The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I don't often do this, but I absolutely hate misinformation and as Ian has gone to so much trouble to make this a wonderful thread I can't stand back. So, with apologies in advance for any patronising tone........

I know that you have just turned 23 and make an undoubtedly good living, but.......

I have been studying watches since you were in kindergarten, am learning watchmaking (which requires an understanding of dealing with magnetism) and have studied pretty much all of the modern and vintage classics on watches, movements, repairing and adjusting - from Breguet to De Carle to Daniels.

Additionally, Ian is clearly extremely knowledgeable on magnetism as evidenced by his extremely educational post at the start of this thread.

As Ian states, permanent magnets are found in speakers of any size and pose a real risk to your watch.

Cell phones contain speakers and they have magnets in them - that's an indisputable fact.

Magnets can affect watches - that's an indidputable fact.

The risk of a watch being magnetised by the relatively weak fields is clearly less than throwing your watch into an MRI machine, but that risk clearly exists - to say that it doesn't is simply untrue.

The risk can be virtually eliminated by not storing your watch on top of the cell phone, and of course putting your watch on your cell phone for a few minutes once is unlikely to cause problems. However, to say that cell phones cannot magnetise your watch is simply untrue. People these days often keep their cell phone next to the bed - same as their watch, and keeping the two separate is a sensible precaution to avoid any risk.

You should try disassembling a cell phone. The magnet inside the speaker is so tiny you can barely see it. I doubt very much you can magnetize a hairspring through it. I too hate misinformation. I'm the same age as you and I've been taking things apart since we were both in kindergarten. I've seen speakers with magnets large enough to pick up a heavy wrench. The speaker in a cell phone is smaller than a dime. I just tried picking up iron filings with it and I couldn't.

I'll post a picture of a cell phone speaker. You could do the math based on the size and figure out how many Gauss a magnet that size can put out. My guess is that it is tiny.

Just want to say a big thanks to Ian for making the the original post. I was a "physics man" myself for a number of years before switching (bizarrely) to economics, so this was a great refresher..... especially as magnetism wasn't my thing!

Thanks Ian, great to have a refresher. One always learns something new when the information is presented in a different way. I've actually been trying to work out for a while now what strength magnet can actually cause damage and also how far your watch has to be from that magnet before it's affected. If I learn anything I'll be happy to present.

Interesting article on watches and magnetism on Seiko's website.
http://www.thongsia.com.my/v2/support/l ... etism.html

Be aware of mobile phones
If you put your watch in your handbag along with your mobile phone or you put your watch close to your mobile phone after taking your watch off your wrist, your watch will be easily affected by magnetism. Keep your watch away from mobile phones.

So a 'warning' from Seiko to stay on the safe side, even though they state previously that you would need a strong magnet to affect watches (which aren't found in cells).

Be aware of mobile phones
If you put your watch in your handbag along with your mobile phone or you put your watch close to your mobile phone after taking your watch off your wrist, your watch will be easily affected by magnetism. Keep your watch away from mobile phones.

The solution to this seems simple.

We buy two cheap automatics, Invicta's or something like it. These would do:
http://www.amazon.com/Invicta-Diver-Col ... 018&sr=1-4

We measure how well they're running. Then we set one on a cell phone and one not on a cell phone. Then we observe. Wind them manually and take daily or weekly readings. If one of them becomes magnetized, it should be quite obvious.

I'd be willing to kick in $25 to the cause. We probably don't need more than $200 to buy the watches. Are there 7 more members who want to know the answer? Heck, I might even just do it myself to know the answer and to revel in the joy of being proven right.

Ideally this testing would be performed by an independent, third party and reviewed by our peers. Not having a vested interest in the outcome of an experiment is integral to the validity to the results. That's why PhD advisers use so many interns for their research

IMO, it's all about the level of risk you're willing to accept. There is no truly "wrong" or "right" answer. I'm not entirely sure why everyone feels a need to make an assertion one way, or the other (aside from ego). If you're cool with putting your watch near a magnetic source, good for you! If not, Godspeed!

I hate to be Reginald Denny, but "Can't we all just get along?"

EDIT: Also, thanks for for the positive comments all! You're more than welcome. I only hope to contribute.

Fine, PAM217 going on my cell for a week. I'll only take it off to rewind it, thats it.

Cell is one of those Bell slim phones POS (I hate Bell.... so much...).

I hope Roff doen't talk or act like that to people in person! Oh that's right... he has a computer screen to hide behind.....my bad!!!!