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Testing Waterproofing at Home

vext01

By vext01
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

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vext01 Member

vext01

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Hi Folks,

Does anyone know any way to check the waterproof seal on a watch at home, i.e. without expensive testing equipment.

Suppose you've just re-greased the gaskets on a watch you'd like to take swimming...

Thanks!

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jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

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The professional testing is based on pressurized air possibly entering the case. An home based test can at most reveal if there is water doing a condensation, warm up the watch a little like over an heater then let one or two drops of very cold water on the crystal, observe if condensation forms under it.
If you have done everything proper don't worry too much, take a bath or shower then you can do the above.

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vext01 Member

vext01

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Thanks. I didn't know that test!

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If you have done everything proper don't worry too much, take a bath or shower then you can do the above.

Hopefully there's not too much to mess up.

The watch in question isn't very old. I applied a small amount of silicone grease to the case-back gasket and the screw-down crown gasket. I guess that's about as good as it gets :biggrin:

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jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

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2 hours ago, Len33 said:

Divers' excepted, why would anyone want to immerse a watch in water?

Because one can. A significant progress on watch manufactoring is water resistance , that is the ability of keeping it on while doing activities that may involve splashes or immersion, like washing dishes, swimming, or even just a good long shower. We have here various topics on the subject of how to read water resistance ratings. That being said if you don't let your 3 atm and better watches to get close to water, that is your choice of course. 

BTW watches are not much important anymore for "serious" diving except as a show accessory and back up for the diving computer which was introduced 30 years ago. 

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