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My New Bergeon 5555 Swiss Waterproof Tester!


gioarmani

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Excited? Yes.

So I decided to throw a couple through the numbers, fingers crossed...

The first up was my new fav, the newest Davidsen PAM 005 logo. My first thoughts were, "f*ck the swiss standard" printed of 3 bars/atms in the instruction book. Let's push it up just a hair:

127765-20036.jpg

I squeezed it up to 4 bars thinking that would be more than suficient, let the watch pressurize for 4 or 5 minutes, and slowly lowered the her in:.

127765-20037.jpg

It held solid, no bubbles for 5 minutes in the tank. So I decided to bury the needle @ 6 atms...

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Pressurized it for another 4 minutes, then let it sit for 5, submersed.

Flawless.

Absolutely flawless.

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Next up, Andrew's swiss GMT Master II. Another 4 bar charge & submersion:

127765-20040.jpg

5 minutes under the pond, and no bubbles:

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Then came my modified EL sub. The charge & dip:

127765-20042.jpg

Buried solid at 6 bars for 5 minutes under:

127765-20043.jpg

Yet another phenomenal result. Flawless.

And last but not least, at this point even my girl was pumped up to toss hers in the mix. One swiss ladys datejust:

127765-20044.jpg

(there's some water drips on the outside of the glass, not bubbles--optical illusion I think)

Solid @ 4 bars again--didn't want to push the little thing to 6, seeing as the only water it will see is a shower, if that.

127765-20045.jpg

A worthwhile investment indeed! So what the hell, if anyone needs theirs run through, make me an offer.

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@fitmic

The test is done by pressurising the chamber, whilst the watch is above the water. Therefore the watch has been subjected to the pressure ( if it leaks, pressurised air is inside) It is then placed in the water and the pressure is decreased. If the watch has a leak, air will bleed out thru the leak area. if you see bubbles, it leaks, and you immediately pull it from the water, before the pressure equalises, and water can get inside.

Hope that explains it in laymans terms.

offshore

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I see the picture where the watch has been submerged, but there is still pressure on the guage.

For the test to work, you have to release the pressure, and then look for bubbles...or are the pictures out of sequence?

Nice tester by the way, not my cup of tea as I dont' have one and probably never will...

RG

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A suggestion that could save you ruining a watch.

If there is a problem with the crystal, then you risk it blowing off when you release the pressure...what I mean is this...

You close the tester with the watch out of the water, then pressurize and let it sit for a few minutes...

Then you immerse the watch in the water, and release the pressure all at once to see if there is a leak (the theory being that if the seals are bad, pressurized air gets into the watch case, and when it's under water and you release the pressure, this pressurized air inside the watch case will leak out - and you see bubbles...)

The risk is this, the crystal has been known to fly off when you suddenly release the pressure, thereby ruining the watch...as it is sitting under water and will fill up...

Best to try this, pressurize the chamber, with the watch above the water, then release the pressure with the watch STILL above the water...if you have a loose crystal, better to have it fall off in the water and the watch remaining dry, than have it happen UNDER water...that would ruin your day...

Just a suggestion...

RG

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I see the picture where the watch has been submerged, but there is still pressure on the guage.

For the test to work, you have to release the pressure, and then look for bubbles...or are the pictures out of sequence?

Nice tester by the way, not my cup of tea as I dont' have one and probably never will...

RG

Lol--now I feel like a complete schmuck! The instruction booklet didn't mention the pressure release until after it said to look for the bubbles. I'll have to retry tonight & reshoot. Thanks for that minor bit of information.

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Lol--now I feel like a complete schmuck! The instruction booklet didn't mention the pressure release until after it said to look for the bubbles. I'll have to retry tonight & reshoot. Thanks for that minor bit of information.

Place watch in chamber, pressurise to atm you want to test. Slowly open vent (if you open To quickly you may blow crystal off depending on how many BARS or ATMOSPHERS, remember @ 6 atm you have alomost 90lbs. of pressure) and submerge into water , looking for air escaping.

When totally submerged vent all pressure. Look for air bubbles. This is how I test for water reisitance.

JKTOWN

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Place watch in chamber, pressurise to atm you want to test. Slowly open vent (if you open To quickly you may blow crystal off depending on how many BARS or ATMOSPHERS, remember @ 6 atm you have alomost 90lbs. of pressure) and submerge into water , looking for air escaping.

When totally submerged vent all pressure. Look for air bubbles. This is how I test for water reisitance.

JKTOWN

Thanks again

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The problem is how the pressure will increase dynamically due to movement of your body, water, etc to increase the static pressure of the depth.

Static pressure will also vary according to your current altitude and barometric pressure.

At sea level, it is 1 atm of pressure so a 5 atm rated watch can go 4atm beneath in a perfectly still environment. 4atm = 132 ft.

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Great news for me. Now I know EL's sub case is capable of withstanding 5 bars in a static test, after greasing the seals as you have done.

Thanks.

Not really..... what you do know is that the one gioarmani has passed a test. This doesn't mean that the next one will! Remember that as each one is individually assembled, a seal may be incorrectly assembled ( or left out) or the parts used in the assembly are from a different source. I would still have each individual unit tested before immersion! ( And retested frequently)

Offshore

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Just to clarify on correct usage, once it's been 3 or 4 minutes & the watch has pressurized & it's submersed, you release the pressure & watch for bubbles. My question is, every watch that I've tested has a few bubbles come out. For instance on the submariner, they come out from the top of the bezel, near the case (not near the crystal) but I also see them coming from the band & clasp. Only a few, then they stop. If there's an actual leak are the bubbles smaller & contiuously still streaming after the pressure is completely released, or how does one tell the difference between an actual leak and air that was simply trapped under the bezel?

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Just to clarify on correct usage, once it's been 3 or 4 minutes & the watch has pressurized & it's submersed, you release the pressure & watch for bubbles. My question is, every watch that I've tested has a few bubbles come out. For instance on the submariner, they come out from the top of the bezel, near the case (not near the crystal) but I also see them coming from the band & clasp. Only a few, then they stop. If there's an actual leak are the bubbles smaller & contiuously still streaming after the pressure is completely released, or how does one tell the difference between an actual leak and air that was simply trapped under the bezel?

It's best to test without bands on. Yes air can be trapped under bezel, and in links if band is on the watch, this happens quite often. JUST be sure no bubbles from crystal case, case back, and crown stem area. Only be concernedwith watch casement areas. Hope this helps. You'll have the hang of it after a few more testings.

Just remember NEVER release all the pressure in the chamber if you see bubbles coming from any casement areas. If you do remove watch immediately with chamber still pressurised.

JKT

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