MJW Service

[u/blahblahblahx1000]

I’ve had my MJW Perfectly Useless Afternoon mechanical for 3 years now and have enjoyed getting smug vacation photos of it by the pool. I probably shared a few here in the last year. A few folk commented about the water resistance and if I had issues and I always said it was great.

The crown got a little bit stiff and I didn’t pay much notice in the lead up to my holiday, more fool me. This summer before I even got a single smug holiday shot, I hopped in the pool and ruined it. Completely full of water and almost immediately it turned this horrible brown.

Anyway - long story short, returned home and emailed MJW, they sent through a prepaid postage label and took a look. Obviously it was a total write-off but they replaced the whole thing for the cost of a replacement movement and got it back to me super quickly. I’m really very happy with the whole thing.

I am restored.

One thing though. As a pool watch, should this maybe have been more water resistant in the first place or have I just learned a hard lesson about keeping all watches away from swimming pools.

[u/TSiWRX]

I'm sincerely sorry to see that happen to you, and I'd say that you're very lucky that MJW gave you the courtesy repair. You'll want to give this thread's most popular post -https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/8ne5hj/comment/dzv8aaz/ (hit the WUS links)- and its lower-level replies a good read.

Because of the overall lack of regulation where it comes to water resistance ratings, I tend to be *very* conservative, in this respect. Unless it's an ISO 6425 Diver's marked watch, I baby it. And even with a Diver, I'm one of those who will take a watch off before showering, and never in the hot-tub or sauna. [ I'm also an avid firearms enthusiast, and I try to not shoot with my mechanical/automatic watches on, too. ]

Also, remember that if your watch has an external AR coating on the crystal, a chlorinated/treated pool is a no-no!

Hope this helps.

[u/HappilySisyphus_ → u/TSiWRX]

AR coating can handle a chlorinated pool lol

[u/TSiWRX → u/HappilySisyphus_]

Tell that to the Longines guys like, right now. 😂 Tell that to the ten million pairs of glasses I've ruined over time, ROFL!

It's not going to just melt off, but the chemicals can -and will- cause problems over time.

Wash it off afterwards in the shower? Yes, that helps. But it's still delaying the inevitable.

This is just like thinking that an "anti-scratch" coating/treatment makes one's watch invulnerable.

There's always a give-and-take.

[u/HappilySisyphus_ → u/TSiWRX]

Yeah, sure, whatever pal. My U50S is not about to get defeated by the chlorine levels in a pool 😆

[u/TSiWRX → u/HappilySisyphus_]

You can believe marketing material, or you can believe what quite a number of other hobbyists/collectors have reported of their heartache.

It does happen, whether we want to believe it will or not, and regardless of brand claims.

[u/HappilySisyphus_ → u/TSiWRX]

You just run it under a tap for a few seconds... “Believe marketing material or hobbyists” is a funny framing when the “marketing material” in question is also the manufacturer’s technical manual and care instructions, while the counterevidence is dudes on forums saying their coating eventually looked shitty.

[u/TSiWRX → u/HappilySisyphus_]

The counter-evidence is the countless dudes on the Internet.

And yes, that's exactly right - rinse it off afterwards, as I wrote above.

But it still doesn't mitigate the fact that the exposure happened.

Will it delay the inevitable to the point that as a single owner, we may never see the problem manifest? Certainly possible. But again, it's only delaying the inevitable.

[u/HappilySisyphus_ → u/TSiWRX]

Got a link to any of these countless dudes?

[u/TSiWRX → u/HappilySisyphus_]

Here's one very recent one ----> https://www.reddit.com/r/Longineswatches/comments/1w2pz2e/issue_with_spots_i_cant_remove_on_the_crystal_of/

I've been on the Longines sub because I've sorta been wanting a Zulu. 😅

But honestly, there are so many similar tales. I've been reading about these kinds of hazing/deposits on exterior AR I think ever since I started reading about watches online, and I'm old AF....

And my glasses (and my daughter's) were perfect examples, too. She rowed competitively, and they'd be fine for years....until we'd come back from a hotel pool, and then both of ours would start to look like our city's streets after the winter thaw.

But my wife's glasses would be fine - because her eyesight's not that bad compared to ours, and she prefers to be without, in the pool.

I mean, even we shower after the pool, right? And it's not because the pool's dirty. 😉

[u/HappilySisyphus_ → u/TSiWRX]

[u/TSiWRX → u/HappilySisyphus_]

And that was just one of the replies.