The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I am thinking of taking my Seawolf to:

1- 25 minutes in the sauna
2- 10 minutes in the steam room
3- jacuzzi

Will it be up for the task

Has anyone else tried something similar to this ?

I think it should be OK

I´d guess it will not affect the Seawolf at all.

I have seen some extreme things being done to Rolex subs - freezing them solid in water, then boiling them etc, and they still worked.

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Blue Baton Super Avenger
Black Avenger Seawolf

I highly doubt it would any adverse affect on the SeaWolf.

Watches (even Breitlings) hate extreme heat and I know it from bitter experience

It can mess with the rubber seals.

I am so paranoid I won't even wear it in the shower anymore.

Do your experiment for sure - but don't be surprised if the watch is no longer waterproof when you are done

If you love your watch to the extent that you would sign up here I am surprised you want to punish it. I guess it's tough love.

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Breitling Navitimer
Breitling B2
Corum Golden Bridge
U-Boat

it'll be fine.

Personally (and in contrast the other comments so far, apart from U-Boat's) I'd suggest not subjecting your watch to at least 2 of those. The sauna should be a no-no in my book, followed by the steam room. The jacuzzi is probably the least damaging provided you wash your watch in fresh water after, but if you weren't wearing your watch for the others it'd make little sense to put it back on for that!

My first reason is that rubber expands under heat, which means that the gaskets around the crown and caseback will expand. When they contract again, they may deform, so potentially compromising the water resistance of the case. Additionally heat (and chemicals like chlorine in the jacuzzi) will, over time, degrade the rubber faster, again potentially compromising the water resistance. And also lets not forget that sweat also degrades rubber over time - and you'll be doing a lot of sweating in a sauna.

Extremes of hot and cold also affect the viscosity of the lubricants in the movement, which can have an adverse affect on wear and also affect the accuracy. Additionally you need to remember that different metals expand and contract at different temperatures, so the different metals used in the movement may expand at different rates - so potentially affecting accuracy again. By way of example I have cribbed this particular line off the net - "Ferdinand Berthoud found in 1773 that an ordinary brass balance and steel hairspring, subjected to a 60°F (33°C) temperature increase, loses 393 seconds per day, of which 312 seconds is due to spring elasticity decrease". That's quite a change in accuracy, although nowadays more advance metal alloys make this less of a problem.

So while your watch won't fall apart on you by undertaking those activities, you'll almost certainly be reducing the amount of time between services, and also increasing your bill when you do as more parts will need replacing. Oh and if the WR fails as a result of knackered gaskets, you'll have a BIG bill! So IMO, you'll be best to take your watch off for all those activities........ but it's up to you.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Couldn't have put it better myself.

The heat is the killer here, especially on gaskets and mainsprings.

Modern mainsprings are made of alloys that are less susceptible to heat, but they certainly aren't immune (any more than they are to being magnetised). It's an unnecessary risk in my opinion.

thanks for the warnings everyone... I though because the wolf is good for 10000m and has an ultra thick crystal....just maybe...

I remember when I first got my SUB (~10 years ago) I would do "everything" with it... Showers, jacuzzi, swimming and one time it followed me in the sauna (~10 min); I stopped the sauna thing because my brothers NIKE quartz "sports watch" died out on him in the sauna

When I had my SUB sent to Rolex Canada last year, they told me that the watch was "no longer waterproof". I couldn't believe it!

A pretty expensive servicing bill later (700$) the watch is as good as new!
I am happy to report that nowadays I don't even wear it in the shower any more

correction>>>>I meant 10000 ft