Fellow OFers,

I’ve taken delivery of a used watch (Glycine Altus chrono) that’s running quite fast—gaining probably 5 seconds per minute. It was delivered to me from Italy, so passed through a lot of scanners and over many conveyors, I have to assume.

My theory is that it got magnetized. (It was advertised as serviced, and I’m going to begin with the premise that the seller is honest; good reviews.)

I just picked up a new demagnetizer (one of the ubiquitous little blue buggers—this is my second; the previous one stopped working but this one definitely does—I can feel it buzzing and I tested it on a screwdriver).

I’ve been following best practices (ie Hodinkee: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/how-to-demagnetize-your-watch) and am using the Lepsi app to check for magnetization after each run. I’ve also timed it out again a few times and it’s still fast—have probably done it more than 20 times at this point.

Any guidance? The watch still registers as magnetized on the app. Is it typical to have to do it dozens and dozens of times to get it demagnetized?

 

Just to make sure that you're using it correctly, were you able to demagnetize the screwdriver after magnetizing it?

 

The screwdriver was already magnetized (nails clinging to it) and after a single run of the demagnetizer, it lost its pull.

 

If the unit is functioning one, or two, passes should do the trick. It sounds like you may have a tangled hairspring, that would cause your rapid rate.

 

Which—I presume—is not something that likely would have happened in transit? Meaning the seller should have known about the issue?

 

I even recall one time where a screw came loose during shipping and was interfering with the balance.

 

Just 1 run over the demag should fix it if magnetism is the only issue. Do 2-3 runs over the demag if you want to be sure. If the demag doesn't fix it, then it's probably another problem and I'd take the watch to get it checked out.

 

Ok, thanks all!

 

If its just been serviced its possible that oil has migrated to the hairspring, causing binding

 

Could be a lot of things, but a balance spring that is hung up on the regulator would give these symptoms...





It comes from a shock, so it's possible it may have happened while in transit.

 

It was not packaged in the most shock-dampening way, so quite plausible. But it’s also still registering as magnetized. Could be a few contributing factors. The seller has agreed to a return, so I suppose it’s moot. This was meant to be a stylish “beater,” not something in which I want to invest a lot of money and time up front in servicing.

Could be time look into a brand new Hamilton. Or maybe a Shinola chrono...