Guys,

I was stuck on the 4th of July in traffic and my wife slipped in the bathroom and her watch winding stem went under the water stream. It was completely filled. T

The store was limited and what would have been the best way to save a watch like this in the future. I popped the back and dried it and was thinking I should have shot WD40 up the winding step.
It was a small 23 jewel Bulova.

It's just a greater fear as she is now wearing an old Tiffany!
Michael

Michael,

Same sort of thing has happened to me, and the unfortunate fact is that there isn't much you can do. Drying it as quickly as possible to preclude the formation of rust is obviously the best course, but if it's truly soaked, it's going to need a servicing anyway, to replace the lubricants that would likely be displaced. For drying, I would advise opening as much as you can and depending on warm air, moving gently if possible. WD40, while it might help to prevent the formation of rust, is not going to preserve the running state of the movement more than briefly, There is a great likelihood that it will permeate the entire movement, displacing oils and greases, and contaminating the entire train. And if it touches the hairspring, expect timing issues to begin almost instantly.

Long story short, get it as dry as possible, and in for a thorough service before real damage begins.

Regards,

Cary

There is another school of thought which contends that, if the watch has been drowned in fresh water, keep it drowned in a glass of water
until you can get it to a watch repairer(soon is good). The logic, is that it takes both water and air to oxidize the watch so if a drowned watch can be kept wet until it gets to the cleaning machine it will suffer fewer ill effects.

I haven't experimented with this. I do know that if you jump into the Carribean with a Hamilton Rodney, the insides will be brown rusty sludge before you get back to your hotel room .
-cort

I was not thinking of using the watch after the WD treatment. Just thinking a through flushing via the stem(movment removed from the case) could have saved it. WD does stand for "water displacement", but is basically kerosene I'm told.

The water idea is something I could try. Hope to never be there again, but would like to have a plan just in case!!!

Michael

I was glancing through the December issue of the Mart and found an article about a Howard pocket watch that Rear Admiral Charles D. Sigsbee had written in 1911. He had used the watch for forty-two years when he wrote the piece. According to the article, the watch had been dunked in the sea a few times and each time he rinsed the watch in fresh water and filled it with oil until he could get to shore and have it properly serviced. The watch went down with the battleship Maine in Havana in 1898 and was in sea water for five days before it was rescued by a diver.