Hazed and unused

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Thanks. Got an El Primero that I composed a review, but want to post on a weekday morning. So I'll wait until my day off on Tuesday.
 
That plastic casement theory is a bust. I just took apart my Automatic Sea hunter and there wasn't any plastic anything inside of it and it still had a foggy crystal. well its clean now. Im still not sure what the deal is with the fog.
 
Pretty much all of the Android/Aragons and Invictas I have and have had needed a cleaning under the crystal.
 
The thing that's amusing to me are these guys always using the line you never have to worry about changing a battery on your automatic watch. They fail to leave out chances are you will probably have to open the watch and remove the movement to clean the crystal when the fog settles in. I'm just thankful none of these companies make any watches with a monobloc case.
 
Could it be the lack of a helium valve? I never had to clean out any of mine with them.
 
You guys got it all wrong...Crystals don't fog. I was told it is a "crystal patina".
 
You guys got it all wrong...Crystals don't fog. I was told it is a "crystal patina".


They can stick the patina where the sun doesn't shine. These companies aren't stupid and I'm sure they have items in stock they have seen themselves with crystal patina. I wouldn't be shocked if they have an idea for the reasons. I see all kinds of theories, but throughout most forums they majority suggest it comes from moisture in watches that are sealed poorly. Although that may be true in some circumstances, all of mine have been safely stored with moisture packets and never exposed to any extreme temperature changes so I'll stick with the out-gassing theory of cheap plastic materials. The movement retainer, dials and parts of quartz movements puts many different plastic parts in just one watch, not to mention the rubber gasket for the case back.
 
They can stick the patina where the sun doesn't shine. These companies aren't stupid and I'm sure they have items in stock they have seen themselves with crystal patina. I wouldn't be shocked if they have an idea for the reasons. I see all kinds of theories, but throughout most forums they majority suggest it comes from moisture in watches that are sealed poorly. Although that may be true in some circumstances, all of mine have been safely stored with moisture packets and never exposed to any extreme temperature changes so I'll stick with the out-gassing theory of cheap plastic materials. The movement retainer, dials and parts of quartz movements puts many different plastic parts in just one watch, not to mention the rubber gasket for the case back.
Maybe the plastic attracts more moisture than metal?
 
Maybe the plastic attracts more moisture than metal?


:hmm: If they have a certain WR rating with screwed down crowns and are BNIB never exposed to the environment how could moisture or anything externally get inside to mix with the culprits? It was only conjecture, but I still think something is going on internally from the materials mentioned. If I was a scientist with his own lab I would be able to have a definitive answer, but unfortunately it's all hypothetical.
 
That plastic casement theory is a bust. I just took apart my Automatic Sea hunter and there wasn't any plastic anything inside of it and it still had a foggy crystal. well its clean now. Im still not sure what the deal is with the fog.



I believe the lume sandwich dial is on a plastic disk and the crystal itself has a plastic gasket which you can see looking through your dial. As mentioned by RW and others earlier....plastic outgassing is only ONE of the reasons behind the inner crystal fog.
 
Many watches also have the propeller inside the case back, who knows what they can be made from or painted with. I'm not saying BONY SH has one, but there are also many models that have plastic chapter rings and sub dials (especially the transparent ones) and date disc can have plastic in them as well.


https://www.invictawatch.com/watche...-titanium-titanium-black-dial-sw200-automatic

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https://www.invictawatch.com/watche...nless-steel-black-black-dial-a07211-automatic

https://www.invictawatch.com/watche...ss-steel-gunmetal-black-dial-a07211-automatic
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:hmm: If they have a certain WR rating with screwed down crowns and are BNIB never exposed to the environment how could moisture or anything externally get inside to mix with the culprits? It was only conjecture, but I still think something is going on internally from the materials mentioned. If I was a scientist with his own lab I would be able to have a definitive answer, but unfortunately it's all hypothetical.
ut when they pull out the crown to change the time or date, air and moisture could possibly enter.
 
I believe the lume sandwich dial is on a plastic disk and the crystal itself has a plastic gasket which you can see looking through your dial. As mentioned by RW and others earlier....plastic outgassing is only ONE of the reasons behind the inner crystal fog.

I'll take wiser Wyts word for it. I definitely don't know, just speculating. I do know this though, I would rather clean a foggy crystal once every 10 years or so than have to change out batteries every other month.
 
I'll take wiser Wyts word for it. I definitely don't know, just speculating. I do know this though, I would rather clean a foggy crystal once every 10 years or so than have to change out batteries every other month.

LOL .... ten years is one thing, but some of the watches are only a few years old if that. I haven't even been collecting for ten years or so myself.
 
ut when they pull out the crown to change the time or date, air and moisture could possibly enter.




Either way you slice it the watch is defective or consists of some inferior parts if air, moisture or other cantonments can enter that easily it doesn't have sufficient seals let alone any WR.
 
LOL .... ten years is one thing, but some of the watches are only a few years old if that. I haven't even been collecting for ten years or so myself.

Or even new for that matter. I can vaguely recall receiving one or two cloudy wrapped up tight supposedly new watches back in the day I had to send back. Lol, oh and ten years is just a long distance reference of time versus changing them dam batteries all the time. I really don't know how long it takes them to Cloud back up. I do know I've cleaned my fair share and none have come back as of yet and I've been collecting since Bob was 1000 years old and that was 100 years ago, lol. Lovya Bob;)
 
I have no horse in this race, but an observation...if all the watches that fog up are under $300 (for example) , and NO watches over $600 (for example) ever fog up, just consider in the cheaper priced watches, a fogged crystal will occur. Use the dollar savings to pay for a crystal cleaning. Or, if that bothers you, only buy more costly watches that don't fog.
 
I have not experienced the fog on any of my three Androids, but, of the thirty Invicta's that I have, four of them have the haze. All chrono's so I'm a little reluctant to take them apart.
 
All I can add on this issue is.....whatever the cause or causes....this crystal fogging IS a very annoying issue that should not happen at any watch price point , or happen because of any place that the watch was manufactured. This issue has soured me towards the hobby of watch collecting. I have watches in my collection that I have cleaned several times by several of the TV or former TV , or box store mall brands.

I once placed a plastic movement holder inside of a watch case that I had saved for possible future use after a movement death. I tightened the case back and screwed the stem back in so the case was airtight.....No , I didn't pressure test it , but I'm sure it was airtight as the gaskets were good. The inside crystal was perfectly clean. After about 1 year , the crystal was foggy on the inside again.

I also have had some more mid priced watches fog up also. My big I SW 500 Coke Scuby chrono is one. (metal mov't holder in that one too, but plastic chapter ring on dial) I also have bestofnyc's Seahunter SW 200 watch , which was not really cheap , and I have cleaned the crystal on that watch as well. To me the place of manufacture seems to be more of a common denominator of issues concerning the quality of materials used inside of the watch that causes the crystal fogging issues. (materials being , plastics , lubes , gaskets , dial parts , rubbers , and maybe even the crystal or crystal manufacturing process itself)

I can sum this up in 3 words......IT SUCKS....but then again....5 out of 3 people can't do math...:)
 
I have no horse in this race, but an observation...if all the watches that fog up are under $300 (for example) , and NO watches over $600 (for example) ever fog up, just consider in the cheaper priced watches, a fogged crystal will occur. Use the dollar savings to pay for a crystal cleaning. Or, if that bothers you, only buy more costly watches that don't fog.

I have Bulova, Citizen, Helix, Reactor, Seiko and Zodiac just to name a few. The majority except for the Helix and Luminox have mineral crystals all under $300.00 and many others as well. To this day each one of those is as clear as the most expensive timepieces in my collection. If other companies can produce a watch that does not haze up in that price range, it's unacceptable from others. IMO it's flawed logic to just shrug it off as oh well buy a more expensive watch if it bothers you. Invicta and Android are the two brands for me of what I have in my collection that are consistent offenders when it comes to getting hazed.

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and just for kicks

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