Remove Fogging From Six Year Old Rolex Submariner Rep

[steiney]

Hello all,

I own a pretty high quality Rolex Submariner replica that I purchased in Manhattan's Chinatown about seven years ago for $50. I've never once gotten it wet, but I was at the springs last weekend, and for some reason I decided I had to know if it could go underwater. I mean, it's a Submariner, right? And it's not like it's some cheesy, garbage watch with "Rolex" stamped on the face.

Long story short, I learned that the watch is not water proof. I'm not sure how much actual water got in there, but when I was done floating down the river, there were small water droplets inside the watch, condensed onto the crystal. That was roughly 30 hours ago. The watch has been sitting in a tub of rice with the stem pulled open since then, and today I attempted putting the watch in the oven on a very low heat. Nothing bad happened, but the water didn't appear to come out.

My next plan is to buy one of the rubber ball things on eBay and hopefully that will open it and I can pull the guts out and clean out all the water. I have a jar opener that is basically a sheet of tacky rubber, but I couldn't get the case open with that.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Do I just need to leave it in the rice for longer?

I'm pretty surprised it didn't hold out the water, but then again, for $50, what can you expect. The fact that I can hold it up to a real one, and no one can tell the difference is pretty neat. Except that now mine has condensation inside of it, which I would say is a dead giveaway.

Thanks in advance,

steiney

 

[TESLA760]

High quality ?

 

[joegrimm]

high quality, and $50 shouldn't be in the same sentence.

 

[steiney]

I bought a large quantity of them so the dealer lowered the price.

 

[blind-m]

pics?

 

[BigBuys]

It does not matter how much water got in there. Any water is too much water and cheap movements corrode very quickly. I would recommend using it for target practice and use this opportunity to source one of the new Subs that will change your definition of quality.

 

[dtom]

Its possible that no water entered your watch and what you are seeing is condensate from the watch cooling suddenly when it got dunked in cold river water and the air inside the watch reached its saturation point. Regardless of where it came from, water inside a watch isn't good. Open the back and place the watch in a warm,dry place like in the sun to warm it gently. When the condensate evaporates and everything it dry, grease the 0 ring with silicon grease and put replace the back.

I was told by an old watchmaker who did a lot of diving that the biggest challenge a watch faces is being nice and warm and then suddenly being submereged in cold water which almost immediately creates a negative pressure inside the watch. Its a tough life for sure.

 

[TESLA760]

I bought a large quantity of them so the dealer lowered the price.

You could've bought 200 of them. Even wholesale price on a good quality rep isn't $50. Not to mention that Canal St is notorious for selling junk. Spend some time reading this forum. You'll see what we are talking about. We've all bought junk reps at one point.

 

[trailboss99]

Real helpful guys . . .

You are on the right track with the rice but if that's not working go to the supermarket and buy one of these:

The refill style in the last pic will work just as well. Place the absorber (or lose granules) in a closed container and seal the watch in there as well and leave it for a few days. Take the case back off before you pop it in if possible (A ball of wadded up duct tape sticky side out should do it)) or leave the crown open to time set position if it won't come lose. If you use the lose granules support the watch above them. Inside of a week all should be well.

 

[steiney]

Real helpful guys . . .

You are on the right track with the rice but if that's not working go to the supermarket and buy one of these:

The refill style in the last pic will work just as well. Place the absorber (or lose granules) in a closed container and seal the watch in there as well and leave it for a few days. Take the case back off before you pop it in if possible (A ball of wadded up duct tape sticky side out should do it)) or leave the crown open to time set position if it won't come lose. If you use the lose granules support the watch above them. Inside of a week all should be well.

Awesome! Thank you. That's a great idea. The only thing I don't understand is the duct tape. It seems like if you use the sticky side of it on the case back, it will leave a bunch of adhesive residue that will have to be cleaned off with a strong solvent.

You could've bought 200 of them. Even wholesale price on a good quality rep isn't $50. Not to mention that Canal St is notorious for selling junk. Spend some time reading this forum. You'll see what we are talking about. We've all bought junk reps at one point.

I know what you're saying, but I've actually done a good bit of research prior to now. This is my first time posting in a forum about it, but I have done plenty of reading and "lurking". The watch I've got passes a lot of the tests... (except the water proof test!)

Its possible that no water entered your watch and what you are seeing is condensate from the watch cooling suddenly when it got dunked in cold river water and the air inside the watch reached its saturation point. Regardless of where it came from, water inside a watch isn't good. Open the back and place the watch in a warm,dry place like in the sun to warm it gently. When the condensate evaporates and everything it dry, grease the 0 ring with silicon grease and put replace the back.

I was told by an old watchmaker who did a lot of diving that the biggest challenge a watch faces is being nice and warm and then suddenly being submereged in cold water which almost immediately creates a negative pressure inside the watch. Its a tough life for sure.

Interesting. So even a genuine Submariner can get that condensation inside it?

 

[Criegg]

It does not matter how much water got in there. Any water is too much water and cheap movements corrode very quickly. I would recommend using it for target practice and use this opportunity to source one of the new Subs that will change your definition of quality.

+1 big time! Search the forums under the TDs and pick out a new sub

 

[dtom]

Interesting. So even a genuine Submariner can get that condensation inside it?[/QUOTE]

Yes, if moist air gets inside the watch and then the watch is cooled sufficiently. A scenario might be if your watch was assembled in a hot and humid environment, or if even a genuine sub was left with the crown open in a humid environment. I was always told to be sure the watch is warm and the air dry before reassembly or condensation was likely.

 

[phillycheez]

Trip lock crown design is water resistant even with the crown unscrewed (up to a certain extent of course) . I would actually bet money you can swim in a pool with it unscrewed for a few minutes and water wouldn't leaked in. It's pretty genius actually.

I've owned a Sinn (gen) U1 and after swimming with it was fine. But unscrewing that crown to set the time an hour after I got out was a terrible idea... Small droplet of water was between the screw down crown and the case... That got in right after I unscrewed and the crystal fogged a bit.... THAT was the moment when I started to respect rolex technology.

In all humidity plays a huge role. Humid air is much more prone to leaking through the gaskets then liquid water. That's why it's not the greatest idea in the world to go into hot tubs, hot showers... Etc with watches.

 

[Mike116]

Seven years out of a $50 watch is pretty good going.hope you get dried out

 

[trailboss99]

The only thing I don't understand is the duct tape. It seems like if you use the sticky side of it on the case back, it will leave a bunch of adhesive residue that will have to be cleaned off with a strong solvent.

Yup maybe. A bit of white spirit, lighter fluid or one of the orange oil based glue removers will do.

 

[steiney]

Okay, thanks. To update, after another 12 hours in the rice tub since last night, it appears that a good bit of the moisture has been removed. I'm going to give it another day and see what the progress is like.

Question: if I am able to get the case back off, would it be a bad idea for me to try to pull out the movement and all so I can get to the underside of the crystal and wipe it clean, or are the guts to fragile to be handled by an inexperienced person?

I might grab some Damp Rid tonight and let it sit in that to speed up the process.

 

[steiney]

Good news! I got my case back opener ball and the case back opened up with ease. I put the whole watch, minus the case back in the tub of rice it had been sitting in, and by this morning every bit of water/condensation was completely gone.

There isn't a single bit of rust inside the watch case. Everything runs just as smoothly as before, it still keeps perfect time, etc. I'm very happy with the result. It almost looks clearer now than before, although I'm sure that's all in my head. Plus I've been looking at it all fogged up for the last 1.5 weeks.

Thanks to everyone for the help!