Moisture is a common problem for watches especially if you live in a humid area where bodies of water are nearby or that it usually rains in that particular locality.
Sometimes, condensation occurs when droplets of water get inside your watch because it isn’t water-resistant or sometimes it may have had went through a lot more than the rated water resistance for its capacity.
When moisture gets inside a wristwatch, it is usually a minor concern that may dry up in a few days, affecting none but the conspicuous presence of droplets inside.
Sometimes, though, the presence of droplets inside may indicate a more serious problem on the watch’s hardware, causing air to flow inside the watch and cause condensation.
Why moisture gets inside wristwatches?
The common problem for moisture getting in watches is a sharp change in temperature from cold to warm. Suspended air particles from outside weather when there is a storm or snowfall may get inside the watch or around it and when you go in a warm area, the droplets liquefy.
This is normal for watches that are not water-resistant and for water-resistant watches that are not highly-rated or fairly old.
Sometimes, when water-resistant watches are exposed underwater for long periods of time in a situation where their water-resistance rating is exceeded by the water pressure, condensation also occurs. For example, a watch that has a WR rating of 50m is left in a washing machine for an hour, it may have small droplets or fog inside the crystal.
Non-water-resistant watches and low-rated watches under extreme pressure are the common victims of condensation inside their crystals. Fortunately, there are a number of ways in order to get rid of these droplets.
As most can be done at home, there are cases when sometimes it may be more beneficial to just bring them to professionals for a more in-depth look at the cause of the problem.
Remove condensation in simple ways
1/ You may leave your watch in a warm place such as placing it near a fireplace, under the sun, a lamp, or any heat source in order to slowly let the droplets evaporate away. Take note though that if this is effective, it might indicate an open area in your watch and that you may want to get it checked out by the manufacturers.
2/ You may also open the crown of the watch and follow the above-mentioned procedure of leaving it at a warm place to evaporate the droplets away from the timepiece. Opening the crown creates an opening for the watch so this will become the passage of air flowing away along with the droplets.
3/ For watches that you can disassemble, you may opt to do so in order to directly remove the fog inside. Screw open the casing, remove the interior parts, and leave them under a lamp or heat source in a place where it isn’t humid in order to completely remove the traces of droplets.
4/ Another way is to remove the crown of the watch and place timepiece inside a container with rice or silica gel. After a day or so, the condensation will be absorbed by the rice or gel as they are effective agents in soaking up water.
Watch the clip below for a great and simple way in removing moisture inside the watch:
Verdict
Watches may be simple timepieces for some, but the value and function it provides is still highly-sought be a lot of people. Taking great care of them is important in prolonging their lifetime and the simple steps mentioned above are tried and tested ways that help provide home-based solutions in case you may need it.
Of course prevention is key to avoiding all of this, and if the problem is severe or if the watch is expensive, you may always opt to bring it to an official dealer of the manufacturer for a sure fix.
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