First Aid

[jban5]

After re-reading the painful "sunk the red..." thread I got to wondering about that type of situation where you have no resources available for an immediate professional quick fix of a disaster.

If I had a watch flood with salt water one thing that would come to mind would be to flush the salt water out with fresh. Using a Sub as the model, if somehow you found it flooded it's doubtful that a case back opener would be handy but removing the crystal (at least the plexi type, I have no sapphire clue) is usually pretty easily accomplished with not much more than a small pocket knife or a razor. With the crystal removed gently flooding the watch with clean fresh water could be done and then thoroughly drying. Replacing the crystal should be just as easy to protect the dial and putting the watch up until it can be properly serviced. I would think that this would at least keep the rustable parts from going there and maybe even the dial and lume could survive.

How flawed is my thinking on this?

My Royal Flush:

[motoikkyu]

That sounds reasonable, but the crystals are tougher than you think. Most parts can be restored or replaced if they aren't too badly corroded, but the dial is a center of value in a given watch, so I would definitely be trying to rinse that off as soon as humanly possible.

[traf]

I suppose doing that can't cause more harm than good


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[g-boac]

Not speaking from experience or authority, just educated speculation - I'd suspect that your best option would be if washing, to wash with distilled water. Distilled water is exactly that: pure water, no dissolved solids, so when it dries, it leaves no residue of any kind behind.

Thoughts on all this? To be clear, these home remedies aren't long term solutions - I'm thinking of them from the same perspective as the original poster: what are the best immediate options to take, if any, in between the time your vintage watch gets flooded, and the time your watch gets to a watchmaker?

[jban5]

I wonder how a dial would hold up to being immersed in (you are correct g-boac, distilled would be the best choice) water? I recall finding out many years ago how easy it was to remove most everything from a dial trying to clean off dirt, etc. I don't recall how resilient lume was.

[Boaters]

I like that hand for sure!