zivadavis 0 Posted January 6, 2011 bought a sterile custom homage handwind 44mm panerai style watch from a trusted dealer here on rwg..nicely made and well finished....it has kept good time gaining about 2 or 3 seconds per day, every day, and has been reliable as can be until today.....all of a sudden it is gaining at least five minutes every hour......never overwound, never banged into anything, never dropped........no trauma or sudden jolts to the watch at all what makes a watch suddenly speed up and gain time like its got a mind of its own...... is it an easy fix or is the piece now a parts depot? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rc42 0 Posted January 6, 2011 Exposure to a strong magnetic field can do that to a watch by affecting the balance wheel spring, this is where the drive for non magnetic materials such as the new Rolex parachrom (?) come from. A sharp knock shuch as being dropped could also mess up the regulation. I'm assuming that you didn't open up the back and start messing with things "just for fun" Is it a consistent gain per hour or is it all over the place, gaining some hours but not others? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zivadavis 0 Posted January 6, 2011 nope.....didnt open the back so to speak and diddle around......i dont have the tools, skills, nor time to do that........now that you mention strong magnetic fields maybe i walked through one when i took a short cut through the radiology department today on the way to the neurosurgical icu......however, the mri machines which have VERY strong magnetic fields are in another part of the building and are shielded to protect everyone from such things as well as erasing magnetic media or jamming data strips on credit cards or identification strips which are used as keys...that said i still could have been exposed somewhere here in the hospital i havent hit or knocked the watch i am aware of...... i already have one watch going back to getat so i maight as well include this second one......unless you guys have a better solution.....my regular watch place is a "no rep" zone for sure......maybe someone can guide me to that watch guy near las vegas who is willing to work on reps Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zivadavis 0 Posted January 6, 2011 also....to answer your other quetion.....it gains 5 minutes per hour consistently now.....i reset the watch and four hours later it had gained 20 minutes tonight very strange as it had consistently gained about 2-3 seconds per day for weeks prior to this anomaly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wat44 0 Posted January 6, 2011 ok - just some lateral thinking from a non-expert: it was ALWAYS naturally 5 mins fast but being "braked" for some reason. then, whatever was acting as a brake is now gone, and its showing its true self of being fast. just thinking out loud Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
offshore 0 Posted January 6, 2011 Stick it thru a demag, that will tell a story! 5 mins/hour is the sort of gain seen with watches with a magnetised hair spring. O/S Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rc42 0 Posted January 6, 2011 ok - just some lateral thinking from a non-expert: it was ALWAYS naturally 5 mins fast but being "braked" for some reason. then, whatever was acting as a brake is now gone, and its showing its true self of being fast. just thinking out loud The Seiko Springdrive is the only movement I know that regulates using a 'brake' feature, it that case its an electromagnetic one controlling a continuous smooth rotation, the seconds hand sweep on those is amazing to watch, perfectly smooth, and they have the accuracy of a quartz. For a mechanical watch (in dumbed down terms), the regulation is set by the speed and rotation angle of the balance wheel, each movement back and forth releases a tiny amount of the mainspring's stored energy to rotate a gear which in turn moves all of the gears in the watch, including those connected to the hands. Regulation adjustment is done through tiny changes to the length and tension of the hairspring which is inside the balance wheel, however, if the hairspring becomes magnetised it has a much greater effect than its length and the balance wheel rotates through a smaller angle and hence releases energy into the gears faster. Demagnetising the hairspring will be required, the fine adjustment will never move it back that much, a good watchsmith should be able to do it though. good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted January 6, 2011 ...it's not necessarily caused by being magnatised, although everyone is correct in that this can be the cause. More likely with Asian movements (that aren't assembled with the same cleanliness/controls as the gen factories) is that the hairspring is gummed up/dirty or tangled. A quick cure I've used over the years is to remove the case back and with a dust blower aim a few sharp blasts of air at the hairspring...if the watch is running while you do this you'll know if it's worked as the balance wheel will slow down (the hairspring has untangled back to it's correct length, which in turn let's the balance wheel rotate freely for a longer duration) I hope this helps... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KBH 7 Posted January 6, 2011 Agreed with Sconey. It's an unfortunate but somewhat common problem. Looking at the hairspring through a magnifier you would be able to see the tangle, if that's the problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zivadavis 0 Posted January 7, 2011 thank you for the input gentlemen...i will start with doing the things suggested and fill you guys in on what happens....worst case scenario is the watch goes back to the maker for a fix/repair/rebuild or to a usa based watchmaker who is willing to work on hamage/rep watches...if that doesnt do it then i will just use it for a free giveaway of parts for a project for a lucky rwg member who is doing a build and let them canabilize it as needed for their build.....$ doesnt grow on trees but for original cost of $150 delivered with lots of upgrades its not the end of the world.... i have a feeling this wont be too hard to have repaired by someone who knows what they are doing......like i said before i dont have the tools, time, nor skills to even open the back of a watch for a look see.....i will leave that to someone who does it on a regular basis.... to be continued........ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trailboss99 994 Posted January 7, 2011 I lay 20 on a magnetised hair spring. A quick trip thru the de-mag is called for first up. Being a hospital worker that is by far the most likely story here. Col. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zivadavis 0 Posted January 20, 2011 well trailboss would win that 20 had a friend take the watch to walmart of all places where her sister is a delivery/storeroom/warehouse manger and they got the jewelry manager to degauss/demagnitize the watch a few times on each side....... the watch now keeps the same time as before.....gains 2 to 3 seconds per day! just 2 interesting sidenotes....... 1) the jewelery manager was familiar with panerai but had never seen a sterile one and was fascinated by the getat piece 2) when my friend took the magnitized watch into walmart it set off the anti-theft alarms>>>when she left with the watch demagnitized she slipped right through the sensors unscated with no alarms going off thanks to all for the input this place is great Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
