Yesterday, I got one of those demagnetizers and used it on a 1960s-1970s Omega Geneve handwind watch. The watch is one of those tinker-proof front access types that guys like me can't unscrew the back off to regulate. It is in absolutely beautiful condition, but was running almost 4 minutes a day fast. I had to do the procedure you outlined three times last night, each time setting the watch on my timegrapher to see any changes. It really worked! Today, on my wrist all day and into the evening, the watch gained maybe four seconds, if that. We'll see how it is in the morning after sitting on the nightstand all night, but the difference is astounding. Great video, thanks for sharing!
from an engineering point is far more complicated to do a faraday cage in such a little space. Usually a faraday cage need an important volume of steel to be generated and a separation between the movement and the body with a non conductive material. when the volume is such a small thing as a watch, an effective protection must use some special alloys, usually more expensive than simple stainless steel. As far as i know, it also needs some aditional layer on the glass. On the other hand, as these cages are not fully effective, in many cases is also necessary to replace some key components with no magnetic metals, like palladium All this while the water protection can be achieved with some rubber stops xD
@@DrowSorcerer i am sure you could offer some improved magnetism protection by using some non magntic metals and sealing the mouvement around in rubber and not have any metal of the case touching the mouvement and all of that for not crazy ammounts of money,probably more usefull in our modern digital world than a 200m WR when i never found myself in a situation where i needed to wear my watch while swimming,for lots of people water resistance might be important but it's not to me,30 to 50m resistance is just fine if you don't shower with your watch like a weirdo
I used a decent fluid filled compass (still cheap) to test all my watches. I found it easiest to set the compass down, let it stabilize, then move the watch around it to see if the needle deflected. All my watches moved the needle slightly, some more than others. Degaussing only improved the worst cases in a noticeable way. I think this is normal, a small amount of magnetism is unavoidable and won't hurt watch operation. About every ferrous object in my house would deflect the needle at least slightly, some a lot. A random screwdriver and pair of scissors would drag the needle around the compass, after Degaussing they would deflect the needle slightly, like most of my watches. Fun stuff!
Hi TGV! As a radiologist who wears watches at work, let me correct you on one little thing. X-ray machines (or even CT scanners) do not operate with strong magnetic fields. MRI machines, however, can be a real pain in the neck. You should never ever go near an MRI scanner with your watch on, as they usually operate on a field strength of 1.5-3.0 Tesla, which is pretty brutal. Although the demagnetizer you showed us can be helpful for sure. :)
Beware of proximity card readers, like found in skicenters to acces the lift. They usually produce strong magnetic field to be able to read the card from users pocket. Had my watch magnetized by one.
Omg that's was hilarious. I still wouldn't keep my watches so close to the speakers. I've had three watches that needed to be demagnetized. Two where vintage watches that just would not work, and one was running fast. As soon as I demagnetized the vintage watches, they came back to life. It is more common than people think. Great video, cheers
Thank you! Yesterday I so stupidly put my Hamilton Khaki on the magnet of my Macbook cover and it gained two minutes in the hour passed on the magnet! Now it seems ok, but if in the next days it strangely behaves I will try to fix it by the way you suggest in this useful video. Thank you again!
While I won't argue that watches don't often get magnetised, I'm somewhat skeptical about how easy the internet claims it is to magnetise a watch. I spent last summer in close proximity to large and powerful electric motors (both pm and asynchronous, to anyone that cares), as well as powerful ferrous and rare-earth magnets and never had an issue with magnetising my Squale 1545. I did take care to not allow the watch to get overly close to magnets, but I think the fear-mongering regarding the issue to be a little excessive. That being said, magnetic fields become weaker in accordance to the inverse square law, so just being a few inches away from the magnet means you should be safe. I may just be lucky though, and better safe than sorry! Also, keep up the outtakes, they are hilarious!
+The Urban Gentry For that little it's probably cheaper to buy it than not! I might have to look into one for myself. And I'm really moaning about the kind of people that do the 'if your watch goes near a magnet it will be ruined' thing, and the 'don't get a watch that isn't more than 1000m water resistant damp' that you get all too often on the internet. John
Great still pic on this one :-) Magnetizing makes the hairspring stick to itself, flimsy thing as it is, which effectively makes it shorter and thus stiffer. It can cause the watch to become even crazy fast. One thing worth noting is that any steel watch causes some movement in the compass if it's positioned right on the edge. The watch does cause a local disturbance in Earth's magnetic field. What I like to do is position the compass right over the watch and bring it straight down to it. You also need to turn the watch 90 degrees and try again, in case you had it aligned with the magnetic field the first time. Your bloopers are so funny :-)
+esa062 Duly noted, I wish you could of seen the tudor when it was magnetised, didn't matter how it was, the compass went crazy from all angles LOL, oh well, all sorted now. Very true about the hairspring, thats precisely why it get faster, you really know your stuff! Spot on, thank you, Best regards, TGV
Are you sure you have a very important deadline? That outtake ending was something else! We loved it!!! Great video as always. What a fantastic tip. Thank you!
I recently had a similar experience. I was unhappy with the inaccuracy of my Orient Bambino. When I bought it, the accuracy was just fine. Then I wanted to regulate it myself. Bad news, it was even worse by slowing it down. It was gaining two to three minutes a day. Later I realized that I accidentally magnetized the watch by the metal tweezer I was using to nudge the regulator. So take care of metal tools as well.
The Urban Gentry So after reading my comment again I realized that there must be something I was missing... and I found it! After a bit of research I found that the accent is likely older Upper or Heightened Received Pronunciation (RP). TGV helped me learn about demagnetizing watches and British pronunciation!
Hahaha amazing thumbnail tgv! 😂 Great video as always! Also, you are nearly at 40k subs! Congrats so much! Hope you reach one million subs someday. Best regards Erik
So, I bought a watch winder for a decent amount of money and noticed that after rotating several watches through it that, it had magnetized my beater Relic (20 minutes fast after 4 days!). Now, a very cheap watch but, regardless, I wasn’t happy as I had put some expensive watches (A TAG and a Tissot) in it as well. Luckily it didn’t magnetize those. Anyways, I bought a similar demagnetizer off amazon for 9$ and thanks to TGV (After watching this video), I SAVED MY BEATER! Thanks TGV! Love your videos!
Great video... Loved the out takes, and informative on magnetism. Did not know you could buy a demagnetizer ... So cheaply .... I did have an Omega that was zapped and was costly to get fixed! Glad to know $7 can fix it. I miss your dog! Cute pup that he is!
Cool video my watch went back under warranty because it was fast - they sent it back after being demagnetised and now it's within 5 secs a day 👍 I didn't realise how easily it could be done at home, thanks
Thank you for the video, I just bought a demagnetize because I notice using my compass that some of my watches have this problem. My very best, you are funny, smart, polite and for sure have many other qualities. If any day you decide to visit Los Angeles, let me know, will be a pleasure to hang out with you, talk about watches and show some of our great spots around!!! Thank you very much for this video!
Thank you, very flattered by the kind words. I certainly would love to visit LA one day, I have family there too so I should try and make it over there, please stay in contact, always please to meet like minded people. Best regards, TGV
Great and very useful video! This video will save lots of collectors plenty of repairing cost as this is a common issue due to our modern lifestyle where we are surrounded with plenty of electronic gadgets. I have demagnetised quite a few of my watches using the same method. Great job!
Ball watch makes good watches that can high magnetism tolerance. Can vouch for them as I have 2. BWM power reserve and the engineer master 3 aviator. I can post it on the gtv fp if you like.
Just demagnetized my watch using what looks like exactly the same device used in this video. It really worked, passing the compass test. Thank you TGV 👍
I urge you to do a video like this entirely in the old school infomercial style accent you used in those last five seconds, it was brilliant i tell you!
Nice video, nice choice for a Nato on the Tudor! I got a 80kg pulling force fishing magnet, hence the reason I don't wear a watch when working with that (probably would even break an Aqua Terra). About demagnatizing...could one also (if movement permits) just pull out the crown to its hacking function as the movement stops instead of emptying the power reserve? Cheers. (too many espressos...lol)
I say old chap, after gladly perusing your last cinefilm (as is my wont) concerning the Invicta, I thought to myself "well, here's old Dick Champion expousing the virtues of the 8926 while my own is suffering the most frightful malaise, something's not parade ground order, what?". Then it dawned on me, can be just one thing! MAGNETISM! Good God! Well, long story short, we're now running smoother than a tea clipper bound for home. Good day to you Sir
I was going to be straight forward and say how informative your video was, TGV, but then I saw the bloopers and I forgot what I was going to say. You should do an entire video as Hugo. Frightfully funny stuff, old boy! LOL
Excellent advice. But personally, I'm still getting a watch with a Faraday cage. I don't know but it seems odd that a big clunky demagnitizer has to be a standard piece of equipment to properly enjoy a precise time-piece.
. . . Loved the conclusion . . . yes I stopped puting my Seiko SARX033 on top of my iPad cover since the magnet in it switches it on/off. Hmmm what was I thinking. Checked the watch with my campus and all is OK, thanks for heads up.
A cracking good (unintentional?) Sir David Niven impersonation In the bloopers section of the video Tristano. Gave me a great laugh. Must go.. Toddle pip and tally ho sir🤓. Oh great bit of advice re magnetism too 👍🏻
LOL. We demand a watch review by Hugo Montgomery Charlie-Watson. Maybe when you're bored in the winter...in all seriousness, insightful for a relative novice like me 👍(actually I'm serious about a posh review too haha)
Check the corners of your laptop with a compass. Many have strong neodymium magnets to make the case snap closed, at just the positions your wrists will be when typing.
Please do a video entirely in the English character. And you have to start the video with you spinning around in your chair to face the camera and say "whyyy hello chaps" Great video, made my day.
thx for yet another mostly informative video. Especially the end. I laughed so hard that my wife woke up and came looking what I was watching! You're the best! :))))
Haha, great video. Still waiting for the demagnetizer I ordered a month ago... Ghastly shipping! (Not even sure i'm using that right!) Small question: If the watch gets magnetized, does it damage the watch in any way? Thank you! Always a pleasure to watch your videos TGV ;)
+Jncky12 How absolutely frightfully terribly ghastly! Good question, unless the magnetism extremely strong, I would not worry. I doubt there is anything in the average home to really damage the movement, most likely it will just affect performance, but as you see, very easy to fix. Thank you, Best regards, TGV
I wish I had found this a month ago. I magnetized my Victorinox and sent it in. 250$ later they replaced 6gears and now its working again. I’ll be buying one of these today.
Hi, TGV, Just want to say how much I enjoy your video channel, and consider your opinions and advice on most subjects...not ONLY watches, to be right on target. After watching this particular video, there's but a small but important point I'd like to make, and it is that compasses are in fact magnets themselves, and should not be placed near mechanical watches. Instead, place a non-magnetic steel sewing needle directly against the watch case. If the watch has become badly magnetized, there will be a slight but noticeable resistance or 'stickiness' when you slowly and gently take the needle away from the watch case. The best advice is simply avoid exposing mechanical watches to strong magnetic fields, such as loudspeakers, power transformers, and of course magnets, themselves. Keep up the fine, high quality work as your channel is a breath of fresh air in a world dominated mostly by rubbish.
The next time you mention magnetism, show off your "magnetic personality" by sticking a refrigerator magnet to your forehead. One that says Brook Bonds on it? Love the funny bit at the end- the bloopers are funny. Hugo doesn't mess up his lines, or leave "jelly beans" on your desk? :) I had a Hamster that would chew up my school papers and leave little 'surprises' on the desk...
I love the day date...and love the nato's, however, I'm sorry to say, I just can't see the little Tudor that way. great piece, and absolutely love the class you give your time pieces. you have been a big influence on my time pieces, as well as personal style and way of life in general. keep up the good work and good on ya.
+Adam Pawlicki Totally understandable about the nato, extremely flattered my friend, its viewers and supporters like you that keep me going! Thank you so much my friend. Best regards, TGV
TGV, Good morning and thank you to you and Grobnob for sharing the fix for magnetised watches. I had considered my Timex Marlin for a loss b/c it was running too fast. My marlin is now back to normal ^_^;
thank you for the info! important one. I new about demagnetizing but did not know about compass check. Compass is that sensitive? now - really suggest to come up with bloopers ones in the while. opens up the dark side of the governor :)
I knew about watches getting magnetized but I didn't know how easy it was to get it magnetized. I didn't want to believe it at first and thought i might have accidentally touch the balance wheel while changing hands so I tried moving the regulator index closer to "-" but that didn't help. Finally, I checked it with an App and sure it was. Now I have two problems, because after getting it de-mag'ed now I have to regulate it again.
Hi TGV, You make me spilled my coffee! ;) Funny outtakes. I'm going to test my Junghans Chronometer from 1965. It's running over two minutes fast a day... :-/ Best regards, Claus
Thank you. Very useful and informative. Completely off topic, I noticed your aircraft models in the speaker. Looks to be Me-109 and maybe a Spitfire? Battle of Britain? Also, are those tanks along the top of your map?
Worth noting that any watch with a soft iron Faraday Cage or spacer will not be able to use the compass test, as the amount of ferric iron in the watch will deflect the compass regardless of magnetic field.
Thank you for the video. If you like having the casio or tudor on a nato then do it. I believe that if you like something then others opinions don't matter.
Hysterically funny at the end with your Terry Thomas impression! That aside another great video and yes I am now passing a compass over all my watches...damn that's why my Submariner has been running fasssssst.
