Nice review!!

Might get one to pressure check my G Shocks after battery changes.

Cheers!

S.

 

I admit that I've been tempted by those machines me then once... But I dive rarely, often with some cheap watches, and always though the pressure testers, even Chinese, were rather expensive...

 

I've been tempted too but I'm pathetic and don't even take a bath with my watches.

Thanks very much for the review! It is appreciated.

 

Great review and thanks for taking the time to share.

 

Great review and thanks for posting

 

Very cool. You stated "The basic principle of operation is that if the watch had a leak, pressurizing the chamber while being hung in the air will pressurize the inside of the watch case. Then when dipped in the water and relieving some pressure in the "headspace", the air inside the watch case would have a higher pressure and want to escape. Since the watch is inside the water, the escaping air will appear in the form of bubbles (streaming out of the area where it is leaking)."

So does this mean that IF the watch was NOT sealed properly, water would not enter the watch and ruin it due to the pressure escaping OUTWARD from the case? TIA.

 

Very cool. You stated "The basic principle of operation is that if the watch had a leak, pressurizing the chamber while being hung in the air will pressurize the inside of the watch case. Then when dipped in the water and relieving some pressure in the "headspace", the air inside the watch case would have a higher pressure and want to escape. Since the watch is inside the water, the escaping air will appear in the form of bubbles (streaming out of the area where it is leaking)."

So does this mean that IF the watch was NOT sealed properly, water would not enter the watch and ruin it due to the pressure escaping OUTWARD from the case? TIA.

Correct.
Provided that you remove the watch from the water very soon after you see the bubbles escaping and you have waited long enough for the inside of the watch to really be pressurized. The differences between inside and outside do equalize rather quickly if the leak is not very small.

 

Thank you for this review. I've wanted one of these. Mind posting the link to the ebay listing?

 

I don't want to endorse any single seller, but I believe the Chinese testers are pretty much the same.

Do a search on this term:
6 bar Watch Waterproof Tester Multi use Watch Case Water Resistant Test Machine

I noticed that for a dollar more, they sell a tester with a hose and valve for a compressor hook up. Mine has the connector in the back, but did not come with the hose / valve.

Time to have fun with all my G-Shocks.

 

Great review on something out of the ordinary. Good pictures too.

 

One piece of advice: Do the test "dry" first. This means no water in the chamber.

The reason is the watch might have an issue with the crystal seal (common area for a leak). If the crystal seal is compromised, when you release the chamber pressure the crystal is liable to pop off the watch case. The higher pressure in the watch case will just pop the crystal right out.

If this were to occur while the watch was submerged, you would be looking at some serious damage to the dial and movement. For safety's sake, do dry test, then do a wet test.

As an aside, this is exactly while some watch which are advertized as "pilot's" watch have crystals which are screwed into the case. If the watch was ever in a low pressure environment (i.e. depressurized aircraft) a screwed in crystal is more likely to stay put than a pressed in crystal.

 

wouldn't pressurized air apply a lot less pressure than it would be in water? Dry tests are still always good though

 

Spot on review,very educational.Off to feebay now..

Many thanks for the effort.

 

Bought one based on your review. Received it today. Playing with it right now....

 

how do you like it?

 

Good write out.

 

Thanks for the great review. I'd love to get a pressure tester but the Bergeon - while I'm sure it's great - is just to much to justify on a hobby. But at around $200 it could be a go.

How do you pressurise the cylinder if not using a compressor? Is it just hand pumped?

 

Thanks for the review - I bought one based on it. I managed to find one that had exactly the same markings as yours.

It used it for the first time yesterday and it worked perfectly. I didn't have any problems with the release valve as noted above.

One question: if the watch is rated to 30m do you only increase the pressure to 30m to see if it holds at that pressure? If it fails, would you repeat at 20m and see if it holds? The alternative that I did, which I think now was wrong, was I raised the pressure to 60m, let the watch equalise, put it into the water, and released the pressure 10m at a time to see when the bubbles would emerge. They did at after 10m which told me it didn't even have 10m WR.

 

@tk1971
@samanderson
@cpl

How are your pressure testers holding up?

 

That's really cool. I'd love to have one of these but it's pretty dear even at $150.

 

If it is good quality that will last for a long time, I don't think the price is too bad. Thats why I want to know how they are holding up over time

 

Oh no argument there, I just meant for me personally. I'd sooner put that towards another watch or some other frivolous thing.

 

Probably a good idea
I don't believe this is something everybody needs to have. But for me, who are getting into modding and potentially repairing watches, something like this could be really helpful.
My collection is also increasing, so it would be great to have the possibility to pressure test them all regularly.

I'm waiting patiently to hear if the owners of this device are still happy.

 

I've only used mine a few times. It does the job. Problem is more operator related. I find the case has so many pockets of trapped air that as you release the pressure you see all these bubbles appearing all over the case. I'm assuming that if there's a leak there would be a constant stream of bubbles rather than bubbles just sitting there.

I did have a bit of a mishap. When I tested my modded SKX with an aftermarket sapphire, the crystal popped off whilst underwater. Destroyed the movement but I have spares. I don't know if the problem is with the crystal, how I installed it, or how I released the pressure. I was testing another modded SKX with a stock Seiko crystal at the same time - that one passed fine.

If you open your cases often, it's worth getting. You'll make the cost back over time. I would usually pay AUD 40 for pressure testing so it only takes 5 watches to make the cost back.

 

Ouch, I feel for you. Popping the crystal is the big fear with this type of test.
I have read a good tip: test the watch for a full cycle with pressurizing and decompression above water before doing the wet test. If the crystal pops, at least it is not under water.

Also, the pressure should be released slowly. Is this easily done with this tester?

 

Good tip depressurising above the water first.

I think I released the pressure too quickly. You have to tap the pressure release so it's possible to release it slowly.

I should add that with the 2nd SKX with the stock crystal, I had removed the crystal and reinstalled it to change the chapter ring so I don't think my workmanship was at fault. I still don't know if the problem is the aftermarket crystal. Sometime I will pop the damaged movement back in and retest it.

 

If the crystal pops, it is because of a leak, not necessarily in the crystal.

If you have a screw down crown, like the skx, why not test the empty case, just to be completely safe?

 

Been a while. The tester is doing fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I have been wanting one for a while myself. About 2 1/2 years ago I bought this vintage Mido watch water tester off of Ebay for under $100. I believe it is 1950's era. Unfortunately it is made for testing watches of the era that were fairly small by todays standards. None of my diver style watches will fit in the opening and my smallest is about 38mm without the crown. It only tests up to 4 bar and I think the seals need to be replaced on it, as it is hard to hand pump the air pressure up in it, but it is a neat piece of watch history. Maybe I can use it to secretly test one of my wife's watches.

I may have to purchase one of the Chinese made ones in the future, they seem to be very good for the price.

 

Overall, I am happy with mine. The build quality is great. Feels really solid.
The only complaint I have, is that the rod on mine is too long.
This makes most watches scrape the bottom when the rod is secured.
Apparently there are different versions of the tester, and I didn't notice this design flaw before getting it.
I will have to modify it at some point.

 

I have been looking for a watch water pressure tester for sometime. I think this thread answers some of my questions. Thanks to all. |>

 

I would like to add a cautionary advice regarding these Chinese pressure testers.

I have one like the OP's and it failed under pressure shooting the cover and the watch across the room. Fortunately the watch was rather inexpensive, and survived pretty much undamaged nonetheless due to a very fortunate landing... And also fortunately, I was not in the line of fire !

Anyway, the problem is that the pivoting threaded posts that are used to secure the cover are made of steel, and are attached with steel pins to the side pillars that are made of aluminum, which is much softer.

After a number of uses the pressure on the pins caused the enlargement of the holes on the pillars. One of the pins worked it's way out and the cover was shot away across the room.

I replaced the aluminium pillars with steel threaded posts and the tops don't pivot anymore. It is a bit more work for closing and opening the cylinder, but it is now completely secure.

Just wanted to let people know that this could happen with these devices and it could be a costly accident.

 

Could you post a link to the mod for the pressure tester?