Water in a watch

[J Smith]

Had a scrary moment last night.I was at work it was raining.Noticed a drop of water on the face of the Luminox seal ll i just got.wiped it off and noticed a spot of condisation inside the crystal.I thought,oh crap not water proof.I got to thinking maybe it was just the moisture in the air that was inside the watch that formed on the crystal because of the cool water.So I just put a chip of ice on the face of all my watches and they all did it to some extent.So I guess its nothing to worry about.



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Edited by - J Smith on 11/19/2003 7:36:20 AM

[fredswartz]

From past experience I think that your watch has lost it's seal. My suggestion is to get the back off and let it dry out, check the gasket (maybe install a new one)and re-tighten. Could also be the stem seal or the crystal seal. If it is an inexpensive watch I would just live with it or send it to the mfr. Just my 2 cents worth.

[J Smith]

I tried it on 4 watches and all did it.Two of them are brand new and haven't been exposed to any water.

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[Zrexxer]

4 watches or not... if they condense inside, they have moisture inside them. Bad juju.

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H. L. Mencken

Edited by - Zrexxer on 11/19/2003 9:08:58 PM

[J Smith]

Somebody try and putting a chip of ice on a couple of your watches,leave it until it melts,wipe it off and tell me if you get any thing.

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[fishwatcher]

Try this topic on timezone.com's public forum. I bet you'll get better response.

[midget]

I put an ice cube of my seiko 5 crystal and got condensation.

My watch has been exposed to water, from the shower, sink, pool, river, and ocean. I've opened the case back myself several times in an attempt to regulate it.

Not very much water condenses, but it's definately there. I'm pretty hard on my watch, and it runs surprisingly well. So... I wouldn't worry about the bit of moisture inside.

[java]

<b>Jeff</b>,

Interesting observation. I was about to launch into detailed theory on water vapor pressures, clean rooms, residual gas analysis, and turbo-molecular vice titanium sublimation vice cryogenic pumping and water vapor adsorption. Hope this explains this somewhat but the bottom line is there is some water vapor present at any temperature and pressure. Watchmakers may use humidity-controlled clean rooms to minimize it but they cannot remove it all. If your watch condenses water vapor out easily you might, as Zrexxer says, have a bad seal.

<a href=http://www.timezone.com/archiveView.asp ... 0662><font color=FF00FF><b>Technical info about condensation in watches...</font></b></a>

<b>Fishwatcher</b>,

Thanks for the link!

<b>Midget</b>,

Michigan isn’t known for having low relative humidity. I like to tinker with any mechanical device that moves or ticks too. How are you regulating your environment up there? <font color=BLUE>How ‘bout them Woverines!?!! <b>Go Blue!!</b></font>

Stay safe! Stay sharp!

Edited by - java on 11/25/2003 9:23:59 AM

[midget]

**** RIGHT THE WOLVERINES!!! THE ROSEBOWL ALLLL THE WAY!!!

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