The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi everyone, would like to seek advise.

i noticed that the face of my SA gets blurry and "fogged" whenever i step out of an air conditioned place to another place with room temperature.

as such i wipe the face of my watch and it becomes better.
after a while, everything is clear again.

the "fog" is not inside the watch.
it is outside on the crystal.
it is not water but a blur cloud on the crystal.

is this normal?
please advise.

_________________
Rolex Submariner 14060
Breitling Super Avenger A13370
Oris Aquis Staghorn Restoration

Not sure about this, but usually if you get condensation on the inside of the glass it means there is water damage and the watch needs service ASAP. If it's outside of the sapphire then I wouldn't worry about it.

Well it is water - it's condensation. It's unusual to get condensation on the outside of the watch but condensation is an indication of a temperature gradient, in this case between the two sides of the crystal. When you go outside the outside warms up quicker than the inside which is causing condensation on the crystal because the crystal itself is a lower temperature which cools the air that touches the crystal. Cooler air can hold less water than warm air (hence why hot temperatures frequently cause humidity) and so the water in the air condenses on the surface.

It's weird that it is happening, and all that I can think of is that the inside / outside temperature difference is rather large, and ironically it may be an indication that the seals on your watch are very good - hence the air movement is slower keeping the interior cooler for longer. Bottom line is that as long as the condensation is on the outside I wouldn't be concerned.

Have you ever had a pint of cold lager in a hot humid environment before?
Have you noticed water dripping down the sided of the pint glass?
Have you ever experienced your eye glasses fogging up when you come outside from a cool and air-conditioned environment ?
It is called "condensation".

_________________
"It is just a matter of time!"

As I understand this issue, there has to be more than 4 degrees C difference between the two surfaces to be noticeable, but it also needs higher humidity on the outside for this situation to be apparent. You are looking for the dew point temperature to provide an answer. If moisture condenses then the dew-point temperature of the air is above the temperature of the watch glass and in the presence of higher humidity, and is the difference between sensible and latent energy. The cooling effect of indoor air conditioning would be the source of a lower temperature & humidity, of say, your watch case. The heating effect of your wrist would normally offset this, so your body temperature must be fairly cool when stepping outside occurs.

Its most likely means your watch is cool and relatively dry when this happens and the collective thermal mass of the watch parts are not enough to be heated before you go outside. The watch would normally be closer to your body temperature (regardless of the surrounding air temperature indoors), which sounds like thats not happening in this case.

If you look up wet and dry bulb temperature, you might get an easier idea of why this occurs, but I can't say I have ever heard it occurring on a watch glass on the outside. It must have come as a bit of a shock when you first noticed it. Where abouts are you in the world for this to occur?

_________________
Jim

"You have Control".

Body temperature is going to have negligible impact on the crystal - unless the watch is worn inside out.

I've had the same thing happen on watches when cycling, on a cold day with 20miles or so of hard climbing I will look at my watch and a fog will have built up on the outside of the crystal, in this case it had to be below zero centigrade, and I have to be working hard!!:) if I wear the watch over a compression layer it doesn't happen.

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

I can understand that after an extended period of physical exertion - your body is working much harder to keep you cool so is throwing out much more heat, but body temperature in 'normal' conditions isn't going to be a major contributing factor. In the OP's example the watch is actually the cooler item in the temperature gradient.

Yep v true,

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

Be interesting to know if the OP wears the watch on his wrist for any length if time before going outside. Watches warm up very quickly if you are wearing them & stay warm, closer to body temperature. As I say, it only takes 4 degrees & a high level if humidity. Or so my HVAC Engineering consultants tell me when we have discussed this previously.

_________________
Jim

"You have Control".

Mate, in Hong Kong there is an obsession to set indoor air cons at sub zero levels.
I go to cinemas in the middle of summer and I need to bring a jacket with me to make sure I don't suffer from hypothermia throughout a 90 min movie!!!
You step outside and everything suddenly fogs up solid for the next 5 min
I get condensation on the end of my nose!
Fair enough, it's a long nose.

_________________
"It is just a matter of time!"

Lol

All I can think about now is sitting down to have a nice cold beer right about now....

As everyone else has pointed out, you're just witnessing thermodynamics. When two objects contain different levels of thermal energy (cold, dry watch and hot, wet air), the universe does its damndest to equilibrate the two. When water condenses, it transfers quite a lot of thermal energy to the object on which it is condensing - when the total energy in each object is roughly equal, the system is at steady state It's the same reason your glasses fog up, air conditioners "leak" water, and when and..... here I go thinking about beer again!

_________________
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

No one wears glasses i presume ?

I do, and step from a (relative) cold dry place into a warm(er) more humid place and your glasses fog up

Same thing

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard