[bleddrewsoe]

Has anyone ever had to deal with one of their watches being magnetized? What is the fix for this...Can a watch become unmagnatized all of a sudden?:think:

 

[Ray MacDonald]

Has anyone ever had to deal with one of their watches being magnetized? What is the fix for this...Can a watch become unmagnatized all of a sudden?:think:

I know enough about this to be dangerous...but here goes. :-S
Generally strong magnetic fields affect watches by magnetizing the balance spring. Most watches today have antimagnetic shielding to prevent this happening. Have you been wearing your watch while getting an MRI or working with one?
The balance spring getting magnetized usually results in poor timekeeping and you have to send the watch to a service center where they can take it apart and degauss it. It won't spontaneously demagnetize itself once magnetized.
But this hardly ever happens today. It was a big problem in the 1940s-1950s when railroad engineers had their old pocket watches and started driving diesels with huge electric motors.
Can you give a few more symptoms or reasons why you think your watch may be magnetized. Gold watches are a bit more susceptible to magnetizing.

 

[ericavery]

I know a little less probaly but here it goes. Magnetic fields magnitizes the entire watch, but it is noticed in the escapement due to the mechanical nature of the watch. If 2 gears get magnitized it will not effect the time keeping because they are gears under presure. The escapement is the heart or regulator of the watch. If a watch gets magnitized ie. you have reason to believe you exposed the watch to a strong magnetic field, and it stared running fast about the same time, take it to a watch maker and it will not take him any time to demag. it. Tried to keep it short and sweet, but you can write pages on the topic.

 

[bleddrewsoe]

I know enough about this to be dangerous...but here goes. :-S
Generally strong magnetic fields affect watches by magnetizing the balance spring. Most watches today have antimagnetic shielding to prevent this happening. Have you been wearing your watch while getting an MRI or working with one?
The balance spring getting magnetized usually results in poor timekeeping and you have to send the watch to a service center where they can take it apart and degauss it. It won't spontaneously demagnetize itself once magnetized.
But this hardly ever happens today. It was a big problem in the 1940s-1950s when railroad engineers had their old pocket watches and started driving diesels with huge electric motors.
Can you give a few more symptoms or reasons why you think your watch may be magnetized. Gold watches are a bit more susceptible to magnetizing.

Ray, I had a Unitas watch for a few months that had been consistantly -8 secs per day that all of a sudden was running 1 hour fast per day which led me to believe that the watch got magnetized. It was like this for a week before mysteriosly going back to normal...

I do not believe that the watch came into contact with any strong magnetic fields, but that was the only explanation that made sense to me...:think:

 

[Ray MacDonald]

Ray, I had a Unitas watch for a few months that had been consistantly -8 secs per day that all of a sudden was running 1 hour fast per day which led me to believe that the watch got magnetized. It was like this for a week before mysteriosly going back to normal...

I do not believe that the watch came into contact with any strong magnetic fields, but that was the only explanation that made sense to me...:think:

Could be just a bit of dirt or sticky oil in the balance pivots that took the watch out of beat and then got rubbed away. Or maybe the balance spring got a little out of whack due to gravity. I have a Waltham wind-up that gains 15 minutes a day in the dial-up position but runs fine when I wear it. You could ask your watchmaker to check it out on a timing machine when you next get it serviced.

 

[MusicPDX]

I just learned this could be a problem! I regularly move audio equipment with big magnets/electrical fields. My Vostok, which I wear during those projects, has been going runaway-fast despite adjustment to the slowest setting. I held a good compass to it, and wow, it's definitely magnetized. "North" arrow snaps due east. Bought a de-gausser and will give that a try when it gets here. Perhaps it will make a difference in its timekeeping ability.

My Sinn is also magnetized unfortunately, but only runs about 7 sec a day fast. I'll degauss it too and see what happens. I used to keep almost perfect time.

 

[lam3r]

You can use this kind of old soldering iron to demagnetise:

(I just HAD to comment in a zombie thread )

 

[MusicPDX]

You can use this kind of old soldering iron to demagnetise

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have one of those either but do have a de-magnetizer coming in the mail

 

[rmeron]

Can an airport x-ray magnetize a watch, since you have to put it through the machine?

 

[docvail]

Can an airport x-ray magnetize a watch, since you have to put it through the machine?

Very unlikely.

A watch generally becomes magnetized from being exposed to a strong magnetic field over time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[rmeron]

Thank you docvail. My wife and I are going to Alaska in June and I don't want to ruin my watch.

 

[El Gato]

The other possibility is that you are developing super powers and your body is developing a magnetic field, the power of which you could choose to use for either good...or evil. Try pointing you arm at a spoon from across the room and see if you can make it come to you...

lol....sorry its Friday and it's been a long week! ;-)

My dad was a watchmaker, he said a lot of times magnetic effects are a reason for inaccuracy in mechanicals, and it's the first thing he would check before otherwise investigating or adjusting a watch that is not running as it should be.