SD43 Helium Valve Question???

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by Dyim

The photo is showing gas bubble forming on a submerged object.

An artistic take of a dive watch under water.

The assumption that it is showing HEV working is false IMO.

That would make a lot more sense actually, its just unfortunate the place they put it looks like its coming from the HEV.

[TG3N]

This thread beggars belief.

[SevenWays]

Originally Posted by meganfox17

Did you know that Sinn was initially using Whale Oil for their UX watches ? When the Green Eco crowd found out, there was a huge uproar in Europe and they lost a lot of business contracts.Sinn has rectified the problem since and announced to the whole world they are now using synthetic oils

Synthetic oils? Thanks for letting me know. I was kinda grooving on the retro aspect of the watches but if they've gone all modern, I'm not interested. I'm a purist and insist on all natural oils in my watches.

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by SevenWays

Synthetic oils? Thanks for letting me know. I was kinda grooving on the retro aspect of the watches but if they've gone all modern, I'm not interested. I'm a purist and insist on all natural oils in my watches.

I've got quite a bit of leftover peanut oil from my turkey fry a couple of weeks back. Adds a bit of flavor to the watch I think.

[HogwldFLTR]

Originally Posted by meganfox17

Like you, I didn't believe it at first until my Omega PO 600 which I had for 6 years was getting heavier. I thought maybe my left wrist wasnt getting enough exercise or perhaps I was getting older until I read a thread over and over again on the Omega Forum under Open discussion section.Here's the thread created by the senior moderator of the OF, @styggpyggeno1 who had a similar problem with his Rolex Sea Dweller. His watch was getting heavier just like mine !

https://omegaforums.net/threads/big-...-escape.39163/

Originally Posted by meganfox17

After you have purchased a diving watch from Rolex , Omega or any other Swiss watchmaker brand , always weigh the watch first and assess the weight periodically when you have nothing better to do at home over the weekend !
There is always a potential problem of helium escaping (or decompression) from your Rolex diver watch because over time, elements of corrosions do occur at the escape valve outlet depending on the humidity inside the watch. As a result the watch becomes heavier. Imagine if Rolex replaces Helium with another Noble gas like Krypton which is 20x more denser than Helium and Krypton escapes out thru' the valve outlet watch, Heck ! you'd probably wouldn't be able to lift the watch off the table! ....Just kidding but you get the picture here right ?
The atmospheric pressure at sea level is around 14.7 psi ( pounds or pound force per square inch ) and if I'm not mistaken , the helium pressure inside the Sub is 5 psi with bracelet all links , 5 -10 psi for a Sea Dweller. The Sub weighs around 130 g with the helium and 174 g without the Helium. I don't know how true but I've heard stories of Sub Comex watches filled with 12 psi He to compensate for saturation diving.
The Old Sea Dweller weighs about 148 g with the helium and 197 g without the He ! My old Omega PO Cal 8500 on bracelet has a He pressure of 4 psi with full links weighs 202g with and 232g without the He.

So if your watch becomes heavier one day, think faulty He release valve and that means the Helium gas has escaped. If that happens, then a visit to the RSC is in order for some repairworks.The Helium refill also includes installng a new valve and attaching a special device containing the right amount of Helium again about 5 psi. That will set you back between US $400-600.Oh Yeah !Just make doubly sure that your watchmaker doesn't overfill your Subs or your Sea Dwellers otherwise it becomes like a feather weight Richard Mille watch ! ... Picture of a faulty He Release valve

Originally Posted by dysondiver

this is all true ,,, Boyles law , and Daltons law ,, all very important to divers , but i find Coles law to be as important.





especially with ham at lunch time.

It really is good with bologna of which this thread seems to have plenty.

Originally Posted by Dyim

The photo is showing gas bubble forming on a submerged object.

An artistic take of a dive watch under water.

The assumption that it is showing HEV working is false IMO.

Just for the sake of argument and perhaps even reality, the initial photograph, shows a couple of gas bubbles adhering to the surface of a dive watch. These need not to have come from within the watch. They can also occur due to surface tension. It's a common problem in getting wet etching to etch cleanly. In order to remove surface bubbles surfactants are used to increase the wetting of the surface and eliminate bubbles. The bubble shown may have no relationship to gas escapement.

[breitlings]

Not as a diver but a former physics major I think helium could escape from case back but as long as it equalizes with hev before any damage to crystal or watch occurs it has served its purpose and the watch would be fine. Now whether the picture depicts that is quite another debate. It could and is likely to be just be air bubbles when submerging the watch.

[johnnyjazz]

Originally Posted by HogwldFLTR

It really is good with bologna of which this thread seems to have plenty.



Just for the sake of argument and perhaps even reality, the initial photograph, shows a couple of gas bubbles adhering to the surface of a dive watch. These need not to have come from within the watch. They can also occur due to surface tension. It's a common problem in getting wet etching to etch cleanly. In order to remove surface bubbles surfactants are used to increase the wetting of the surface and eliminate bubbles. The bubble shown may have no relationship to gas escapement.

There are also bubbles lodged in the text on the case back, i think it is simply to show the watch is submerged, thats all.

[GLADIATOR]

Originally Posted by breitlings

Not as a diver but a former physics major I think helium could escape from case back but as long as it equalizes with hev before any damage to crystal or watch occurs it has served its purpose and the watch would be fine. Now whether the picture depicts that is quite another debate. It could and is likely to be just be air bubbles when submerging the watch.

I dont think Rolex design an expensive escape valve, a Titanium back, to let the helium gas escape from the case back seal.
Like water it would take simplest escape route that is the HE valve.
a

[PascalSwiss]

Interesting read...

[CalSRQ1]

It’s all about the helium

[Fletcher UK]

I can't believe I'm reading this I'm actually lost for words

[donq]

If a watch is submerged wouldn’t the external pressure in the watch increase?
It would be the regular atmospheric pressure, plus the weight of the water above it.
Since water is much heavier than air, the outside pressure would be much higher.
The escape valve operates when the pressure inside the watch is higher than the pressure outside the watch, so it would be less likely to vent underwater than not.

Is this correct, or am I missing something?

[SevenWays]

Originally Posted by Fletcher UK

I can't believe I'm reading this I'm actually lost for words

Fifteen pages of serious discussion about Trusted Sellers, MSRP, the role of TRF...

It is fun to get a little silly after all that.

[GLADIATOR]

Originally Posted by donq

If a watch is submerged wouldn’t the external pressure in the watch increase?
It would be the regular atmospheric pressure, plus the weight of the water above it.
Since water is much heavier than air, the outside pressure would be much higher.
The escape valve operates when the pressure inside the watch is higher than the pressure outside the watch, so it would be less likely to vent underwater than not.

Is this correct, or am I missing something?

Read the WIKIPEDIA explanation again.
The He valve is NOT for while in the water but afterwards decompression!

Watch is waterproof

[padi56]

Originally Posted by TG3N

This thread beggars belief.

Have to agree.

[997]

this thread is pure gold haha!!

[dysondiver]

weapons grade bullonium ,,,

[usling15]

Defective watch..Obviously OYSTER has been engraved too deeply, and hi press helium is even coming out there ! Fill watch with oil, your day will appear longer.

[SDRider]

Originally Posted by meganfox17

Did you know that Sinn was initially using Whale Oil for their UX watches ? When the Green Eco crowd found out, there was a huge uproar in Europe and they lost a lot of business contracts.Sinn has rectified the problem since and announced to the whole world they are now using synthetic oils

Um, I'm kind of with the Green Eco crowd on this issue. There is no reason we, as a species, should be hunting and killing whales.

[faz]

As luck would have it, your car's blinker fluid maintenance schedule matches the helium refill schedule of Rolex. When performing He refill maintenance on Rolex, remember to check the blinker fluid viscosity in your car as well and replenish/exchange as necessary.

[Dirt]

I thought blinker fluid was only part of the severe service schedule otherwise it's deemed to be "lifetime fill".

[breitlings]

Originally Posted by faz

As luck would have it, your car's blinker fluid maintenance schedule matches the helium refill schedule of Rolex. When performing He refill maintenance on Rolex, remember to check the blinker fluid viscosity in your car as well and replenish/exchange as necessary.

You have to flush blinker fluid, drain and refill leaves 30% of your old blinker fluid.

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by Fletcher UK

I can't believe I'm reading this I'm actually lost for words

Me too! - My original post was a genuine question - 'Could Helium escape from the case back' as Rolex's own advertising material appeared to suggest at first glance.

Unfortunately the thread seems to have been hijacked by the 'lets see who can reply with the silliest comment' brigade.

Not wanting to single any one out in particular, but a member actually suggested they could tell their watch was getting heavier as corrosion formed inside due to a faulty HE valve...????

Seriously???

Having said that, there are some genuine reply's and I can see the point some members have made that the bubbles have been placed there just for effect and basically I shouldn't read too much into it which I accept.

Regards

[usling15]

HEV only allows gas out when differential is high enough. If the case back is loose enough to allow gas out it is definitely no longer resistant to water intrusion.

[Ryuden]

[Bladeshot]

.

[Eva123]

I respect Megan for her watch knowledge, however, no I could not catch whether she was trolling or was trolled and passes that nonsense to other TRF members.

There are 2 ways how to avoid helium issues with watches: 1) Rolex way: helium molecules are very small and are able to penetrate watch case. During decompression this helium would damage watch (padi explained all reasoning very well). That's why Rolex watches have this helium release valve. Definitely, nobody fills in watch with helium on purpose as Megan mentioned :)

2) Seiko way: Seiko watches with 1000 m. depth range are very tightly sealed and do not allow helium molecules to penetrate the watch. Accordingly, during decompression there is no issue as watch does not have helium inside.

Last week I have got PADI Open Water Diver certification (it allows me to dive up to 18 m depth). Next year I in tend to get Advanced Open Water dive certification and Deep Dive PADI specialty. This will allow me to dive up to 40 m depth which is recreational diving limit. Below 40 m start technical diving (only a small percentage of divers are technical divers). Not many of tech divers go below 100 m depth.

These depth limits such as 4000 m, 1000 m, 600 m end etc. are just marketing as in reality 300 m. depth limit (Submariner has it) is more then sufficient even for technical divers. Saturation divers are super specialized breed and their numbers are very small.

Also, diving watches as diving tools already are history. Now divers rely on diving computers who can calculate many parameters required for diving, surface intervals and etc. Accordingly, nobody uses dive watch and diving tables as primary tools for diving.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Dyim

The photo is showing gas bubble forming on a submerged object.

An artistic take of a dive watch under water.

The assumption that it is showing HEV working is false IMO.

Would that be because the HE valve doesn't operate under water?

But to be fair, Meganfox is a riot.

[Muzz]

The bubbles are just there to show the picture was taken to mimic the fact that it is under water. No need to blow this out of proportion.