Quote:
Originally Posted by tony20009
A few points:
- Water resistance (WR) is largely a function of the pressures per square inch that the watch case -- mostly the crystal -- and the gaskets/seals around the crown/pushers can withstand before giving way.
- Gaskets, no matter the extent of WR, eventually dry out and crack, thus allowing water into the watch. Soap and shampoo that contacts and remains on gaskets will hasten the drying process. I can't say by how many days, months, years, etc. Also, strong collisions -- like dropping the watch, or banging into a door or or other object -- can unseat a gasket and compromise the watch's WR.
- The lack of any openings into the movement section of the watch, and therefore no gaskets, case is why Pita's Oceana is water resistant to 5000 meters. That's how deep the watch can go before the crystal cracks. The movement is housed in a solid steel container and is moved using magnets that I think are in between the movement housing and the outer case body. (You can check Pita's website for more details on how exactly it works.)
- Water will absolutely destroy a running quartz movement. Pure H2O isn't itself harmful to a mechanical watch's movement, and it shouldn't affect a quartz movement that's not running.
- Water can do major damage to dials. It can cause enamel to bubble, transport oils to the dial and stain them, and more.
- The concerns with water and mechanical watch movements are:
- As it flushes in and out of the watch, water'll carry the lubricant out of the watch. With no lube, friction is greater and the watch parts wear more readily.
- It just takes miniscule bits of moisture to initiate oxidation on tiny, thin watch parts, which is why many watch parts are rhodium plated; it's very resistant to oxidation.
- Water generally has certain impurities in it. If those impurities, particulate matter as well as chemicals, are left on certain parts, they can also cause corrosion, which will also hasten wear/abrasion
- The short is that if anything gets inside a watch, one needs to go to a watch repair shop right away so that minimally the watch can be dried out, cleaned, and re-lubricated.
- If you wear your watch for extended periods in a a hot tub and sauna, it's extent of water resistance won't be what eventually causes you dismay. The problem is the glue that holds the crystal affixed to the case. Repeated, long exposures to rapidly changing hot and "comparatively" cool temperatures will cause the glue to fail. When it does fail, moisture will enter the watch.
- Whatever WR a watch has will be sufficient for almost all water-related activities one performs at sea level, provided the watch's WR hasn't been compromised by human error or dried out gaskets, glue or seals. Diving, particularly high diving, into a body of watch is the one potential exception. The reason for that is the immediacy of the change in water pressure. The collision with the water's surface can produce pressures greater than the actual pressure at the depth to which the diver descends.
- No extent of water resistance obviates the need to regularly have a watch's water resistance checked and restored as needed. It's simply not the case that watches with 600 meter WR will retain their WR capability longer than watches with 30 meter WR.
And now a question for you: how do you and your watch come by so much heavy water that you need heavy water WR?
All the best. |
I have never had a single watch fail on me by getting water or moisture within the case in over 26 years of use exactly as I've described, and that includes some older cheaper Seikos and same original Baby G stuff when I was younger. Not 1 watch that claimed WR ever failed. . . All have been labled as at least WR 50m. Occasional hottub and sauna use throughout that time. In fact* all but 2 of the watches I've ever owned have been sub $500. I use shampoo and basic body wash and hand soap regularly, and literally only take a watch off to change it or to put my hand or arm in behind drywall etc where the watch could get damaged without me seeing or impede my movement.
We've all read those scare clauses in the manual before, so its nice that you have them memorized and all but keep in mind that mattress tags are full of similar language and the very fact that the product makes the regulatory guideline claim "Water Resistant" means that they'e done extensive testing up to a standardized protocol. The manufacturers have to cover their own asses, however likely the product exceeds the actual claim by at least 25% (Source: 8 years and running in a clinical testing laboratory for Water Resistance, albeit for OTC drug applications).
Also: Saunas are generally going to range up to about 115-120 degrees on the high end, with hot tubs capping out at around 104 degrees. Normal swimming pool water is about 74 degrees. The actual temperature differential is roughly the same with that and the sauna and your homeostasis of 98.6 or so degrees. The hottub is only 6 degrees warmer at the hottest it can safely be. Jump into the ocean anywhere but between the tropics and you're probably talking about a much higher gradient/faster temperature change as the watch hits the water then you could ever accomplish walking into a sauna. Oh, and then there's the Salt or the Chlorine (both much harsher then common dishsoap which has been extensively tested for primary irritation even while drying on the surface of the skin!)!
And on to your last question: experience wise for the last 6 years I've been extensively into diving and have most recently completed a few days around 175 feet drysuit diving on trimix in Northern Ireland at about 36 degrees farenheit. I'm just certifying for my IDC with Padi come January and my sister is a Master Dive Trainer in Grand Cayman. I'm 29 and I've probably logged about 900 dives thus far.
Hopefully that qualifies me for "heavy water resistance"
I'll excuse your slightly professorial condescending tone and I'm willing to accept that my experiences are at best anecdotal evidence, though they have been collected in a variety of exciting exaggerated use conditions. That said, live a little and wear your watch whenever you friggin want in whatever kind of water you want to be in. . . I do, and it makes me happy.