Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hydro Mod any Digital Watch

I did some research online about Hydro Modding a Digital watch.

Benefits:
Better legibility
Increased water resistance

Things needed:
Silicone oil (they say the less viscous, the better. I got 10wt. Silicone oil from a RC shop. If the oil is thicker than 30wt. it might ruin the light)
Small container (to dip the watch in)
Digital watch

optional: syringe

Tips:
1.there is a debate whether to leave a small bubble inside the watch, specially for solar powered watch because there might be a risk that when you charge your watch under the sun and it gets warm, the silicone oil expand and might leak out. Destroying the water resistance of your watch. Since the watch I'm using isn't solar powered I decided to try not to leave any bubbles.
2. Some would heat up the oil to 60c before soaking the watch, better chance of reducing bubbles. (I didn't heat mine)

 Steps:
1 Open the watch

2.remove the movement (if using a solar watch, research because there is a wire that connects to the solar panel be careful.)
3. Put the case in the small container and fill with silicone oil till it covers the whole watch.
4. Slide in the movement to prevent bubbles. Sliding is much better than simply dropping in the movement. (I had to reopen the watch twice because there was a huge bubble)


5. also slide in the case back and screws.
6. Clean watch with soap and water to remove silicone oil. done.

Results:
trial #1 huge bubble (notice the difference on the part with the oil and with out)

 Trial #3 Perfect (Light still works too)

Excellent Angled view

Parnis 40mm Ceramic Bezel PVD Submariner waterproof test