Is water resistance a question of faith?
My gada watch claims to be water resistant to 100 meters, but has no screw down crown. I have not checked its gaskets, and even if did, how long can they be expected to hold back the most powerful force on earth?
Even a screw down crowns have limits and are subject to reduced effectiveness over time. But how much time? For those of us who might replace a crystal, the warranty may or may not still be in effect but what about that water risk?
Please share your fears or experience?
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Skilly
Hoosier based world traveler. fascinated/obsessed with watches.
Indiana
Member since
Last active: 5 hrs ago
19.69 cm
I think you have to weigh up how expensive the watch is to service/repair. I don't own very expensive watches so if a seal fails the repair is cheap. However if my watches were expensive I would definitely get the seals replaced regularly.
I prefer a screw down crown. I understand the price point is higher for watches with crew down crowns. Many in WC will say it's no big thing...yet their favorite watches have screw down crowns LOL
I went swimming with a 100M and no screw down crown, no problem at all.
I think people highly overestimate the probability of accidentally knocking the crown up and letting water enter the watch. This never happened to me in years, neither on land nor water.
If you wear an expensive watch, don't swim with it period.
My experience with a screw down has been A+
Must have been one blown seal to affect your watch 🤣
It depends. I had my faith shaken once when my CasiOak died in 5 feet of water. But the cost of the watch was low and replaceable. The better test of faith would be if you took your most precious (not necessarily most expensive) watch into the deep waters.
I lost a watch with 50m water resistance to a swim in a hotel pool in Mexico. (Might have been fine in a US or Swiss hotel pool, who knows?)
Modding watches and looking as gaskets, a lot will depend on whether the gaskets were correctly installed and were clean, the watch stem was cut to the correct length, the mating surfaces align, or whether the correct gaskets were used if the watch has been serviced at some point. A good question to ask is: How much do I trust the last person who serviced my watch?
Exposing anything even remotely of value to water might require a pressure test.