How to deal with Thailand watches

[LUW]

Sedi, though gas can diffuse through the gaskets, unless you submit the watch to a high air pressure it would take decades (with intact gaskets, of course) for enough water vapor to come inside to do what you saw in my 7500 pic. That definitively is not from diffusion, just from trapped humid air inside the case. If gas diffusion was such a big factor, the problem wouldn't be limited to Thai watches.

[Scotty_222]

im experiencing a foggy watch atm. recently bought a dw069 and was wearing it where i live in melbourne australia.
its currently winter here and its fogging up.. is there a way to fix this?

[WallaceD]

I took every one of my Thai Gs and dropped them in boiling lava. Once I pulled them out, I dipped them in liquid nitrogen. You know what? THEY TOTALLY FOGGED UP!!!!

This is an outrage. I am immediately returning all my G-Shocks that were made in Thailand. This is an incredible oversight on the part of the factory. I mean, what's the point of a shock resistant watch if it can't take some heat?!?

Uhm... yeah.

[Sedi]

Sedi, though gas can diffuse through the gaskets, unless you submit the watch to a high air pressure it would take decades (with intact gaskets, of course) for enough water vapor to come inside to do what you saw in my 7500 pic.

Diffusion has not much to do with air-pressure. Water in gas-form can even diffuse through the seals when the air-pressure on the inside of the watch is higher than on the outside - it's influenced by the concentration of H2O (humidity) and by temperature. So I don't think it'll take decades as the material the gaskets are made from is not really all that good in keeping a watch tight. That's why dive watches should be stored in a dry place. But I'm starting to sound like a real "know-it-all" , so I'll keep quite now.

cheers, Sedi

[LUW]

It still would take a long time for enough water molecules to filter through the gaskets until you could visibly notice something. As I said, if this was a fast process (and don't forget Occam's razor ) , ALL models would suffer from fogging, and not only the ones made in Thailand.

[lunitic]

The moisture is trapped inside the case - it's not the module that has trapped water vapor inside.


If the watch is not pressure sealed that would indeed occur, but these watches are rated for 20 bar of water pressure, so once the air inside the case is dry, it will stay dry until the case is opened.

Thanks for taking the time to explain. Makes sense.

I don't typically expose my watches to low temperatures, but I might try this fall just to rid them of any possible humidity.

[G-Shocks Are Cool.]

This would be a great idea when you replace any batteries on your Casio G-Shocks too, right?

[Mitch100]

It still would take a long time for enough water molecules to filter through the gaskets until you could visibly notice something. As I said, if this was a fast process (and don't forget Occam's razor ) ,.

I don't think this is right. There is a thing called 'Water Vapour Transmission Rate'. This describes the rate at which water vapour diffuses through solid materials. It doesn't take years if the material is permeable, which plastic and rubber are. It is measurable in a laboratory and changes can be spotted in minutes! Water vapour has a relatively small molecular structure and can penetrate through 'pores' in solid materials.

The change is always from more humid to less humid, but the actual rate is dependant on the thickness of the solid material, the absolute humidity and perhaps temperature but much less so.

I think this fogging of watches is more of an issue of which climate you are in. If you live in a humid climate then the humidity inside your G shock will come to match that of your climate through diffusion. I live in a temperate climate and have never suffered fogging with any of my 'G's, though perhaps it could be done by switching suddenly into a very cold place like a freezer.

If these Thailand watches do have high humidity when manufactured, in my climate that will diffuse away to match my normal less humid climate over a period of time.

To prevent fogging in G shocks you would both have to manufacture in a low humidity environment and then construct an impermeable case, which current 'G's do not have.




Mitch

[G-Shock Absorber]

It doesn't take years if the material is permeable, which plastic and rubber are.

Um...

[LUW]

Sorry Mitch, but though in theory that is possible, in practice that's not what I see. This only happens with Thailand watches, and once I dry them, it doesn't happen again. For instance, my 9010. It was my "mountain biking watch" until a year ago, and I always saw fogging in the winter. I de-humidified it two years ago, and hasn't fogged since. Another good example is my 5yo's LW-22H-2AVES (made in China), which is worn 24/7 and is not particularly cared for. It basically never leaves his wrist, goes through a very humid bath every night and I really can't say what else during the day. But it doesn't fog (I did the cold water drop test).

So once again we get back to Occam's razor.