I don't take hot showers, just maybe cold to lukewarm showers. Was exposed to water only for a few minutes. Did not open up to dry so the water must have escaped somewhere else inside the watch or leaked out (I did not bother to see where cuz it was close to my bedtime). In the morning it was much drier with the present water damage.
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Blancpain Fifty Fathoms water leakage/damage (not water resistant???)
- Thread starter sinmotion
- Start date
??? Gen diving watches are meant for water... The FF is a diving watch Op juts forgot it was a rep though...
Haha XD
As stated in post above, water was nowhere near hot. Just be aware that the problem MAY exist in your watch as well for other BP FF owners
Of course, no one will purposely go and test their watch now would they.
Just an update for this thread. TD has agreed to take it back and repair/replace whatever damaged parts there are and conduct a water resistance test again. So far this TD is excellent - will continue buying more stuff from them (Agnus) and Josh
Another thought... water may have most probably leaked in near the front part of the watch, as dial was the first to be semi-flooded.
Probably the:
Crystal - Somehow the water seeped through the gap between the crystal and rotating bezel
Crown - Less likely as it was screwed on tight and there is an O-Ring seal present there
Uni-directional rotating Bezel - Did not touch it during the shower but may have let water in
Will ask TD what most likely happened and see if they have an answer. Watch is being sent back now.
Will update thread accordingly.
FYI The FF is still running smoothly and keeping good time despite the water damage...
Probably the:
Crystal - Somehow the water seeped through the gap between the crystal and rotating bezel
Crown - Less likely as it was screwed on tight and there is an O-Ring seal present there
Uni-directional rotating Bezel - Did not touch it during the shower but may have let water in
Will ask TD what most likely happened and see if they have an answer. Watch is being sent back now.
Will update thread accordingly.
FYI The FF is still running smoothly and keeping good time despite the water damage...
I wear most of my watches, rep and gen, in my hot tub and shower. Never a problem after greasing the seals.
Really? That just sounds weird to me. What if it has a leather strap. The chlorine and soap can't be good for that.
I don't wear leather straps into the shower or hot tub. Not in the ocean or pool either. Just SS or rubber.
Alpha Dog Omega
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I seem to gravitate towards divers most of the time with more passion than for other watches. Don't know why... but I will never shower or swim with any of my reps unless I have it 'locally' seal tested (but then I still won't shower with them).
I can see the attraction of hot tubs etc... and I have done that - successfully - without problems with my gens.
But even gen divers need maintenance. That is the key. I neglected that on one of my Gen divers and... you guessed right; A swim in the pool was all it took. Aargh!!
Seriously though. My reps are treasured toys to me. I get (secretly) upset about a scratch mark or a pearl popping off - yeah, last week!! - and I don't really have a need to seal proof my reps. I just love 'em like they are - LOL
I can see the attraction of hot tubs etc... and I have done that - successfully - without problems with my gens.
But even gen divers need maintenance. That is the key. I neglected that on one of my Gen divers and... you guessed right; A swim in the pool was all it took. Aargh!!
Seriously though. My reps are treasured toys to me. I get (secretly) upset about a scratch mark or a pearl popping off - yeah, last week!!
- and I don't really have a need to seal proof my reps. I just love 'em like they are - LOL
Not to make anyone feel bad but I think I read in the instructions from my 1997 Omega SMP (Genuine) not to take it in Jacuzzi or hot tub, or maybe it was the AD that said it anyway....Common sense if you know anything about expansion and contraction..I think we put our brake rotors in my moms oven when I was a kid so we could hammer the bearing races out. sorry
Now that TD - warranty is better than a gen. Very surprising and positive. Rolex has no wp-warranty, the excuse is always that the crown was not well screwed in. Any gen wp-test is only valid for just 1 year also (not for 1 Year and 1 day). In Your case: very lucky, it wasn´t a gen Blancpain.
Still I would unscrew and open the backcase and carefully put it in a plastic container with rice to push out the moisture. Normally I would think the TD either did not understand the problem and just said: "than send it back" or just open it, grease the O-rings and send it back to You, even if the dial is damaged or the movement is getting rusty. You can do that Yourself and test it before sending it back, where it could be lost and turnaround probably is 2-3 months. Good luck in sorting this out.
Rep seals and gaskets almost always come dry. It´s good to silicon-grease the backcase o-ring and the ones of the crown, at least the outer one. Than have it tested. Leaks through the cystal or the caseset are rarer but do happen on reps (tolerances/rough metal edges/missing/dirty or misplaced o-ring). Unlike $10.000 gens which are highly expensive to repair, reps are made for swimming, these are just $400 watches. I use several greased and wp-tested divers and a PAM for swimming in the ocean, but never near hot-steam (expansion/contraction), shampoo and shower-gels (washing of the grease).
For real diving and when Your life depends on it, that´s another story, only a good gen will do (which has not been in the shower).
Still I would unscrew and open the backcase and carefully put it in a plastic container with rice to push out the moisture. Normally I would think the TD either did not understand the problem and just said: "than send it back" or just open it, grease the O-rings and send it back to You, even if the dial is damaged or the movement is getting rusty. You can do that Yourself and test it before sending it back, where it could be lost and turnaround probably is 2-3 months. Good luck in sorting this out.
Rep seals and gaskets almost always come dry. It´s good to silicon-grease the backcase o-ring and the ones of the crown, at least the outer one. Than have it tested. Leaks through the cystal or the caseset are rarer but do happen on reps (tolerances/rough metal edges/missing/dirty or misplaced o-ring). Unlike $10.000 gens which are highly expensive to repair, reps are made for swimming, these are just $400 watches. I use several greased and wp-tested divers and a PAM for swimming in the ocean, but never near hot-steam (expansion/contraction), shampoo and shower-gels (washing of the grease).
For real diving and when Your life depends on it, that´s another story, only a good gen will do (which has not been in the shower).