In this case moisture did not get into the watch. The effect was caused by going outside into a cold temperature, and cold air is capable of holding less moisture than warm air so as the air cooled the moisture condensed on the crystal. When the air warmed up the moisture evaporated, and you are back to the natural situation of air in the watch holding a degree of moisture.

In a vintage watch with no effective water resistance it's going to happen and there is no cause for alarm.

true Roff but if the moisture is on the inside of the crystal it will condense to water when the temperature increases and can damage the dial or cause rust, correct? If misting is normal than wouldn't it be extremely dangerous to have a tool watch fogging on a pilots wrist in a airplane at height or in sea depths rendering it unusable? I too had a similar experience with my vintage Rolex when I saw some mist forming on the crystal once and it disappeared, didn't happen again. I immediately sent it to Rolex and they discovered a fractured plastic crystal as the cause and also redid the waterproofing including new waterproofing gaskets.

Cruvon This is the Navitimer 806 that just came back from Craig and was serviced and has a new crystal. I wonder if the humidity in Oregon is higher than Western Mass. The Dalles where Craig lives is near a major waterway. I am waiting for another subzero day to take it out and see if it happens again.

Condensation on the inside of the crystal is generally an indication that there may be a problem but it your case could be possible. However, condensation will quite normally occur when any warm watch is suddenly exposed to a cold environment i.e. if you enter cold water then shortly after warm/hot water or visa versa. In normal circumstances this will appear as a very fine mist and should disappear in a minute/hour or so when the watch warms up. This is quite normal as the air trapped inside your watch will have a small amount of water vapour as its just like normal humidity in the atmosphere, if it disappears quickly all is well. Now if the misting appears as clearly definable droplets of water and does not clear quickly when warm, then it signifies that water has entered the case.Now this will NOT evaporate of its own accord and will need to be removed then afraid its off to the RSC as soon as possible.But any vintage watch like a 5513 as long as its been serviced correctly should be safe to dive snorkel etc without any problems ..

You should act AT ONCE !!

Go to a watch technician to open the watch and dry it out.


You risk your dial as well, as the movement, FOR SURE , within a couple of days will get rust. If you delay, you destroy your watch, .

Do not put it in oil, do not trust that there is "some" condensation that will disappear. Water in the watch = RUST !!!!

( The theory that "some" vapours that exist in the watch and condensate under specific conditions on the inside of the crystal, BUT, within a minute / hour will go away, so do not worry, is a VERY WRONG way to approach the issue.

If fog is shown inside the crystal it means that there is MORE THAN ENOUGH humidity in the watch which at the specific temperature ( the dew point ) condensates and forms drops. These drops are WATER, and watches DO NOT like water. If under low temperatures watches got "foggy", no watch could be read in the poles and/or on the mountains in winter.

No watch tested at pressure shall show this. It is a malfunction that can cost a lot !

I am a Rolex certified watchmaker, and I can tell you with professional experience, any moisture in a Watch at all is very bad. I see watchEs every day that have rust inside and water spots on the dial and hands and the owner sad that it has never gotten moisture inside, but it did fog up one time. The watch needs an overhaul immediately. Anyone who tells you otherwise has no idea what they are talking about.
If any moisture appears in a Watch, do not open it or try tO dry it out. This leads to rust. Leave the watch sealed and the watchmaker will deal with it.
Lastly, it really bothers me that someone could come here and read asinine things like dunk it on oil which can damage you watch, or dunk it In alchOhol which will damage your watch. In the future when someone has a technical or repair issue tell them to ask One of the professionals on the technical forum

Agree that your watch could be fine Rick, just expressing some of my own concerns on misting in 806's in general since I was really upset when my Rolex had the misting that got me worried about damage to the dial. Also if you look at the link above on rolexforums where another member posted a similar issue, there were differing opinions on that subject that are even more confusing:).