Opinions on a watch sale issue needed.

[Minstrel SE]

Yep 30m is not a fully waterproof standard and it usually means water resistant. Its a misuse of the term when they are playing at it. For a watch to be considered waterproof it would have to be fully rated/designed as such with a screw crown and screw back

The nicest of people make clumsy mistakes and they have brain aberations about warm soapy water. That is a No No. Many watches are liable to immediately condense.

Its not the way to clean any watch. Even a waterpoof watch I wouldnt clean it in warm soapy water...sounds as though he has used the washing up bowl and washing up liquid.

I would try and contact the manufacturer and get an expert opinion from your local specialist watch dealer. It acts as an expert defense.

[stairpost]

Yep 30m is not a fully waterproof standard and it usually means water resistant. Its a misuse of the term when they are playing at it. For a watch to be considered waterproof it would have to be fully rated/designed as such with a screw crown and screw back

The nicest of people make clumsy mistakes and they have brain aberations about warm soapy water. That is a No No. Many watches are liable to immediately condense.

Its not the way to clean any watch. Even a waterpoof watch I wouldnt clean it in warm soapy water...sounds as though he has used the washing up bowl and washing up liquid.

I would try and contact the manufacturer and get an expert opinion from your local specialist watch dealer. It acts as an expert defense.

I found the following on the Breitling website. I'm satisfied that I can in no way be accountable for his actions.

CLEANING
When cosmetics or perspiration and dust are deposited on a watch case or metal bracelet, skin irritations might occur, and in the long term, oxidation of the steel. To avoid these deposits, clean the metal bracelet periodically using a toothbrush and liquid soap, rinse it under a gentle, thin stream of water and dry it with an absorbent cloth. The watch case can be cleaned with a humid cloth (or gently rinsed when the model is intended for aquatic activities) and shall be dried as well.

[stairpost]

An interesting development, it turns out the watch is rated to 100m, even without a screwdown crown apparently. So it is suitable for limited submersion. It doesn't change my mind that I am not responsible for it, as it was a private sale and I offered no assurances regarding seal integrity. But I am a bit happier about helping him by contacting the dealer that supplied it to me, as it should be more resilient than it was. Although I do think the use of soap was less than sensible.

[Len Co]

'Waterproof to 30 meters' should mean just that. If it was just splashproof or 'water resistant' then that's what they'd say. So you should be able to drop it in a sink full of water with no issues.

I’m not sure now how the watch is described, it seems to vary between waterproof and water resistant as the thread progresses. If it is described as ‘waterproof to 30m’ though I would agree with the above. It is very underhand of watch dealers to use this as code for ‘splashproof’ or anything similar. Watch buffs may be aware of this convention but I suspect the general public isn’t.

[Lawrence001]

I’m not sure now how the watch is described, it seems to vary between waterproof and water resistant as the thread progresses. If it is described as ‘waterproof to 30m’ though I would agree with the above. It is very underhand of watch dealers to use this as code for ‘splashproof’ or anything similar. Watch buffs may be aware of this convention but I suspect the general public isn’t.

Agree it implies you can safely dive to 30m wearing the watch. How anything else could be argued by the makers is beyond me. If I bought an amp specified as 30wpc and then found out that really meant it could occasionally be pushed to small kitchen radio levels if really needed, I wouldn't be very happy.

Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

[struth]

Here is some info that shows how much fooey those markings are on majority of watches.

https://www.thrillist.com/gear/what-...e-numbers-mean

[stairpost]

I’m not sure now how the watch is described, it seems to vary between waterproof and water resistant as the thread progresses. If it is described as ‘waterproof to 30m’ though I would agree with the above. It is very underhand of watch dealers to use this as code for ‘splashproof’ or anything similar. Watch buffs may be aware of this convention but I suspect the general public isn’t.

It was my mistake to say it was 30m. It's a 90s Breitling Aerospace which I had incorrectly believed to be rated to 30m, which I consider to be splashproof not waterproof. After checking on the Breitling website I have since discovered it is in fact rated to 100m. Which means it should withstand limited submersion. Ultimately, this doesn't change my belief that as a private sale the buyer has no right to his money back. I made no claims, or even mentioned waterproof rating/seal integrity during the sale.

[Len Co]

It was my mistake to say it was 30m. It's a 90s Breitling Aerospace which I had incorrectly believed to be rated to 30m, which I consider to be splashproof not waterproof. After checking on the Breitling website I have since discovered it is in fact rated to 100m. Which means it should withstand limited submersion. Ultimately, this doesn't change my belief that as a private sale the buyer has no right to his money back. I made no claims, or even mentioned waterproof rating/seal integrity during the sale.

Fine, I understand your position Rich, just commenting on these dubious manufacturers/dealers’ descriptions if they are as the above comments suggest.

[stairpost]

Fine, I understand your position Rich, just commenting on these dubious manufacturers/dealers’ descriptions if they are as the above comments suggest.

I couldn't agree more, the ratings seem very misleading. It's possible it all stems from a time when the only people that bought a waterproof watch intended to use it for such a purpose, and were fully knowledgeable. Now, decades later the traditionional ratings have remained the same, but the average purchaser no longer understands it fully enough.

[Patrick Dixon]

Any 'vintage' watch must be pressure tested and properly maintained for the waterproof rating to be valid.

When you sell a secondhand watch it's prudent to explicitly exclude any guarantees as to waterproofness.