Seiko Orange Monster - Need Service?

[led zeppelin]

Hello all,

I've been wearing/enjoying my Seiko Orange Monster for almost a year and half now. It has been super accurate during that time...to the point of me only having to adjust the time once a month when it would maybe gain or lose a minute. I wear the watch 24/7 except at the gym or to shower. I even sleep with it on.

For the past week or two the accuracy has seemed to have been taken a big hit. For example, the other morning I noticed my watch time was almost 5 minutes fast so I adjusted the time. I then noticed around lunch time (~6 hrs later) it had gained another 2 minutes. Its speed/accuracy seems to vary all over the place but it runs fast...never slow.

I have read about the hairspring issue and all so I have tried "spanking" the back of the watch and it hasn't done anything to improve the accuracy.

Is it possible that the watch already needs a service? What would cause it to suddenly become inaccurate?

My one fear is that I may have magnetized it...I was on vacation last week and I had the watch off as I was going to swim in the ocean and I had it laying close to a tube TV...maybe a couple of inches from the side of it and I may have turned the TV on with the watch nearby? I've only noticed the accuracy issue in the last week...but I'm also somewhat confident that I was starting to have accuracy issues before the vacation.

Any suggestions?

[charlieboy89]

if you feel you magnetized the watch take it to a watchmaker they will demagnetize it for you on the spot.

[Tacocat]

You can easily check to see if your watch is magnetized by placing it next to a magnetic compass and see if the needle is deflected as you move the watch around the compass.

[led zeppelin]

Thanks, I will try to find a compass and check.

[Brendan12]

Surely that brief interaction with a tv won't cause magetisation? What about smart phones being in close contact to watches?

[led zeppelin]

Well today I got around to checking the watch with a compass and sure enough it seems to be magnetized.

I probably should also mention that my job has me around large electrical equipment, transformers, generators and motors so it is possible that it got magnetized from something on the job one day.

[led zeppelin]

I'm not too sure I am doing this correctly. I sit my compass down on a level wooden desk until the needle is still. I slowly take my watch and lower it dial first over the compass. When I get within a few cm of the compass the compass needle slowly moves maybe a half inch and then returns to its normal position when I draw the watch away.

I saw some watches on youtube with magnetization and it seems like the compass reacted much more in those cases.

[flexible]

Well today I got around to checking the watch with a compass and sure enough it seems to be magnetized.

I probably should also mention that my job has me around large electrical equipment, transformers, generators and motors so it is possible that it got magnetized from something on the job one day.

Your job has killed your watch. I work with mass spectrometers and on days where I'm going to be working with magnetic sector instruments, I'll only wear a watch I won't mind killing (allthough, generally speaking, as I understand it a quartz can be terminally killed and an automatic can normally be resurrected I don't want to take a chance on it). In your case I suspect the watch can be resurrected, with a quick demag . I've often wondered if mobile phones can cause a watch to become magnetised, but not wondered enough to try and make it happen.

[flexible]

I'm not too sure I am doing this correctly. I sit my compass down on a level wooden desk until the needle is still. I slowly take my watch and lower it dial first over the compass. When I get within a few cm of the compass the compass needle slowly moves maybe a half inch and then returns to its normal position when I draw the watch away.

I saw some watches on youtube with magnetization and it seems like the compass reacted much more in those cases.

It sounds to me like you've pretty much confirmed it is magnetised (allthough not that this is the cause of your time gain). The ammount of deflection will depend on how magnetized the watch and the needle are).

[led zeppelin]

So I have called various Jewelery stores (I live in a rural area and there aren't any watchmakers around) and they either have a watchmaker who only comes in once a week and will need to take it apart. One jewelry store I called said they have to send it out for 7-10 business days for an estimate. Upon getting an estimate for repair they provide me with the option of either getting it repaired or having it sent back free of charge.

It seems like all the places want to send it out or take it apart/service my watch. I was under the assumption that a watchmaker/jewelry store would simply have a demagnetizing machine on-hand and simply pass it through? Perhaps they want to make more $$ by sending it out for service?

Are they attempting to rip me off? If they tear it apart to de-magnetize it and charge me $150 it won't be worth it. For all I know they could simply pass it under the machine, make sure its running accurate and then charge me $100.