Chlorine & Bronze?

[E8ArmyDiver]

Hi guys.Recent events have left me with a lot of free time on my hands,so 6 weeks ago I started out on a quest to get back into shape.Part of my regimen is a 3 day a week swim(a touch under 2 miles at this time) in the heavily chlorinated pool at my health club.It dawned on me that in all the discussions about Bronze watches here on WUS I don't recall seeing any info on how chlorine interacts with bronze.So with my Black,No Date, Olivier Bronze Diver seemingly weeks away I thought I'ld post up & see if anyone knows how the BD is going to fair in the chlorine pond I frequent?Thanks folks,take care...

[WJBecker]

Not that I'm by any means an expert in the field, but I asked the same question and was told the that chlorine additives combine with water and break down into hypochlorous acid. That's what actually does the disinfecting. It's the active component in chlorine bleach.

It's considered a weak acid, and won't destroy the bronze immediately. It will however speed up corrosion a bit though and might turn the bronze a little green.

[Heilong]

Holy Moley, it took me about an hour to find this again. Someone had asked this in the Olivier thread back in March & wouldn't ya know--the original link I posted was dead. Here's the article-- look about 1/3 of the way down in "corrosion" & also about 3/4 of the way down under "bronze disease" to see what it says about chlorine. Overall, a fairly interesting article about bronze. Hope it helps.Bronze: Characteristics, Uses And Problems
And despite the scary descriptions I gave, I'd imagine there'd be no problem if it was rinsed off after your swim. This article is about bronze statues, which could be exposed to corrosives constantly for years at a time.

[johnnmiller1]

Good question E8, I had the same thought myself (about the Oliver too). Good swim distance too.