Condensation and unscrewed crown?

[pevadijk]

Ok, maybe this is a stupid question, but......
Yesterday I picked up my 2021 Datejust from my safe and since it had been there for about a week, it's wasn't running ;-)

So I unscrewed the crown to wind it, but since my watch was rather cold it was covered with condensation within seconds, is this bad with the crown unscrewed and is it possible that condensation entered the watch?

[HiBoost]

It's hard to speculate exactly what did or didn't happen. Millions of people unscrew their crowns to reset the time when they arrive at a island for vacation. The air is probably 95% humidity. There may not be a temperature differential to see condensation, but moist air could potentially enter regardless. That said, the stem of the watch should still be in contact with a seal even when the crown is unscrewed. It won't have full depth water resistant capabilities of course, but there shouldn't be a open "hole" where air can just "blow in", if that makes sense.

On a related topic, I've seen posts before about watches being damaged over the long term due to the internal conditions in a safe. Ideally your safe should be a reasonable temperature and a reasonable humidity. If you are pulling a watch out and it feels noticeably cold or wet, you may want to evaluate the environment. Would be a shame if the thing designed to keep your watches safe actually causes them to be damaged.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by pevadijk

. . .

So I unscrewed the crown to wind it, but since my watch was rather cold it was covered with condensation within seconds, is this bad with the crown unscrewed and is it possible that condensation entered the watch?

No, it has no affect.

When you unscrew the crown you are not opening up a hole to the inside of your watch, the seals are inside the watch and work all of the time.

[pevadijk]

Originally Posted by Tools

No, it has no affect.

When you unscrew the crown you are not opening up a hole to the inside of your watch, the seals are inside the watch and work all of the time.

Thanks!
And since my watch is only 4 months old, there's no need to worry about the quality of the seals

[pevadijk]

Originally Posted by HiBoost

On a related topic, I've seen posts before about watches being damaged over the long term due to the internal conditions in a safe. Ideally your safe should be a reasonable temperature and a reasonable humidity. If you are pulling a watch out and it feels noticeably cold or wet, you may want to evaluate the environment. Would be a shame if the thing designed to keep your watches safe actually causes them to be damaged.

Thanks, I have some things to think about, maybe I should move the safe away from the brick wall.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Tools

No, it has no affect.

When you unscrew the crown you are not opening up a hole to the inside of your watch, the seals are inside the watch and work all of the time.

I’m with Larry on this thread.

Had the condensation been inside the watch I may have agreed more with Jeff.

I take it the condensation was outside?

[pevadijk]

Originally Posted by Andad

I take it the condensation was outside?

Yes, just the outside. I suspect that my hands were a bit 'hot' after washing my hands and the watch was colder, since the condensation was 'heavy' on the parts that I touched with my fingers.
But maybe I'm just overthinking the situation, most will people would probably just wipe it off and be done with it.

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by Andad

I’m with Larry on this thread.



Had the condensation been inside the watch I may have agreed more with Jeff.

? I literally said the exact same thing he said - the stem has a seal and there is open no hole where air can just "blow in". This assumes the watch is in good condition of course.

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