Luminox problem

u812

u812

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2002
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Hears the story.While on vac.I got caught in a rain and had to walk in it about a half mile.Later I noticed that my luminox had condinsation inside it.So I called cabelas were I got it and they gave me the phone # to call about it and asked that I send it to them.I called and was told to send it in along with 10.00,so I did.I just got a letter saying that it will be another 53.00 to have it fixed.I called them yesterday and asked about it stateing that I thought it should be covered under warrenty and was told that they would pull it and see why it isn't.She said she would call me right back(Still have heard nothing).It has a one year warrenty and I have had it less than a year.If they do not cover it I will have them send it back because Cableas told me it should be covered and if Luminox will not honor the warrnty they would.In short
1.Probably my last luminox
2.Luminox BAD!!!!
3.Cableas GREAT!!!!
Am I out of line thinking that a water proof watch less than a year old should not have leaked from a rain and the warrnty should cover repair?


:mad: :mad: :mad: :confused: :barf:
 
what happens is that there is always a certain percentage of humidity in the air when the watch is manufactured. This is normal. it could be as high as 70 or 80 percent. This does not affect the normal function of the watch. Now, getting caught in the rain... you've got a watch and the humidity inside the watch sitting around at a temperature of mayby 90 degrees from the combination of having it sit on your wrist, and inside a heated room. you go outside and the cold wet rain hits the crystal. What happens is that the crystal is now 40 or less degrees, and you get condensation. Just like an ice-cold Pepsi bottle in the August heat, you get condensation not from "water leak" in the watch, but from the humidity in the air inside the watch.

You can test this by taking a watch you know for sure to be waterproof, and placing an ice cube in the crystal for a minute or two. You will find a bit of condensation. Let the watch warm back to room temperature and it's gone. All watches have a bit of it. If you find that the amount of condensation is unacceptable for you, remove the caseback while in a low humidity envoirnment ie day with very low humidity, or in a room with a dehumidifier running for a while... and let the watch sit for a little while. Once you're confident that the watch has dried out, replace the caseback. The Luminox caseback is held in with four small screws, but be careful and place the rubber gasket back correctly.

Another note for mechanical watch owners... a bit of humidity will keep the oils inside your watch from gumming up as quickly and will not harm the inside of your watch, so a 0% humidity enviornment is not what you want inside the watch.

edited...
Oh yeah, Luminox is not a bad watch, but their customer service is akin to being sodomized... They firm that sells Luminox in the US is a marketing firm, not a watch firm. Then know as much about watches as much as I know about womens' PMS (which is nothing). I don't know what they're replacing, but if there is a leak issue, the only thing they can replace is the caseback gasket and the crown gasket, which should definitely not cost 50 bucks. Truthfully, all that needs to be done is removing the caseback and letting it dry out.
 
It never done this before the rain I was caught in and it did not go away.Afterwards it also started looseing time and the date window did not seem to work quite right.The letter I got from them said they water tested it and it needed overhauled,back gasket(I never removed the back),stem and crown.
 
and not just luminoxes, so I know the pain of having a nice watch begin to malfunction, especially when the watch costs anywhere between 2k and 4k, but in the grand scheme of things, a luminox is pretty expendable. The marketing company is essentially described every part where water might get in. It's the standard thing to do especially when they have no idea about watches. Did they really pressure test it? I personally don't believe so. They just spouted off the parts that if replaced, should get to the cause of a leak problem. I would specualate that there is no leak problem, just that the condensation somehow got onto the battery and caused one of several things. (please note that the original Luminox type watches were military watches and several of it's counterparts have suffered battery problems). Of course, if you saw a very large amount of water in the watch, then there was in fact a leak. The funny thing is, even many low water resistant watches can be worn in the shower with no leakage.

One possibility is that the condensation caused a short in the battery which caused it to discharge the remainder it it's energy, or the condensation caused corrosion on the battery leads or the contacts thus lowering the amount of energy transferred from battery to watch. Next time, try removing the battery and allowing the watch to dry. Clean off the contacts by scraping it lightly with a piece of rubber eraser, or a metal tool, taking care not to damamge the leads and then replacing with a new battery.

Of course, since Luminox now has the watch, your options are limited. I would take Cabela up on their offer and either get a new watch, or a refund.

A few notes I thought would interest you...
The Luminox is one of the watches that almost everyone over at Broadarrow.net has. Broadarrow is a military watch collector's forum and there are quite a few people who have extensive experience with Luminox watches.

Bill Yao is one of them... his site is MKIIWATCHES.COM

Broadarrow also sells US military issue watches which cost approximately the same as the Luminox watches, except the retailer and distributor will bend over backwards to help you if there is a legitimate warranty issue. It's also nice to have a watch with "US GOVERNMENT" stamped on the watchface.

I hope everything works out well for you.
 
It's probably not a leak problem. It is the rapid change in temperature, like when your glasses fog up going from cool indoors to humid hot outdoors. Basically, it is like the dewpoint outside. When humidity is at a certain percent, if the temp drops to a certain degree, called the dewpoint, then condensation and dew forms on the grass and cars.

Mike
 
Visible condensation always means the seals are leaking. There's a post in the archives at www.timezone.com where somebody calculated if a watch case were filled with air at 100% humidity at any reasonable temperature and then all the moisture in that air condensed on the crystal it would be invisible to the naked eye. To confirm that I opened a watch on a very humid day last summer, closed it up and put an ice cube on the crystal. The outside fogged up as fast as I could wipe it away but there was no visible fog on the inside. The watch I used has a very small movement inside a big case.
 
Even a brand new gasket can leak if it's put on crooked or there's a speck of dirt on it. There's no excuse for not fixing it under warranty, though. I hope that's just a mistake and they'll straighten it out and fix your watch. I see you posted this in TGB&U as well as here and I'm glad you did; it belongs in both forums.
 
Funny thing is.

how much condensation are we talking about? How invisible is invisible.

I've seen absolutely new watches get an almost invisible mist inside the watch case. It's there and it's almost invisible, but it's there.

There are also other ways that water could enter the watch while still technically "waterproof"

Activating pusher buttons or crown while underwater, in contact with running water, or with water on the seals.

Forgetting to screw down, push in, or otherwise failing to secure the crown.

dynamic motion while within the parameters of waterproof rating may cause seals to leak temporarily.

Most water breaches that happen while the watch is new are temporary breaches caused by such reasons and can be fixed by simply inspecting the gaskets, letting the movement dry out, and if applicable, installing a new battery.
 
There's a refutation of the underwater motion causing overpressure speculation in the archives at Timezone, too. Human strength is insufficient to cause a significant increase in pressure on the leading side of your arm when swimming.

Leaving a crown unscrewed or operating pushers can allow leakage if in deep water, but not in a rainstorm.
 
UPDATE
Just got word that they are not going to cover it under warrenty.They gave me some cock and bull about its crown and stem being bent.If it was it must have came that way seeing that I have not had the stem pulled out except for maybe two or three times sence I got it.I know it has been at least 3 mounths sence the last time.On the bright side I called Cableas and told them what I was told and they said they would take care of it with either an exchange or refund( I am going for an exchange so they can still make some on what I get).On top of that great service they even offered to pay for the return shipping of the watch.I told them I would be glad to handle the shipping cost.If I wasn't before,I am a life long Cableas customer now!
 
Good on Cabelas, BOO to Luminox (or whoever blew the warranty thing). Thanks for the update, I'll stick with G-SHOCKs until I can save up for the nice analogs...
 
My Luminox Navy Seal watch was run over by a car, and busted all to hell, but the dang thing still keeps perfect time, and all the tritium vials still work. I loved that watch. I guess it would be asking a bit much to expect Luminox to cover it huh? Oh, well. Maybe some day I'll get a new one. I really like the tritium watches. They are bright as Hades.

Mike
 
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