Demagnetize, lesson learned, good lesson.
Hi Crunchers,
I’ve been putting my automatics on the time grapher as I wear them lately. Today I’m wearing my CW C60 Pro 300, and tested it. Holy crap, +24sec a day, 0.5 beat error and 298 amplitude, those last two aren’t bad but when new it was +3, 0.0 and 300. 24+ is a deal breaker. I was mortified at such degradation on a watch that I’ve held in such high regard for workmanship and quality and the highly respected SW200-1 movement. I’m trying to decide if I need to send it back for service or warranty or just what.
Then I remembered, I have a cheap little demag machine! So I drag it out and demag it, twice, and low-and-behold….drum roll…+5, 0.0, 316!
Too many stray magnets in our modern world, the little buggers are everywhere just waiting to mess up you fine timepieces…. Or you can buy a Milgaus. (I know, they stopped making them but you can still get one.)
I’ve worn watches my whole life with some Rolexs bought 40 years ago when an average employed guy could afford them and Seikos a Timex or two long gone. Nothing special until I recently got a little m...
I had the same happen to me.
That's pretty horrific, assumed there's a higher degree of anti-magnetism in modern movements.
At least it's an easy fix, I'll check my Seiko's &
Ill stick to my very non magnetic Omega. 😉👍
That's pretty horrific, assumed there's a higher degree of anti-magnetism in modern movements.
At least it's an easy fix, I'll check my Seiko's &
Ill stick to my very non magnetic Omega. 😉👍
The standard antimagnetic movement is able to withstand something like a fridge magnet. They are antimagnetic, but not by much. Of course, lots of movements can handle more but that’s somewhat standard for modern mechanical movements.
Wow! I’ll
Have to grab me a demagnetizer machine. Thanks for the heads up.
I'm just waiting for my demag to arrive from Amazon 🤷♂
Cell phones, tablets, PC's, etc are usually the biggest culprits. Especially when the watch head sits in close proximity over night for hours.
I’ll have to grab on of these.
Thanks for the tip! I was on the fence about getting a demagnetizer but now I’m on the prowl. 🕶️
Exactly, you hear a lot the sentiment of “don’t worry about magnetism if you don’t work around an MRI”, but that’s definitely wrong.
As someone who did work on MRIs, ironically you don’t have to worry about a modern 3T MRI. Because if you made the mistake of going into the bore with a ferrous hairspring watch, it would not magnetize your watch, it would probably flat out mangle any ferrous hairsprings into clumps. In other words, you would notice. Because your watch won’t be magnetized, it will be broken.
Magnetization by our common everyday devices though - they are harder to notice. -10s here, +15s there - that’s what actually happens when you put your watch near the common magnets in tablets or laptops or phones. And yeah, if you’re someone who doesn’t notice +30s a day, then sure, you don’t have to worry about it. But it’s wrong to think that there is not a magnetization problem for ferrous hairsprings in this day and age.
To all, I got the demag on Amazon and it was only $11.50. Well worth it.
+24spd? That’s a mere blip!
This was my Baltic Aquascaphe earlier in the year (now back to +8spd after a demagnetizer like yours):
You can also download a magnetic field detector app.
With it you can check if the watch is magnetised and how much.
It also helped me find out wich devices created the culprit magnetic fields. Turns out, my watch box was near a pretty strong magnetic field that came from my radio alarm clock’s speaker.
I remember that the standard, non COSC submitted movements had a upper limit range of +/- 30 seconds a day. Unless CW advertised this as better than that range, this doesn’t surprise me.
You can also download a magnetic field detector app.
With it you can check if the watch is magnetised and how much.
It also helped me find out wich devices created the culprit magnetic fields. Turns out, my watch box was near a pretty strong magnetic field that came from my radio alarm clock’s speaker.
I used the app. on my iPad this morning. It’s called Lespi but as far as I can tell it’s no longer supported.
My next grail is to get a watch with an anti-mag feature like a Sinn, Ball, or really save up for an Aqua Terra.
I learned a big lesson with my dresskx. Do not leave them on top of your iPad (with the magnetic cover) over night.
Never thought about it until then. I just wanted a soft surface for the watch over night in a hotel… 😥
Cell phones, tablets, PC's, etc are usually the biggest culprits. Especially when the watch head sits in close proximity over night for hours.
Also chargers & cases for those devices.
This wont bother me at all but good to know!
As cheap as demagnetizers are versus how many magnetic fields your watch encounters daily, it's a no-brainer.