Pressure testing watches !!!

[Gremlin]

Just over a year ago I bought a brand new Sekonda watch on a charity stall for £10, perfect for work as
they always get scratched.
Battery died so I took it in to get it replaced, guy checked and said £15 !!!
Oh well still cheaper then a new watch.
He put the watch in a glass dome and another lady came in so he asked if I minded
if he served her, no problem, she actually asked what the was doing to the watch,
he said pressure testing it, which was done before and after fitting the new battery
Seems as it is waterproof to 30m they have to, told him of it got that deep it sure wouldn't be on
my arm and I wouldn't be trying to get it back. He stopped the test put the battery in and charged £7

Anyone had that happen to them, I never have before ?

 

[TopBanana]

I've never had that before, but with some "watch battery repairers" I've aftwards been nervous having the watch on in the shower as you don't know if they'll look after the seal properly.
Why did the price reduce from £15 to £7?

 

[TCR4x4]

If it's a diver watch then yes it should be pressure tested. Infact if it's classed as waterproof at all then it should be pressure tested if the back has been removed, otherwise the waterproof-ness can't be gaurenteed.

 

[mrgubby]

I wish my local shop did that, I've just had to replace a watch as it now leaks

 

[Barrysprout]

Last time I took a waterproof watch in for a new battery I was quoted two prices. Cheaper meaning it wasn't guaranteed to the depth stated on the watch.

 

[MartynK]

I've heard of it, but I think you made the right decision. Sekonda's website shows that their 30m 'rating' means the watch should resist rain and accidental splashes etc, but isn't sufficiently waterproof for swimming, let alone scuba diving! (http://www.sekonda.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=Static.faq).

Dive watches are safety critical, and are designed for this. They're expensive, sealed, usually have screw crowns, and are rated to much greater depths from at least 200m.

 

[Peter B]

Sounds like a bargain to me as the last time I got a battery in my sailing watch it was £18 for pressure testing on top of the battery price.

 

[Gremlin]

I've never had that before, but with some "watch battery repairers" I've aftwards been nervous having the watch on in the shower as you don't know if they'll look after the seal properly.
Why did the price reduce from £15 to £7?

I suppose because he didn't test after fitting the battery didn't ask just aid and left.
I find doubling the price just to put it in a dome for a minute a bit excessive TBH
This was a major key cutting cutting place

 

[TopBanana]

I've heard of it, but I think you made the right decision. Sekonda's website shows that their 30m 'rating' means the watch should resist rain and accidental splashes etc, but isn't sufficiently waterproof for swimming, let alone scuba diving! (http://www.sekonda.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=Static.faq).

Dive watches are safety critical, and are designed for this. They're expensive, sealed, usually have screw crowns, and are rated to much greater depths from at least 200m.

I've seen that sort of rating system before but I still don't understand how accidental splash proof can in anyway be equated to 30m! Weird.

 

[TopBanana]

I suppose because he didn't test after fitting the battery didn't ask just aid and left.
I find doubling the price just to put it in a dome for a minute a bit excessive TBH
This was a major key cutting cutting place

Lol, that works out at a good hourly rate doesn't it!

 

[Nod]

Add on the cost of the equipment needed to do the testing and the insurance to cover the chap should a tested watch then leak and that hourly rate drops a bit.

I try to keep all the watches I buy to 10ATM (100m) or deeper spec since then I don't need to worry about them whatever I'm doing. If I was in to SCUBA, I would upgrade at least one of the watches to suit that but 10ATM is plenty for snorkelling - if the watch goes deeper, it's fallen off so the fact that it leaks is irrelevant to me thereafter!

 

[MartynK]

I've seen that sort of rating system before but I still don't understand how accidental splash proof can in anyway be equated to 30m! Weird.

Neither do I, but it's been around for a while and I think it's pretty misleading. A lot of people will think - reasonably enough - that it means they can swim and do other water sports wearing it, because they're not going down more than a couple of metres at the most, and there's a huge safety margin.

I try to keep all the watches I buy to 10ATM (100m) or deeper spec since then I don't need to worry about them whatever I'm doing. If I was in to SCUBA, I would upgrade at least one of the watches to suit that but 10ATM is plenty for snorkelling - if the watch goes deeper, it's fallen off so the fact that it leaks is irrelevant to me thereafter!

Sounds about right. My old Rolex - which wasn't a dive watch - had a 100m rating on the face and a screw crown. I asked the agents about this, and they said it was perfectly safe to swim and snorkel with it, but to buy a dive watch if I wanted to scuba. Some of these are rated for extreme depths, and Rolex claim that an experimental model attached to a submersible worked perfectly at Challenger Deep! (nearly 11,000m). I doubt if this is ever going to be tested by a human though...

 

[Nod]

My Rolex is an Oyster which I think is supposed to be relatively waterproof but I'm not going to put it to the ultimate test! I'm sure it would be fine when washing up and showering but a) I rarely wash up and b) I take off any watch when showering! I've asked the local agent about the proofness depth but they want a significant sum to service and test it and I'm too tight to fork out while it's working fine and keeping relatively good time.

My 3 main waterproof watches are all radio controlled and solar powered so shouldn't need battery replacements for many years.

 

[JonathanRyan]

I've seen that sort of rating system before but I still don't understand how accidental splash proof can in anyway be equated to 30m! Weird.

Pressure of moving water, innit?

IIRC pressure at 30m is aprox 4 bar (it may actually be exactly that for pure water). Mains pressure in the UK is usually somewhere between 3 and 4 bar. So sticking your watch right under a tap that's running off the mains could at most be roughly the same as 30m depth. Of course there will be pressure drops in the system but rating the watch to 4 bar (or 30m) should make it safe for any domestic water splashes.

 

[Mr Bump]

yeah basically it depends what it says on the dial water resistant means washing your hands, accidental dunk in the washing up bowl, you might get away with swimming if the crown seals are fresh, if a dial says water proof which very few do now do to legal issues then its a full screw down crown and back etc with seals, also the manufacturer will insist on a regular service which for rolex is every 2 years for diving.