A watch enthusiast's nightmare
Most of us here find happiness in wearing our wristwatches. Whether during daytime at work, during nighttime at home, or during weekends going on adventures. For those who always enjoy wearing their watches, one of the most frustrating scenarios is when you cannot wear any of your watches. Not because you, or someone doesn't want you to wear one, but because you just can't. You see, I developed some sort of a contact dermatitis on my left wrist due to irritation caused by wearing watches. This all started with my obsession of tight-fitting bracelets. So I started adjusting most of my watch bracelets to hug my wrist tightly. I just don't like the idea of my watches hanging loose on my wrist. Especially when wearing my watch outdoors. Then gradually, I started noticing some irritation on my left wrist. Then little by little, it develops into a bulk of tiny open wounds due to excessive irritation. It came now to a point where I can no longer endure wearing any type of wristwatches on my left wrist. The only choice I have is for me to wait for the open wounds to completely heal and dry up, before I can wear my watches again. Just wanted to share this to all of you just so you'll be aware of some of the risks of tight-fitting bracelets.
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
Um..you should have seen that coming and taken action before it got that bad.
Just sayin'
Do you have a nickel allergy? That sucks!
Sorry brother. I also wear my straps and bracelets pretty snug because I hate when watches move at all on my wrist and I I also sleep in my watches. Plus I dual weild watches on both wrists lol. I Also suffer from dermatitis but not in the wrists. It usually happens on my face in the winter. Anyways I feel your pain and am going to be more aware of my skin after reading this. Hope it clears up soon and your not in to much pain.
Cheers 🍻
You can wear the watch on the other wrist. Might be weird though.
Take the watches off the metal bracelets and put them on nato straps.
Um..you should have seen that coming and taken action before it got that bad.
Just sayin'
Agreed if you wear anything too tightly it’s gonna cause irritation and a rash…put some Neosporin on it and learn from this 🫡
For years I experienced the same thing. Went to numerous medical specialists and they all had the same prognosis- dermatitis eczema. I figured it was due to stress, diet, etc. finally one day I figured I was allergic to metals. I use to wear rings, necklaces, and all metal watches.
Prior to figuring this out I tried adjusting diet, exercising more and drinking more water to no avail. One day I decided to take off everything metallic and everything cleared up.
It is difficult for watch connoisseurs to get around given the hobby/way of life. With small adjustments it has worked for me. These adjustments are NATO straps, clear back stickers for case backs, and even wooden watches. I use a strategy of all these.
Others that I have not tried are using clear nail policy varnish on the back of a watch (but have heard good things about it), titanium watches, and PVD coated materials. You’ll have to be patient and experiment.
I can now enjoy watches again after a long hiatus.
Best of luck!
You might just have dry skin, I lotion my wrist every day and every night 💁🏻♂️. If that dose not solve the issue you can always just use NATO straps.
Silver lining: you can even out your watch tan line while everything heals.
Also, it might not even be a nickel allergy. The cause of your problems can simply be caused by gunk on the watch.
Buy an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Take off your bracelet and clean it.
The two times I’ve had your problem it was traced to gunk on watch. Once, I didn’t de-sticker a new watch properly, and the second, I didn’t clean an aftermarket Seiko bracelet before putting it on my wrist. So. Much. Gunk. On that bracelet.
Stop wearing them at night.
Here’s to a speedy recovery - take good care! Won’t be long before you will enjoy wearing your watches again 🤙❤️
Man I'm very sorry for that.
I don't know what kind of watches you wear before. Actually in case of an nickel alergy this might happend to any 316L steel.
But in case of Ali-Express "homage" watches it is much more likely to happen.
That watches are made under worst conditions with worst materials. Their mixture of steel is made of different cheap scrap metals and used chemicals which should be used (later all dumped into the next nearby rivers).
But there might be hope. Ceramic watches or Titanium.
But stay away from Ali Express stuff.