The Breitling Watch Source Forums

hi all. just wondered if anyone had this problem: My superocean automatic has started gaining, about ten sec every minute! Also has a really unhealthy rattle if you hold it close to your ear and shake it. makes it pretty useless as a time piece, but it did manage to send my in laws home half hour early last weekend before i realised what was going on. its 3 years old and out of warranty. Looks like a trip to my local dealer.

The 'rattle' may be nothing more than the rotor, don't think that's necessarily a problem.

If your watch is gaining that much then dollars to donuts it's magnetised. Easy fix, but try and figure out the cause so that it doesn't happen again.

I've read that the "self check-out" scanners at places like home depot and Walmart can magnetize a watch. I can't confirm if this is true, but something to consider.

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It's true.

And TVs, speakers, cell phones, MRI machines, etc, etc.

Cell phones?? I lay my watch next to my blackberry quite often.

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Cell phones are the smallest risk, but they do generate electro-magnetic fields so there is some risk.

Isn't there a difference between EMF, and the kind of polarized magnetic field like a speaker magnet? Just about any electronic appliance, computer, clock radio, cordless phone, heated floors etc give off EMF's at some level. I thought the things to avoid are actual magnets, like the kind that will stick to metal and tranfer their magnetic field to the hairspring (ie: speaker magnet, fridge magnets, etc). Just curious.

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I honestly don't understand enough about magnetism to know what does or doesn't affect the hairspring, but I have heard of a number of accounts of problems that were put down to watches spending the night on / next to cell phones.

Damn. I'll have to keep my blackberry away from my babies now.

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Remember guys that even with a cell phone turned off and the battery removed it still has permanent magnents in the speakers. While small, they still exert a magnetic field. This can be clearly demonstrated by holding a compass near a cell phone.

Imagine what the do to our brains

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Rolex DeepSea, GMT Master II TT, Pres 18038, DJ TT 16013
Breitling Chronomat 39mm (bullet+UTC), Starliner SS/MOP (wife)

back with ROLEX

Is theree an easy (home) fix for a magnetised watch?

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Montbrillant, Legende, Edition, 1461 Jours, Cosmonaute DB, Chrono-Matic 49
Navi, Old Navi, World, Navi Airborne
Blackbird, B-2, Cockpit, Shadow Flyback

Yeah, pass it through a demagnetiser

I wouldn't recommend it because you can never be sure that you have completely fixed the problem and it's a 10 second fix for a watchmaker.

There are some techniques involving spinning the watch on a thread over a powerful magnet, but you can buy demagnetisers on eBay for about $50 that is basically an electic motor with a soft iron core in a cylindrical shape and you pass the watch through the middle. The problem is that these are generally 50+ years old with 50+ year old wiring!

Not that I know of, but a decent watchmaker should be able to take care of it in a few minutes for not much $$.

EDIT: Im too late

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-RJ

If your watch was magnetized it would run slower. There is are possibilities though. If you hear a screw like noise rattle you may have lost a balance screw. This would be rare but the loss of weight would cause the balance to run faster thus speeding up your watch. I was experimenting with a watch that I recently rebuilt taking opposite balance screws out to see the effect of time. The less the weight the faster the balance movement cycles. To slow a watch you add weight. If you lost a screw you should have it looked at there is a possibility of the balance overbanking and possibly breaking the roller jewel. A trip to Breitling would be your best bet. Good luck, Mark

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Rolex 42mm Explorer
IWC Ingenieur

A few others too.