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Old 14 May 2021, 11:25 AM   #1
jzeigler
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Moisture inside watch: How much damage has been done

Hey all,

I have a 16800 matte dial sub, which I bought a few months ago from a reputable dealer. Been wearing it pretty much every day since then, and have had no issues until today when I gave the dog a bath. About 10 minutes afterword the crystal had fogged up. It stayed fogged up for probably about an hour or maybe a little more? When it started to clear, there were 2-3 very tiny beads of condensation visible on the inside of the crystal.

I took it home and it has been sitting in a bag full of silica gel packets for a few hours. It looks completely fine, is running fine, and there's no visible damage to the dial. All the advice I've seen on here is to get it serviced immediately, and I am going to try to do that, but I don't have a local watchmaker and I'm wondering just how much of a rush I need to be in to get the watch serviced to avoid any lasting damage to the movement or the dial. I realize that I shouldn't wear it until that's done.
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Old 14 May 2021, 11:30 AM   #2
donq
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I have had a couple of watches that fogged up several times.

I always took the caseback off and let it dry out, and never had any issues.

Probably want to get that looked at.
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Old 14 May 2021, 11:43 AM   #3
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Update: I was able to get the caseback off. Current situation pictured below.


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Old 14 May 2021, 12:12 PM   #4
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You should get it serviced anyway. A Submariner should not fog up from a dog bath.
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Old 14 May 2021, 02:49 PM   #5
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You should get it serviced anyway. A Submariner should not fog up from a dog bath.
agree.

I think the matte dials will react differently to a gloss dial when moisture gets in. Worth getting it looked at.
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Old 14 May 2021, 03:06 PM   #6
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You should get it serviced anyway. A Submariner should not fog up from a dog bath.
This.

It should be waterproof to 300 m. I'm assuming you don't have a Godzilla-sized dog and an extremely deep bath, of course.

New gaskets, crystal and crown/stem. I'd also get a movement service after water ingression.
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Old 14 May 2021, 09:01 PM   #7
jzeigler
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Okay, understood that it needs a full service. Does any have any thoughts on how urgent this now that the fogging went away and it’s been sitting in a container of desiccant for a day? Will it matter if I wait a month or do I need to try to do this immediately?


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Old 14 May 2021, 09:23 PM   #8
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Will it matter if I wait a month or do I need to try to do this immediately?
Why wait a month? If it's due to Covid concerns, then your health is higher priority and it might be a good idea to wait.

If not, get it done now. It might be alright in a month, but it might not. It's a gamble. Water effs up movements and dials.
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Old 14 May 2021, 11:17 PM   #9
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Watch this video ... your watch is compromised so you need to get it serviced so it will once again be waterproof.

In the video, he goes into what a Rolex sub should be able to endure.

https://youtu.be/3UHBHLzM6Cg


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Old 14 May 2021, 11:24 PM   #10
jzeigler
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Why wait a month? If it's due to Covid concerns, then your health is higher priority and it might be a good idea to wait.

If not, get it done now. It might be alright in a month, but it might not. It's a gamble. Water effs up movements and dials.
Well, I don't have a local watchmaker I trust, and the ones who have established reputations on these forums tend to have a waitlist. I know it's a sapphire sub so not exactly the most delicate or rare watch in the world, but I'm still wary of taking the watch to someone who I don't know to be good for this kind of work. If it's fine to wait I would send it to someone elsewhere, but if it's urgent I can take it to someone local sooner.
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Old 14 May 2021, 11:32 PM   #11
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I would just send it to the RSC in Dallas or NYC. Call them and they will send you a shipping box and instructions.

All the best.
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Old 15 May 2021, 01:42 AM   #12
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I recommend Phillip Ridley, he should be able to turn it around in 2-3 weeks for you. I just used him for my GMT 1675 Pepsi and he was fabulous.
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Old 15 May 2021, 05:34 AM   #13
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There is no magical mystery to cause water or moisture that is inside the watch to transfer to the silica pouches. It is doing nothing. I have had a watch fog before and the best advice is to unscrew the crown, remove the back, set it face down on the crystal and lightly use a hair dryer on it. If you can't remove the back, follow the other steps and get it to a watchmaker as soon as possible.

There is no way bags of rice or the silica pads will transfer moisture to them unless water is dripping out of the watch. It will remove moisture from the air surrounding the bag but that's about it.
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Old 15 May 2021, 05:48 AM   #14
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Assuming the bath wasn't salt water, that the amount of condensation was pretty small, and that you got everything dried out pretty quickly, then this is not an urgent situation - provided of course you do not again wear the watch until its water resistance can be re-established. The reason for urgency would be the potential for salt or continued moisture exposure to corrode the movement. If the movement is clean and dry now, then no further damage will be done. However, I'd still move quickly to get the watch serviced as new moisture can clearly get in.
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Old 15 May 2021, 06:08 AM   #15
Dan S
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There is no magical mystery to cause water or moisture that is inside the watch to transfer to the silica pouches. It is doing nothing. I have had a watch fog before and the best advice is to unscrew the crown, remove the back, set it face down on the crystal and lightly use a hair dryer on it. If you can't remove the back, follow the other steps and get it to a watchmaker as soon as possible.

There is no way bags of rice or the silica pads will transfer moisture to them unless water is dripping out of the watch. It will remove moisture from the air surrounding the bag but that's about it.
Good advice.

In principle, the silica packets could ensure that the environment is dry, which increases the evaporation rate. But in most indoors environments the air is already pretty dry, so this would only be a minor benefit.

In addition to a hair dryer, applying modest continual heat is a good idea since the rate of evaporation increases significantly with temperature. A heat lamp is nice because you can just leave the watch under it. In general, heat is definitely more helpful than rice or silica gel.
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Old 15 May 2021, 04:44 PM   #16
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The corrosion process will have started . Time for an overhaul I’m afraid
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Old 15 May 2021, 08:18 PM   #17
Harmon Rabb
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Happened to me once that I got condensation inside the crystal after a quick swim in the ocean. I opened the crown and took a very hot stone from the sand and held it against the crystal and the condensation disappeared quickly.

Later I had a watchmaker look at the watch. He changed the seals and crystal and it was good to go. No harm done.
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Old 15 May 2021, 11:59 PM   #18
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Take it to a RSC and get it checked.
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Old 16 May 2021, 08:25 AM   #19
Tavli3
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Put Saran Wrap over that bowl, silica pouches only work in a sealed environment. Leave it sealed for a couple of days then I would stick watch in fridge after removing from silica bowl. Your fridge is a great dehumidifier. Leave in fridge overnight. Put some lubricant on the gasket to improve seal. Put caseback on while still in fridge to reduce chance of any humidity getting inside watch.

Then give the dog another bath. If condensation appears again get it serviced ASAP. Ridley will get it solved for u.


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Old 19 May 2021, 06:13 PM   #20
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Sounds to me like you very likely have a bad crystal gasket.

They get brittle and if the watch takes a hard bump...you may fracture the gasket without knowing it..and when it gets wet...it leaks. Luckily you weren't white water rafting...I had a friend bang his DJ on the rocks doing that and it filled up full of water.
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Old 29 May 2021, 03:40 AM   #21
jzeigler
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Sent it to Phillip Ridley. He was great: transparent, communicative, and a quick turnaround. There was no damage from the moisture (result of a dry crystal gasket and cracked case stem) and he rid my watch of its unwanted cyclops while it was there.


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Old 29 May 2021, 04:07 AM   #22
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Looks great, and a wise decision
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Old 29 May 2021, 05:39 AM   #23
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Looks great, and a wise decision
Absolutely....plus sans the cyclops
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Old 29 May 2021, 08:08 AM   #24
zapokee
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...and cracked case stem
Do you mean the crown tube? How would it get cracked?
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