onto each storage container.