In the last few months I've had previously very accurate watches run amok a couple of times. I don't mean a few seconds a day here, I mean many minutes, sometimes several minutes per hour. Having worked around heavy magnets for years and having fried up a few vintages watches as a result I recognize the problem immediately, the damn thing is magnetized.

A quick trip to my watchmaker and some ribbing later sets things straight but how is this happening? These days I'm in an office tied to a desk or stuck in meetings and I'm not spending the evening working on magnetos at home so what's up?

Then I walk over to the piano to pick up the I Pad my wife bought me a few months ago, and the friggin thing wants to bring the piano hinge with it. The damn thing has quite the magnetic field! I sit this on my end table at night, often with my watch beside or even on it.

Quietly magnetizing my watch!

Further proof that technology is the enemy!

So everybody... toss your electronics and go buy vintage watches... it good for the soul

 

The magnetic covers on those iPads are very strong! I also have found magnets associated with key rings or USB covers to be potentially a problem. Glad you were able to fix the problem!

 

New carpets? Low humidity? ZAP! It’ll do it every time to a watch that is not anti-magnetic!

 

I never put a watch, or my wallet with credit cards, on or near a smart phone or tablet with a magnetic cover. Has served me well, haven't had any magnetized watches..

 

There are more magnetic fields around us than ever before, so if you are unsure if something you own has magnets in it or not, or if you keep having issues with magnetism and can't locate the source then I would suggest getting some magnetic viewing film:



As you can see when I placed it on my phone, it shows exactly where the magnets are:



It's cheap to buy - got mine on Amazon.

Cheers, Al

 

Could you put a watch that was running fast on this to see if it’s magnetised or has a damaged/jammed hairspring?

 

Not sensitive enough I think...

 

My Hamilton was magnetized badly enough to cause my compass to drift off north when you placed the watch beside it.