Omega Po Ultimate - Water Resistant?

[paragonrep]

Hello everyone,

I'm brand new to the forums and excited to be here. I recently ordered an Omega PO ultimate orange from Andrew.

Before it arrives, I'm trying to find out about what water resistant means in the rep world and how one can go about 'waterproofing' enough for activities such as washing hands, showering, or even light swimming.

I've searched extensively here and haven't found enough answers yet....some say they swim with all their reps, some report misting after running their watches under the faucet for a couple seconds. Others have mentioned vacuum pressure testers and silicon. I will be cautious with mine but am hoping that through the right steps I'll be able to enjoy it for along time.

So the basic questions are a) how water resistant is such a watch and ( what to do and where to go to increase water resistance.

Anybody want to share their knowledge on the topic with a newbie and with the rest of the Omega area? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

P

[djtimodj]

I am also very interested in this topic if any one can help!

Tim.

[evildee]

Quality control is not so great so all REPs are not created equal. On some REPs you can open the caseback with duct tape.

Some things you could to is tighten the crowns and caseback with a proper tool.

If you want to know for sure if it's water resistant, go get it test. It shouldn't cost that much.

[By-Tor]

I'd say 95% of diver watch (and non-chronograph) reps are water resistant. Most of them pass all the tests with flying colors.

But because there's no QC this can't be guaranteed. Caseback might be loose, crystal might leak, etc. These are rare occurances but you never know.

PS: This must have been answered at least 10.000 times... and since the search engine seems to be broken again????? I thought one more round wouldn't hurt.

Bazz took nice water shots of his Ultimate PO here:

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=17506

[rbj69]

all u have to do is for a quickie and peace of mind and for the do it yourselfer , just tighten the case back with some needle nose pliers good and snug but be careful not to slip and then press really firm all the way round the crystal and make sure your he valve and crown r nice and snug , i would say 95% of the time this will do the trick for u , and if u want to make sure send it to someone that does this and have them test it for u , if u cant find anyone or dont understand what i just said email me and i will try and help u

joe

[jkarpas]

i tested mine after receiving it and tightening the case back. It is waterproof as i shower with it all tha time. never tested it in a pool though..

open it grease the gaskets with silicone and tighten back carefully.

i am not sure about the He valve though and if it has a gasket but its screw down and waterproofs good.

good luck

[chris5264]

I'm guessing the He value is all cosmetic and doesn't actually enter the case?

[gargoil]

The way I test them is to remove the movement and tighten everything up with some vaseline on the seals, us eit in a shower/bath and see if it has misted up or not. Done this on my 2 Subs and they were both fine. Not sure about how to make PAMs watertight as there doesn't appear to be any kind of seal on the crown stem. Receiving 45mm PO from Andrew soon and will be doing the same to this watch.

[hottoddy]

I thought vaseline was bad as it eats away at rubber based products.

[Finepics]

Just to clarify a few points on all the rep watches. The reps are made in factories that make genuine watches - if you see what I mean, so all are made with conventional techniques and commonly available watch materials. This means that the crystals are held into the case using nylon compression rings (as are Swiss watches), case tubes are press fitted into cases and have internal O rings (as are Swiss watches), crowns have O rings (as Swiss do) and casebacks have O rings as Swiss do. The main thing to check is that the caseback is tight as often they are not. Any lubrication should be done with silicon grease (which will not attack the rubber). The only difference between a rep PAM and the gen is that Panerai use a double O ring inside their case tubes (so they are over engineered) where the reps use a single O ring. Also on PAM's the locking levers are not always very tight against the crown so sometimes do not exert the full pressure on the crown sealing it against the tube. In practice this would mean that a rep PAM might not be watertight if diving with it but certainly able to be showered with. If the CG was "adjusted" then no reason why it would not be water resistant to at least 30m and maybe a lot more. Many have been pressure tested to 100m.

[gioarmani]

Don't know about th PO, but just take it and pay the $20 or so to have it tested. My SMP chrono from Josh tested solid to 300 ft--the deepest I've seen yet. I've got one Andrew Sub & one Davidsen 005 that went to 6 ATMs/bars and all the rest of my sports models have at least gone to 3 ATMs.

[vmena]

case tubes are press fitted into cases and have internal O rings

Not always... my 16610 MBW Sub did not have internal O ring in tube. I had to add it. Ans I wand if all reps carry this internal O ring.

[paragonrep]

To all, thank you for your input and response. I will be sure to post my findings and the steps I take once I receive my watch. Thanks again,

P

[Bazz]

I would say the weak point will probably be the He valve as there is no gasket, should be ok but the only way to be sure is to have it tested.

[TJGladeRaider]

Don't know about th PO, but just take it and pay the $20 or so to have it tested. My SMP chrono from Josh tested solid to 300 ft--the deepest I've seen yet. I've got one Andrew Sub & one Davidsen 005 that went to 6 ATMs/bars and all the rest of my sports models have at least gone to 3 ATMs.

Concur . . . Gio's experience is exactly the same as mine.

I found the initial statement about diligently researching the point to be interesting considering all the tests I have done with pictorial posts.

Bill

[paragonrep]

I found the initial statement about diligently researching the point to be interesting considering all the tests I have done with pictorial posts.

Bill

Yes, Bill, it is indeed interesting as I searched for water, water resistant, water-resistant, waterproof, waterproofing, and also included many other searches with those terms and the actual rep models I own and included all forums. Each time I went through and read the results. That falls under my definition of diligent searching.

As I said in my initial post, I found many threads that discussed this topic but none that actually came out and answered my two questions. I didn't come across any picture-tutorial-posts in regards to water resistance so I don't believe I've seen yours. I will go now and look for them under your profile name.

Thank you for your input. I will definitley go and get mine tested once it arrives. I look forward to learning from your detailed posts.

P

[paragonrep]

Bill,

As I've read that you own the PO Ultimate Version (is that right?), have you tested it in your machine? Would you recommend replacing the existing seals with any specific brands and or lubricating them? It's really fantastic that you've had such great experiences with reps and even diving with them. I'm a dive enthusiast and understand where you're coming from on the importance of having a watch that isn't afraid to get wet.

P