So I have read about watches getting magnetized. I spoke about it with my watchmaker not long ago and he said a large percentage of newer watches he gets in for service have been magnitized by all the electronic items we use (laptops, chargers, monitors), and sometimes just a quick zap on this little demagnetizer plate thing he has gets them running perfectly again.
I just got a lovely vintage Elgin that was sold as recently lubed and serviced by a hobbiest (not a watchmaker), and keeping time. Obviously I always take that with a grain of salt and eventually have them serviced by my watchmaker anyway, but this one came running fast - and I mean real fast- as in gaining 5 hours within a 24 hour period. The regulator is set dead center so he didn’t accidentally set it too fast.


Is it possible this got magnetized during shipping and that may be the cause of the fast running? How would I know if the watch is magnetized? I plan on taking it to my watchmaker anyway but he is several weeks out right now and I would like to wear it for a bit for fun.
I have an old tape head degausser- the kind we used on open reel machines back in the day:


you hold it at arms length from the tape head and push a button, slowly bring it to the head and make a couple circle passes and pull it away from the head to discharge the magnetic charge- then release the button again at arms length. Would this type of demagnetizer work on a watch or would this do bad things to it- like the hairsping? If this is ok, how would I use it on a watch?

 

I use a compass against the caseback to know if it's magnetized... But maybe @Archer will say that's crap...

 

And I use that little blue 7$ chinese machine to demagnetize

 

But maybe @Archer will say that's also crap...

 

I use my de-magnetizer about twice per year. And generally only on antique watches with bi-metallic, temperature compensating balance wheels with steel hairsprings. Otherwise, I only use it de-magnetize screw drivers. However, if it works for you......!

I recently had a brother collector call me about a Zenith Defy he found was gaining minutes in a day. He wanted it checked for magnetism. First thing I do is to establish a base from which to work, by putting the watch onto my timer. The pattern was crazy, but it did indicate a gain. I didn’t run it through the demagnetizer. I opened the case back, and spotted the trouble right off the bat. In the longer arcs of the balance wheel, the second coil of the hairspring was bouncing off the curb pin on the requlator. A deft adjustment to move the outer coil a bit further from the second coil, re-assembled it, put it back on the timer. Not only did the rate stabilize, but it settled back to a +8 seconds per day gain. I may have adjusted a bit to compensate for the 8 second gain, but I don’t remember. The watch continues to function perfectly for the owner, last I heard. So much for magnetism!

 

So running that fast would not in you opinion be about magnetism?
As in- don’t mess with it and just get it to your watchmaker!

 

Recently, I sent a watch away for full service and when it came back months later, I was unhappy with what I was seeing on the Weishi timegrapher, with a beat error between 8.0 and 9.5 msecs and with an amplitude of 260 under the best of circumstances, fully wound and dial-up.

The first thing the watchmaker suggested is that a Weishi is not a Witschi and of course, that I already knew. I have had very good results with the Weishi evaluating other watches serviced by another watchmaker and I believe it to be reasonably reliable.

The watch under discussion is an easy to adjust EP40-68 movement based watch.

The watchmaker next suggested that perhaps the watch was magnetized in shipping. This did not seem right to me, because the watch was not running fast. It was running very slightly slow, maybe - 6 seconds a day +/-

I am hoping that Archer or another watchmaker sees this posts and makes a helpful comment or two.

My understanding is that generally, when a watch becomes magnetized, this has the effect of shortening the mainspring (as it sticks to itself) and the watch can speed up dramatically.

I am a lay person so who am I to argue? I bought one of those $7 Chinese blue degausser/demagnetizers and after giving it the treatment. No change.

Needless to say the watch is now back with the watchmaker and I am waiting for a report and remediation.

I have a lovely Gallet MC45M "Snow White" and what possessed me to try the degausser on it . . . is natural curiosity, I would suppose. The MC45M was running perfectly with amplitude from 250 to 340 and with a beat error that ranged from 0.3 to 0.6.

After running it through the degaussing process, naturally the watch had to be readjusted. I got the beat error down to between 0.1 and 0.3, but I never saw an amplitude above 275 again.

In future, unless someone more knowledgeable convinces me otherwise, I will not subject another mechanical watch to a demagnetizer unless it has suddenly increased its beat rate.

Comments welcome.

Cheers,

Joe

 

Movement shots for keener eyes than mine. The hairsping May look suspect in the flash stop action shot...maybe?

 

- Lepsi smart phone app.
- I'll bet your degausser will work.

 

Fast running can be linked to hairspring coil stick together by oil.
Did you open the watch to check hairspring ?

 

I would have already tried it if I wasn’t afraid of don’t something bad. I just want to make sure that when I bring the electro-magnet to the watch the hairsping isn’t gonna to fly off in an unspooling nightmare

 

The watch/tool demagnetizer is probably virtually identical to what you have, in a different footprint. The usual protocol is to start with the watch close to the demagnetizer, push the button, hold the watch in place for a few seconds and then slowly move the watch away from the demagnetizer while holding in the button. It should take roughly 5 seconds to move it to arms distance, although I don't think the speed is really critical. Release the button and repeat the process a few times.

 

I had a ‘70’s cardinal jumphour that got magnetized somehow. It started gaining +/- 15min per hour. Demagnetizing at the watchmaker fixed the problem.

Interestingly, it took me an hour and +/- 15 minutes to get from my house to the watchmaker, but only an hour to get home

 

So I downloaded the app first pic is just sitting on the table.

It said place a magnet on the screen to find the sensor by reading the magnetism-I put the watch on it.

That looks high.

 

Running a watch through a demagnetizer is not a panacea for every fault that can cause an error in rate of a mechanical watch. I mentioned the Zenith. I always look for specific causes for rate variation, rather than to run it through the demagnetizer, first. With antiques, just a glance at the rate and amplitude of the balance wheel can tell you outright that it is magnetized. In fact, as you run it through the demagnetizer, you can see the amplitude increase, and the rate stabilize. But that is with a steel and brass balance wheel, and steel hairspring. The zenith got nowhere near my demagnetizer, and the problem was identified and solved.

So I look at demagnetizers as being the doctor saying, “take an aspirin, and call me in the morning.” They have their place, but they won’t solve every rate variation.

Your Elgin. IIRC, Elgin called their anti-magnetic balance and hairspring “ Elginium”. All same like Hamilton Elinvar and Elinvar Extra. Try the demagnetizing and get back to us.

 

I tired it- no change. Off to the watchmaker it will go.
I didn’t pay much for it and always assume a watch will need a service when I buy used anyway- was just curious if it could be that easy- and it’s not.

 

What I observed in 4-5 watchmakers I have visited here in my hometown, is that they all have a cheap Chinese demagnetiser on their desks... I asked all of them if this works and they all replied: "it does not harm the watch so I try it before I start adjusting precision..". All these watchmakers are independent locals, so don't take this post as an indication of what should be done...

 

I am totally with you here!
I bought a cheap blue chinese demagnetizer last year, as i suspected my 2254 was running fast all of a sudden. Then i did exactly as people advice.. Once i held the watch close to demagnetizer, i heared a really loud noise and felt massive vibration in my hand. Probably was the balance still oscilating. I got so scared to do more damage than any good, that i never touched that thing again! Not sure if one has to hack the movement prior to demagnetizing or not.

 

Don’t EVER remove a balance and hairspring from a movement, and expose the wheel itself to the demagnetizer! I have done it, but with the balance wheel wrapped in bench tissue so that the hairspring can’t flail around. Best to do it with the wheel in the movement. The only time I start out by running a watch through a demagnetizer is when the watch has a steel balance and hairspring, and when there is visual evidence that the watch is magnetized. That usually means short, choppy oscillations of the balance wheel on an antique watch.

 

My experience has been that the demagnetizer works, in that watches showing magnetization via a compass or the Lepsi app could be demagnetized. However, I also have never found that it significantly affected timekeeping.