Hydro Oil conversion

[tfar]

Sjors, can you point me to that exploding G thread. I haven't seen that in my search.

I also couldn't find by how much the oil expands or contracts. I mean I saw the numbers but couldn't make sense of the units. It wasn't like "expands 5% volume per 1 centigrade". That would be easy to calculate.

Till

[tfar]

Regarding visibility:

It seems Silicone oil 1000 is also used in eye surgery because it has the right refractive index very similar to that of water, the human lens and the cornea and just a tad lower than glass but that shouldn't really matter in this case as there will be water-glass-oil in direct succession with no air inbetween.

http://mubarakvision.com/product-detail.php?pid=95
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refractive_indices

Till

[Sjors]

Hi Till,

I have searched, but I can't find that thread. It might have been posted before a huge crash in the end of 2006. You can find reference to temperature and the air bubble in another thread

Dw-6900 Hydro Temperature Test

Don't think that an exploding Hydro is spectacular. The oil just pushes the screws or crystal out of their position and the watch starts "bleeding" oil. Goodbye water resistance and goodbye case.

Cheers,

Sjors

[freeman]

So the right solution sounds like Silicon Oil 1000 (for expansion and visibility), with a tiny bubble inside

[Queen6]

I remember the post with watch that leaked due to no bubble, you have to have some air space especially with the solar`s as they can generate significant heat and the oil will expand. This can generate enough pressure to lift the case back and leak, potentially damaging the screw threads.

Q-6

[scuttle]

If you are going to do this, then don't mess around with the oils. Use silicone. It's an extremely non-reactive material and won't corrode the resin case.

[freeman]

But, hey, I'm a bloody art historian, so what do I know?

Till

You sound fond on technology and quite on the scientific side for an art historian. Or is it that these 2 fields have more in common than could be thought.

[tfar]

If you are going to do this, then don't mess around with the oils. Use silicone. It's an extremely non-reactive material and won't corrode the resin case.

Sure thing. Silicone oil is what we've been talking about all along. Though Sinn now uses an oil with a Teflon additive to reduce friction even more in its analog oil watches. We don't need that for the G.

You sound fond on technology and quite on the scientific side for an art historian. Or is it that these 2 fields have more in common than could be thought.

Nah, I'm just not your typical art historian. My dissertation is on art and economics (Evaluation of contemporary art) - highly taboo subject for the ordinary AH guy. I wish I knew so much more about all those other interesting subjects. But art history has to be one of the broadest fields out there because it does connect to so many things (music, literature, history, sociology, law, economics, philosophy and even to science in many cases like color theory, pigments invention, dating methods).

Q6, solars generate heat? Must be inside the movement and not felt outside. Good to know. I'll try to leave a bubble then.

Till

[sl8763]

Ah, good info on the silicone expansion with heat. Yes, definitely a good idea for a solar!

They don't generate heat per se, but leaving them in the sun really makes them toasty - to the point where it is unadvisable to do it for too long.

[tfar]

I've had all six of my solars tanking outside in the Texas sun (bright direct sun on the watches, not in the shade) for hours on end. None of them ever even got as hot as my car. You could touch them perfectly fine. Yes, they'd be warm but not hot. I also have not yet had a display go black because of the sun. Those that have had that happen reported that it just returned to normal when cooled down.

Given that this Mudman would be my beach and dive watch (I haven't been on this type of holiday in years to be true) I think a bit of heat resistance would be good but don't think it will ever get over 60C. The manual actually warns of burn injury but not of damage to the watch due to heat.

So, I will try to put the bubble in there.

One thing I was worried about was that when I submerge the watch and screw the back on 'underwater' the oil will be in the threads. This may lubricate the threads too much so that the screws won't lock tight. Do you think that's a reasonable consideration or should I not be worried about that? I could simply put a tiny bit of loc-tite on the screw before I put it back in.

Till