Hello and good day!
I would like to say how it is such a wonderful and knowledgeable community that has been built here and how I feel privileged to be a member. I do not really go online frequently but I have a lot more amount of spare time now thanks to Covid
Anyway, to my thoughts- I have a 12 year old Explorer and was hoping to find out how dust proof it is with the crown out. I say dust and I mean pocket lint, small fibres, bits of hair, run on the mill house duts (nothing fine like sand etc).
I was preparing my watch for some macro photos with friends when I pulled the crown out and can see what I have heard described as a fine line of gunk across one of the crown threads. I also noticed what looked like a nice little environment of hair and clothing fibre at the base of the crown tube.
It is nothing too serious since I had my camera out I just gently brushed threads with lens cleaning micro cloth and then lightly swept away what I could see with a small soft brush that is used to clean my lens. Finally I finished it off with a few puff of air from the blower I use to remove dust from camera sensor. This look to have removed all of the visible dust and residues from crown area
My question are:
1. How effective is the o-ring around the stem in keeping out dusts? I have heard from research experience here that people have swim fine with crown out accidentally but also that after a hot shower with crown out leads to condensation inside watch. Assuming o-ring seal is in a new watch on a twinlock watch like Explorer.
2. Can dusts and hair enter through open crown and actually work its way into the watch? I did notice I had a hair wrapped around my crown threads since I am a hairy person but for others it might be a fabric thread from a jacket etc. If the crown is closed 99% of time, just opened when winding or setting time, could something actually work itself up threads into the opening of tube and down to the stem? Or is this something Rolex engineers have thought of already?
3. If dusts does enter watch somehow, can it actually damage movement or work its way into the dial where you will just see it one day or is the dial completely separate from movement? Is this something people consider when buying second hand or older watch? Since it is not something easily checkable without a watchmaker or a loupe for the dial.
Thank you for reading this far and providing your input. I hope this thread can also help someone in the future doing research.
Best regards
Rene