Anyone Go Swimming With A Speedmaster?

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Go buy a SKX for swimming.

It's built for diving, and if by chance it leeks you can throw it out and start over.

Shazam! Best "Speedmaster swimming" advice I've seen yet.
 
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Well, when your plane goes from this....



to this....



you're forced to swimm with your speedy ;-) Watch (and owner) survived:

 
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Omega specs indicate it's good for 50m. I've done a pressure test with my modern 311 Speedmaster, and it did not fail the 50m test.

50m is 164 feet. Consider you go into the deep end of a pool which is on average, what, 12 feet? So your Omega is rated for just about 13 times the depth of the deep end of a swimming pool...

And some people say it wouldn't survive a shower or a light splash?

I heard about the guy that got condensation on his new Speedy on a plane ride... but who knows where that Speedy was from or how it was handled.

Like everyone else said, if you plan on swimming with it, get it pressure tested yearly, and don't operate the pushers underwater.
 
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Nice stuff the last few posts - making some of the members on the first page or so look a little silly, eh? 😉 Love when this debunking stuff happens. This entire myth has been perpetuated for years on forums and I seriously hope it's over now. Speedmaster or Submariner, it's more about the gaskets and maintenance.

Wonder if I should mark this thread with my special word? 😁

Oh, and we need some of this too:

 
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Isn't the situation clouded by the issue of hermeticity? While it would be perfectly possible to make something like the Speedy Pro have a deeper depth rating by beefing up the seals or fitting screw down pushers, the NASA certification for EVA may be compromised if they did since the existing hesalite crystal would take a lot of stress and risk popping off if the watch were suddenly exposed to the vacuum of space without an easy path for the gas inside the watch to escape ie the seals. Plenty of non-Pro Speedmasters have deeper ratings as noted above in this thread. You either need to give the watch a way to outgas or secure the crystal more rigidly and in fact perhaps consider a stronger material than the existing crystal. I think having a watch suitable for duty simultaneously on Buzz Aldrin and Captian Nemo's wrists is just not easy from an engineering standpoint! Just a thought!

[sarcasm]
Oh my GAWD!!!! 😲 I just read your post and saw you said "screw down pushers"!!!!! 😲😲😲😲😲 Even worse, you're suggesting a stronger material than Hesalite be used for the crystal!!!! 🤦😲😲😲😲😲 You're going to be excommunicated from the Church of the Moonwatch for heresy like that!!! :whipped: Are you F🤬KING NUTS?!?!?!?!?!? Quick - get out of town, don't use your credit cards, and never ever contact anyone you know or they WILL find you!

Geez, the balls on that guy speaking ill of the classic Speedmaster by claiming it could be improved. 🙄 Now all you Speed Freaks should put down the pitchforks & torches and go take your meds before you end up in jail.
[/sarcasm]
 
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Okay, so which one of you WUSsies is going to start the other perpetually repeating thread "Can I shower with my ___________?" (fill in any dive watch, but usually a Submariner is in the title).
 
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Okay, so which one of you WUSsies is going to start the other perpetually repeating thread "Can I shower with my ___________?" (fill in any dive watch, but usually a Submariner is in the title).
Shower? Heck I don't even dare take my beauties into the bathroom, too afraid of the toxic odors penetrating the fragile air tight seals might cause havoc on the precious movement!! Are you kidding me? Bite your tongue!!
 
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[sarcasm]
Geez, the balls on that guy speaking ill of the classic Speedmaster by claiming it could be improved. 🙄 Now all you Speed Freaks should put down the pitchforks & torches and go take your meds before you end up in jail.
[/sarcasm]

I see your sarcasm font once I hit the reply button to your post.

Of course, we all know @padders was joking, as the speedmaster cannot be improved. I will say that Omega did drop the ball by adding the sapphire crystal to some models. And then again with the 10+ versions of the Grey/Dark/White/Black/Vintage/BlackBlack, etc Sides of the Moon. But aside from that, for 50+ years it has been pure awesomeness.

Last month, had an opportunity to get a tour of the Air and Space museum in San Diego. The docent was a retired military doctor. He shared a wonderful story on how he was assigned as the medical doctor to oversee the landing of two different space missions. On one he said they had an Airstream trailer in the hanger bay of the carrier and they had to quarantine the pilots for 21 days. I will drink the kool-aide all day long when I get the opportunity to hear these types of stories. Or see these types of posts. There are many others, but you get the point.

 
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A couple decades ago I purchased a Speedmaster that a friend of mine went swimming with. I purchased the watch for a very low price. The case dial hands were all as new however the movement was a total rust bucket. Almost everythong was rusted. Only things that did not rust was the plates and bridges.
One day I ran into a friend thst is an advanced collector and parts hoarder. At one time the guy would purchase all the stock from retired watchmakers and jewelers. I mentioned the Speedmaster he told me bring him the watch and he would see what he could do with it.
He had all the nos parts to rebuild the watch. My friend did me a big time favor rebuilt the watch with all nos parts The charge was $600 to me that was outstanding. However I sold that speedmaster I should have kept that one
 
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I feel like I wandered into a parallel universe lol.
 
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A couple decades ago I purchased a Speedmaster that a friend of mine went swimming with. I purchased the watch for a very low price. The case dial hands were all as new however the movement was a total rust bucket. Almost everythong was rusted. Only things that did not rust was the plates and bridges.
One day I ran into a friend thst is an advanced collector and parts hoarder. At one time the guy would purchase all the stock from retired watchmakers and jewelers. I mentioned the Speedmaster he told me bring him the watch and he would see what he could do with it.
He had all the nos parts to rebuild the watch. My friend did me a big time favor rebuilt the watch with all nos parts The charge was $600 to me that was outstanding. However I sold that speedmaster I should have kept that one

Certainly did you a favour if he replaced those parts for $600...a new balance will cost you close to that now. And been there, done that...

















Some of the parts required...I did salvage quite a lot also...













Of course it's not just the movement that needs fixing, or the watch would not have flooded in the first place, so case issues must be dealt with...







I have had plenty of dive watches in the same shape - it's all about maintenance in the end.

Cheers, Al
 
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Certainly did you a favour if he replaced those parts for $600...a new balance will cost you close to that now. And been there, done that...


Nice work

















Some of the parts required...I did salvage quite a lot also...













Of course it's not just the movement that needs fixing, or the watch would not have flooded in the first place, so case issues must be dealt with...







I have had plenty of dive watches in the same shape - it's all about maintenance in the end.

Cheers, Al
 
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Certainly did you a favour if he replaced those parts for $600...a new balance will cost you close to that now. And been there, done that...

















Some of the parts required...I did salvage quite a lot also...













Of course it's not just the movement that needs fixing, or the watch would not have flooded in the first place, so case issues must be dealt with...







I have had plenty of dive watches in the same shape - it's all about maintenance in the end.

Cheers, Al

Always learning something new with every Archer post.

Thank you sir!
 
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Wow Al...That was a lot of "patina" on the movement! 😲
 
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Faz Faz
Wow Al...That was a lot of "patina" on the movement! 😲

Not the good kind either!
 
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I laugh at all the claims on watch forums that 50m of water resistance isn't suitable for swimming when watches designed for swimming and triathlon only have 50m of water resistance.
 
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I laugh at all the claims on watch forums that 50m of water resistance isn't suitable for swimming when watches designed for swimming and triathlon only have 50m of water resistance.
Good point!
 
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It actually means 50m water resistance according to Omega...

That is what I think as well.

Why would they take the time to rate it to 50m or 30m in the case of my Speedmaster Automatic 1151 if it has no ability resist being submerged in shallow water (less that 10 feet deep) for any length of time .

If hand washing was all we could do with our Speedys then Omega would say so. I work in Law and could only imagine the class action litigation nightmare that would reign hell upon The Swatch Group from hundreds of thousands of folks that got our 50m watches wet at the swimming pool or whiles washing the dishes.

As long as your seals are relatively new and watch has been serviced in the last 5 years for water-tightness then you can swim down to 49.9999M depth in your Speedy!
 
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SEIKO, for example, clearly lists on their website examples of water sport activities approved for their watches with different water resistant ratings (e.g., 3 BAR, 5 BAR, 10 BAR, 20 BAR, 30 BAR, etc.) (See, https://www.seiko-watch.co.jp/support/function/knowledge/waterproof.php). Omega, on the other hand, doesn't give any such information with examples of activities... At least I cannot find on their website or in the printed manual if their Speedmaster models that are only rated to 5 BAR (i.e., moon watches) are appropriate for swimming or if they Speedmaster models that are rated to 10 BAR (i.e., Speedmaster '57 and Speedmaster Racing) are appropriate for snorkeling, etc. (for legal reasons, I presume)....

That's probably why we keep seeing debates like this on watch forums, where people express their personal opinions, share specific individual experiences that may or may not represent statistically more common (or likely) occurrences, give hearsays and even perpetuate interweb urban legends...

This is all fun, though, because we get to talk about watches and play the same old "what if" scenarios over and over again. 😉