Would anyone know if a high-quality, hand-held Gauss meter would be an accurate way to assess whether a watch is magnetized? Thanks.
Not sure what type of Gauss meter you are referring to, but unless you have a specific need to confirm if the watch is magnetized, my advice would be to just demagnetize it if you think it’s magnetized.
The reason why I ask is because I happen to have the Gauss meter, but not yet the demagnetizer. Do you know if retreiving food from the microwave is enough magnetic field to cause a watch to become magnetized? The meter shows the innards of the oven register quite a high field.
Not something I’ve looked into, but you would think if it were we would see a lot of magnetized watches. Are there any symptoms? Running fast?
I would assume a demagnetizer would be cheaper then a gauss meter. Meaning the best way to diagnose it is to demagnetize it.
I’m actually curious what folks feel is the greatest/typical cause of watch magnetization. Here’s why: I always read that devices, like laptops, tablets and phones are a major source. Just for fun, I checked the magnetic fields by scanning all sections of my iPad with the Gauss meter, and the highest level I could find was 4 milligauss, but in the microwave, where I reached for my food, the area read 45 milligauss. Now, here’s the hole in my physics knowledge: do watches respond differently to actual exposure to magnets, vs magnetic fields?
Depends if the field is static or alternating. Static field will act as a permanent magnet would. An alternating field is what you demagnetize with... Proximity is a big thing. Strength of the field of a permanent magnet goes up rapidly the closer you get.