Why do people wear watches in the shower and to bed.....Never could understand it.....

 

does it matter? i dont like taking my watch off its a habbit of mine.

 

I'm not 100% sure of the system employed on the 007 but generally the seal is on the stem (as shown) and the crown just screws down to save it from getting damaged. Some brands have a seal in the crown itself too but I don't think the 007 does. There is also another seal between the back and the case to prevent water ingress.

 

I'm not 100% sure of the system employed on the 007 but generally the seal is on the stem (as shown) and the crown just screws down to save it from getting damaged. Some brands have a seal in the crown itself too but I don't think the 007 does. There is also another seal between the back and the case to prevent water ingress.

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oh boy i didnt ask the question in the right way.
i meant my stem is missing a gasket

 

The only other ways water can penetrate the case are obviously through the crystal gasket, usually a hard nylon material or the caseback gasket which is a long skinny rubber O-ring. Lubricate by rolling it in your fingers with silicone lube and make sure the O-ring seat and O-ring itself is meticulously clean when you replace the caseback, meaning no dust or small particles stuck to it. As you would with the crown stem O-ring.

The missing crown stem seal was very bad luck and poor QC from Seiko.

 

Yeah i guess..but its weird that water can get in from just swimming, not diving. Because everything is screwed down even if it has no gasket it should be waterproof just by screwing it..or am i mistaken?

 

Standard screw threads as on a threaded crown are not enough to provide a water tight seal. You need a seal (e.g. gasket) to keep water out.

 

Ok thanks
So i guess its only because of the stem gasket..how unlucky i am.

 

Without a gasket the crown offers no guarateed protection against water... but a shower means low pressure, something is wrong, open it, dry the moisture and check all seals.

 

Steam from the shower may have had an even easier time working its way up through the threads of the crown into the watch than the water spray.

 

That's a good point about keeping the watch even if the warranty work doesn't work out.

I grew up in a bygone era where watches had no particular water resistance. It isn't hard to keep your watch dry. Take it off when doing the dishes, don't wear it swimming or in the shower, put it in your pocket when it rains. It isn't that big a deal.

My oldest pocket watch is a railroad grade from the early 1900s. No water or dust resistance and used outside for 40 years. No problems.

 

The 007 is rated for 200m of water resistance, if it drowned by taking a shower, I'd be pretty pissed. If new and under warranty I'd demand a replacement and the first thing I'd do with the replacement is submerge it and bathe with it, simply because is a watch that has been designed for it. Now, if you bathe with 130 degree water, so that heat damaged the seals or if you took the watch diving passed 200m, then that is another matter.

 

One answer for this question, though:

Is it possible for water from a shower or swimming to get in the watch even if my crown is screwed down all the way?

What a screw-down crown does is help guarantee that the crown stays pushed in and doesn't get pulled out by accident.

All three of these watches claim 200 meters of water resistance, but only the SKX has a screw-down crown.

 

Color me surprised. I was under the impression that ISO divers had to be individually pressure tested to 125% overpressure.

 

Sometimes a screw down crown can make water-resistance worse. It's not the metal to metal that keeps water out but the gaskets and seals.
If tightening the crown does not compress the gaskets and seals you'll have water issues.

In your case, you mention "fogging," which may or may not be the same as water-resistant. Steam could get in through your crystal and/or back too.

 

The screw down crown is designed to protect the stem which is the weakest part of a watch case. Most screw down crowns except for the current rash of dive watches do not have O-rings or gaskets inside the crown. The Rolex Oyster is one exception to this. Some Rolex models like the Submariner actually have four O-rings in the crown/tube/stem area.

Most stems have a single O-ring and that's what helps keep water and dust from entering at the stem. However that stem has to be pushed all the way in to keep out dust and moisture. If the crown is in the out position like when you set the time water and dust can enter.

My Seiko 007 does not have an O-ring inside the Crown, Like I've already said the screw down mechanism is designed to protect the stem from bangs. You'll notice that most dive watches also have shoulders on both sides of the crown, this is added protection for the crown from bangs.

I wouldn't be surprised if your case was previously opened and either the case back gasket is either damaged or missing. This is easy to check and fix. In the meantime I suggest leaving your watch, crown out position, under a lamp with a 40 watt bulb (12" away from the watch, you don't want to cook your watch, just keep it warm). The heat will help dissipate the moisture that's inside the case.

If you're going to tackle this your self make sure you use a Silicone grease on the case back gasket and threads. The twisting motion tightening down the case back can rip and stretch a dry gasket.

 

As per ISO 6425:

"Resistance to thermal shock. Immersion of the watch in 30±2 cm of water at the following temperatures for 10 minutes each, 40 °C, 5 °C and 40 °C again. The time of transition from one immersion to the other shall not exceed 1 minute. No evidence of water intrusion or condensation is allowed."

That's 104º F to us Yanks. A hot shower is not going to hurt a properly-sealed watch. "Steam," by the way, as we encounter it in a normal shower, is liquid water (if it's hot enough to be gaseous you'll incur some serious burns), with no more ability to penetrate a gasket than what's filling the tub.

 

Agree that, if all seals are intact, wearing an ISO diver in the shower or a hot tub does not pose any danger to the watch.

While visible "steam" is indeed micro droplets of liquid water and not true steam, aka water vapor gas (which is invisible), a volume of water needn't have a bulk temperature of 212F to generate real steam. Puddles still evaporate in the winter when temperature are near freezing. There is some amount of true steam in every breath we take. That there is visible condensing water in the air while taking a hot shower means there's also an elevated level of real steam/water vapor.

 

I came across this image earlier this year and thought it interesting enough to share here.