Comments:
Hi and thanks for your reply..
How can someone tell if a watch becomes magnetized.
kindest regards,
Jack
Magnetic Errors
Hi All,
This may have been done to death.... certainly touched on in many posts..... but have any of you had problems with a modern watch becoming magnetized to the point that it needs rectification.
I can only say that I have never had a problem with Rolex or Omega over a 30 year period. I have also been working with and close to strong magnetic fields during that time.
Further, I believe that modern materials are not prone to magnetic influence.
I am aware of the 'Soft inner iron core" marketing by one maker, but I think that is an unnecessary cure, for a cold that you might never catch.... unless you work in a power generating plant or magnet factory.
Certainly, if buying a gold watch I would prefer to know that the weight I feel is from the gold case, not an inner iron case, back and dial.
I can understand that early watches right up to the mid to late 1900s had a lot of steel parts in addition to the steel springs, and they 'Might" build up some magnetic energy.
I also remember as I was growing up in the 60's that for a while on radio and TV advertising, just about every watch was marketed as 'Anti Magnetic' ..... and I am sure they did not have inner iron cores.... but those same adds boasted of watch's having 7 or even 9 jewels....WOW...... so also they were obviously not what we would consider HH.
So realistically.... with modern metals.... what are the chances of a watch becoming unreliable due to magnetic exposure?
Kindest regards,
Jack
This may have been done to death.... certainly touched on in many posts..... but have any of you had problems with a modern watch becoming magnetized to the point that it needs rectification.
I can only say that I have never had a problem with Rolex or Omega over a 30 year period. I have also been working with and close to strong magnetic fields during that time.
Further, I believe that modern materials are not prone to magnetic influence.
I am aware of the 'Soft inner iron core" marketing by one maker, but I think that is an unnecessary cure, for a cold that you might never catch.... unless you work in a power generating plant or magnet factory.
Certainly, if buying a gold watch I would prefer to know that the weight I feel is from the gold case, not an inner iron case, back and dial.
I can understand that early watches right up to the mid to late 1900s had a lot of steel parts in addition to the steel springs, and they 'Might" build up some magnetic energy.
I also remember as I was growing up in the 60's that for a while on radio and TV advertising, just about every watch was marketed as 'Anti Magnetic' ..... and I am sure they did not have inner iron cores.... but those same adds boasted of watch's having 7 or even 9 jewels....WOW...... so also they were obviously not what we would consider HH.
So realistically.... with modern metals.... what are the chances of a watch becoming unreliable due to magnetic exposure?
Kindest regards,
Jack
definite issues for me
I have definitely had issues with laptops and automatic watches. I owned quartz watches for years without issues.
Over the past couple of years I have tried two Oris models, and a Jaeger le Coultre. All three of them proved to be unreliable due to magnetism issues. I am not talking about a few seconds here or there - the watches would one day be great, and the next day be minutes (or tens of minutes) off. All three of the watches were 'modern', having been manufactured in the past few years. The JLC should not have been affected according to the US JLC technical director - but the problem occurred within a month of owning the piece.
As a last ditch effort to save my passion for automatic watches, I resolved to sticking with watches that have anti-magnetic capabilities.
I am now the happy owner of a couple of IWC's. Both of them (an Ingenieur and a St. Ex UTC) keep great and reliable time.
For what it is worth, I lead a fairly mundane life - there is really no other explanation than working around computers ( I am a software developer).
--Sancerre
Over the past couple of years I have tried two Oris models, and a Jaeger le Coultre. All three of them proved to be unreliable due to magnetism issues. I am not talking about a few seconds here or there - the watches would one day be great, and the next day be minutes (or tens of minutes) off. All three of the watches were 'modern', having been manufactured in the past few years. The JLC should not have been affected according to the US JLC technical director - but the problem occurred within a month of owning the piece.
As a last ditch effort to save my passion for automatic watches, I resolved to sticking with watches that have anti-magnetic capabilities.
I am now the happy owner of a couple of IWC's. Both of them (an Ingenieur and a St. Ex UTC) keep great and reliable time.
For what it is worth, I lead a fairly mundane life - there is really no other explanation than working around computers ( I am a software developer).
--Sancerre
They're real.
I have not had problems with watches becoming seriously magnetized (that is, off by hours per day), but I have noticed that movements are susceptible to being slightly magnetized, with magnetization changing their rate by 5 - 10 seconds per day. Some movements are more susceptible than others. Obviously, for a watch that doesn't keep good time to start with, one will never notice the difference.
Ironically, my biggest cause of magnetization seems to have been a couple of watch winders. They didn't magnetize watches that they were winding, but they seemed to be shielded only in that direct, so leaving a watch near them would tend to magnetize it.
Ironically, my biggest cause of magnetization seems to have been a couple of watch winders. They didn't magnetize watches that they were winding, but they seemed to be shielded only in that direct, so leaving a watch near them would tend to magnetize it.
Thanks... How can you tell if a watch becomes magnatized....
Hi and thanks for your reply..
How can someone tell if a watch becomes magnetized.
kindest regards,
Jack
by observation or w/ equipment
It was really easy for me, all of the watches suddenly and dramatically lost accuracy. For example, instead of gaining a few seconds a day, gaining nearly a minute a day. If you take the watch to a dealer, they can easily detect if if has been magnetised (and they can easily de-magnitize it too).
Kong started a thread on this
with the title
* Magnetism, Have We Missed Out The Obvious? Laptop-Users Be Aware!
Date: Jan 26, 2008,10:33 AM
which is a good place to go for a start!
I demagnetised a watch yesterday that had been gaining 20 sec per day. Now it's down to only five.
amerix
Hi Amerix...How do you demagnetize a watch
Hi Amerix
Tell me how do you demagnatize a watch.
Kindest regards,
Jack
by banging it on a table
Well, what I do is to bring a simple and cheap "throttle" or inductance coil - one I have frequently employed to demagnetize the heads of tape and cassette reorders - by first plugging this longish oval device, with no moving parts, and which fits easily into the palm of my hand, into the power line - say, the wall socket.
Then I move the tip - slowly, slowly downwards - to touch the back of the watch, just over the pulsating hair-spring of the escapement - a bit of tape on it will prevent scratching - and leave it there for several seconds; you can swirl or rotate it, again - slowly, slowly.
Then I withdraw the tip - slowly, always! slowly, upwards - to prevent remagnetization, which can occur with an abrupt withdrawal.
This, albeit primitive, method will surely show an effect if your watch has become magnetized. Whether it is as effective as a more professional device, I really can`t say.
Could it hurt the watch in any way? I doubt that very much! But please don't make me responsible - or liable - for any of the things that we all know can happen!
---
One way to *magnetize* a steel screwdriver is to point it towards North and bang it a few times with a hammer on the grip, or handle. That may be sufficient for it to pick up a loose screw that has fallen into the inner chassis of, say, a hifi amplifier. The earth's magnetic field takes care of that, weak as it is. A soft-iron bar will be more effective to demonstrate that it actually works.
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Watch-making tools, especially those made by hand, can become magnetized, and therefore become themselves magnets and thus magnetize parts of the watch that they are expected to adjust and repair.
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Before we all go mad, one way NOT to demagnitize a watch is to "to point it towards North and bang it a few times with a hammer", etc. But a great test for shocks!
---
My doctor has detected too much iron in my blood. Should I be banged on the head to be magnetized - or remagnetized?
Hope that this has been some interest or service to you,
while returning your Kindest Regards,
Amery
Thanks Amery... I am now a wiser and happier man..
Hi Amery,
I am now a wiser and happier man....
.I am sure many screwdrivers have been pointed north and banged in the last 24 hours.
kindest regards,
Jack
Magnetic and soft inner core?
I own a BALL WATCH Engineer HydroCarbon which uses the soft inner core to give the watch more shielding against magnetic effect. I constantly place my watch around labtop and some time stand infront of loud PS15 Nexo speaker and they still work fine. The watch is heavy on the whole but it is build like a tank and it has being on my hand when i work out in gym and even during army training. I dun think the soft iron core is just for promo but rather depend on how you see it.