@Archer , I’m not disagreeing with you, what I am suggesting is that if his watchmaker replaces the case back seal and crown and pressure tests it- and it passes, there is no reason he can’t get the watch wet or wear it in humid conditions. You being a watchmaker, I’m sure you have heard/ seen other watchmakers give misinformation.
I have had some watchmakwrs say that all older watches need to avoid water which is BS, if the watch was designed to be waterproof (as was the Seamaster line), and it passes a pressure test- then it’s fine with water. Pitting around the case back seal is another issue as I said above, but with a fresh gasket, washing your hands carefully “shouldn't” be an issue as long as you don’t splash up on the wrist and are careful (which I do regardless of which watch I wear from 1917 to 2010). If the weather is steamy and I’m sweating, then I’m not wearing one of these oldies anyway....but again, if it passes the pressure test then there won’t be an issue.
Yes, I've seen bad advice from watchmakers before, but far more bad advice given by collectors on forums...
You now talk about passing a pressure test, but that's not what you actually said initially. Your first reply regarding water resistance was this:
"If the rear seal and crown seal are fresh, there is no reason these couldn’t take a splash or even a quick dunk in the sink, they were designed for it. Earlier watches with the press-on backs are the ones with which you need to be careful around water"
Again, what they are designed for is irrelevant if the sealing surfaces are pitted, or the case tube is worn - neither of these things are "solved" by new gaskets, so to imply that these are good for a "dunk in the sink" is not great advice to put I mildly.
Later you said this:
"The pitting around the case back seal I can understand, but with a fresh gasket it would make enough of a seal to withstand sweat or a splash, just not a dunk or a swim perhaps. The real culprit is the crown seal. If you look a large portion of dial damage, you see it creep in from the right side (or darker lume on the 2-5 hour markers)- that’s a bad crown seal. "
Again you have no way of knowing that a new seal will "make enough of a seal" to avoid damage from humid weather from sweat, or a splash to the watch. You have no idea if the crown seal is the only issue in that area, or if the case tube is worn or damaged. If there is an issue with the case tube (which you can't see when the crown is installed) then a new crown isn't going to help.
I fully agree that a pressure test is something that should be done to confirm things, and that's why I said so in my post above. But if you don't have the test, again it should be treated as if it has zero water resistance until you know if it has any at all. If the watchmaker who worked on it said "keep it dry" then that is what you should do.
Cheers, Al
