Pics show the damage, not good:



When I got it off him, it was sort of trying to tick and failing, I pulled the crown out, when I got home and had another look, it wouldn't tick at all, there are droplets inside the crystal and on the dial. Opened it up and took the battery out, no moisture inside the caseback or on the battery, no visible moisture on the Quartz movement at the back that I can see. Have put it with the caseback off on the top of a bed of raw rice in a sealed container on top of a warm computer server... Not sure what to do really...

Nearly certain it was the stem seal, the watchmaker said he thought it was ok, but that there were spots of corrosion on the stem, these have no screwdown crowns, but are meant to be 200M WR.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Yea, 20 year old watches just do that, particularly pre-screwdown crown, I really have no idea how they got a design like that rated to 200M in the first place. So you think it might tick once more even though it stopped temporarily... I was hoping that perhaps once the stepper motor dries out it might move again, there were some droplets on the dial which isn't good, particularly since the dial is all tritium lume and has a sort of porous texture to it, which might not react well to getting wet.

The back seal was brand new but it didn't pass a WR test, I'm assuming because of that seal at the stem, we just assumed it'd be "good enough" for light use around water, but my understanding is he took it in the shower and that happened.

 

Looks good!

Pulled it out of its rice box and the dial and crystal looks bone dry, popped the battery in, ticks perfectly. Pulled it again to stuff it back in overnight before it goes to the watchmaker tomorrow to be checked out and re-sealed.