Horological Meandering

Dear friends,
I am using a MacBook Pro and I feel a bit concerned that powerful magnets seem to be used and different places in the laptop.
What do you think about this ?
Best regards.

any close-proximity to magnets, unless you are wearing a Rolex Milgauss, a Sinn or something at or beyond the 1000 Gauss level.

One thing never to do - take off the watch and place it on the laptop or cellular phone near a magnet.

I always wear my Milgauss - with pleasure! - when working with loudspeakers and electronic equipment, as I do on an almost daily basis.

One sign of a magnetized watch is when it starts moving in strides, leaps and bounds forwards, such as half a minute per day.

Many watch shops will run your watch through a demagnetizer at little or no cost, without opening the case. Cheeper help at home - at least you can see an effect.

Some purists, usually for vintage watches, will insist that the entire watch be taken apart and each of the parts be individually demagnetized.

That may be somewhat exaggerated, However, when the movement is opened and exposed, each of the tools will have to be demagnetized as well!

------

With that said, there is no need to become paranoid. Everyday life takes care of that. However I have read reports, one from our Esteemed Founder, Thomas M., that the accuracy can swing up to half a minute or more after entering and exiting an airport, after a flight. He was wearing Simplicities!

Fortunately I stay at home or else wear the above-mentioned "tool" watch.

But not now, not now!

What it is, you will never guess.



amerix

Many thanks for your input.

I find it however problematic. I find it normal to avoid extreme experiences with nice watches (in my case : PP, Lange, Dufour, etc.). But I spent 10 hours a day working with my laptop : this is just my job (and I assume this is true for many of us). If high-end watches are not compatible with the main working tool of nowadays (a good computer) this is becoming a real problem I think...
If I cannot wear my watches during the week-end (because they don't like sport) and during the week (because they don't like computers), I am afraid I have to forget high-end horology. And this might e true for many of us !

Best regards.

"I am afraid I have to forget high-end horology" - why not give up MacBooks?

Seriously, the threat of magnets to non-anti-magnetic mechanical timepieces is real, but the need for serious concern depends on the specific circumstances. Where are the magnets placed, relative to where you are likely to be placing your wrist with the watch on it?

Some crappy designs (!!!) place the loudspeakers (which are in most cases where the strongest magnet in the laptop are likely to be) under the palm area. Stupid, because I really don't want my wrist resting over the loudspeakers, with or without a wristwatch on my wrist!

This is an anomoly and no reason to give up high end watches across the board, no more than fear of stupid drivers (and there are lots of them on the road with you) should stop you from driving or riding in private cars on public roads.

EMI and RFI (electro-magnetic radiation in general) are increasingly serious issues in our increasingly electronic world (high power lines running over our homes? wearing blue tooth headsets? for me, holding a cell phone - any cell phone  - to my ear gives me a headache after a few minutes.; etc etc etc) but insofar as it effecting wearing of serious timepieces? Naw...just be careful and aware.

BTW - you are aware there are other devices WITHIN the laptop that are sensitive to magnetic fields? They are called hard drives and flash memory cards...and they are likely to be effected when the magnetic fields are strong enough to effect your Lange or Simplicity...

Cheers, and enjoy.

TM

nt

Hi. Amerix,

Thanks for quoting me, I had forgotten about that experience!

Wearing a Milgauss or AM Patek, IWC Ingenieur, or RO Offshore (with cage) to work around laptops is not a bad idea, but so is wearing a crash helmet while driving on public roads with other drivers of dubious skill and concentration all around you...

Seriously, you make good points, and the important thing is the wearer be informed and aware to make their own informed, considered decisions.

Cheers,

TM

Is it possible to embed animations inside of posts now?

Hi - I use a MacBook, and in the course of my work I have lots of loudspeakers around me in my working environment. Some of my watches have anti-magnetic protection and some don't, but I've never had a problem with any of them.

Best,

J.

and Yawn, where has the day gone?

My watch must have actually jumped ahead an hour, because i recall it was 2:30-ish when I started reading and suddenly now it's nearly 3:30 (perhaps I shouldn't have had a second dark ale with that steak and fries)

But seriously, if there is any doubt you can easily buy a demagnetizer for $50 and pass your watch through it on a regular basis.

Mike

Until this post, my only previous concern was not to scratch the MBP with the watch buckle and the buckle with the MBP.

I'm no expert, but I don't think it's a big concern. Enjoy both!

hi everyone

no problem  with my vintage watches and my macbookpro.  An FYi  there are two small magnets by the push button lid release.

Good Hunting

Bill Sohne

the Earth … but that's no problem for watches, or Mac users.

Taken from the SINN Katalogbuch 2006:

"After examining nearly 10000 watches within the routine service program for Sinn clients, about 60% of them showed the effects of magnetism. Half of these (therefore 30%) showed deviation due to strong magnetic fields. Rate errors could in part be corrected solely through demagnetisation." (my translation from the german)

The book then goes to say that Sinn was adressing the problem by introducing more models with anti-magnetic properties.

Nivarox springs, although a considerable improvement over their steel predecessors, are not entirely immune to magnetism.

The german norm for an "antimagnetic" watch, according to DIN 8309, exposed to "relatively weak magnetic fields" is +/- 30 sec per day!

The easiest way to search for hot spots caused by permanent magnets is to use a simple compass (now where did I put mine). You can also check their strength at various distances.

If one leaves an area exposed to a strong electro-magnetic field, the watch may no longer be showing the correct time. No problem, just reset it and it will be working as well as ever. The physics behind this are somewhere in the Net. If anyone is interested, I can find them again.

The true purpose of metal detectors and x-ray machines at airports is to magnetise mechanical watches! We should all know that. ;-)

Oh yes, the watch I was wearing - and still am this morning - is the Svend Andersen Hommage to Jean Calvin and Genevian watchmaking, with the timely slogan "Rigueur et Punctualite" - which I loosely translate as "always keep your eyes on the ball".

My timepiece least susceptible to magnetism is a portable sundial by Helios.



By the way, how many of you fellow Mac users have got the "Edit" function on "My Posts" to work? Not even Firefox does that for mel

amerix

That should read 1000, not 10000 watches,

To write is human, to edit divine.

;-)

amerix

only lasts for 30mins after you have posted.
More details at:
helpdesk.watchprosite.com


Previously I've tested magnetism on the notebooks using the compass as you've mentioned, not sure if you've seen it,
anyway it was posted at:
www.watchprosite.com

Kong

Much obliged.to you!

However, I have tried many, many times and at various times within the allotted time of 30 minutes to get Edit to work. For my latest (failed) efforts go to "Help Desk".

It used to work fine, maybe a year or two ago. But Apple has updated it's Mac OS X , including Safari, several times since then. I am presently using Snow Leopard, Version 10.6.1. Maybe Apple has installed a safety feature, or "Edit" never makes it over the Firewall.

I never use a laptop but remain firmly seated next to a Quad-Core Intel Xeon Mac at a magnetically safe distance. No, I don't have Windows installed in it.

Your vivid presentation with a compass is very much appreciated! In fact a compass can be very useful for detecting unsuspectied sources of magnetism; however it will also react to an iron pipe - where no magnetism at all is involved.

I often work in a HiFi shop, moving loudspeakers, connecting and testing cables, and of course the way they sound together. Less obvious is the use of a cellular phone (I don't have one), where watch and magnets can get very close together, almost touching.

And I have had experiences with magnetised watches *after* they have been sent back from servicing. One was due to an oversight at QC. The watch was "accurate" almost down to the second, but the minute hand gained one minute per day!

Please forgive any typing or other errors, because there is no way that I can correct them.

Best regards,
amerix

I have definitely had issues with laptops and automatic watches. After trying a couple of Oris watches and a JLC, I have finally resolved myself to sticking with watches that have anti-magnetic capabilities. I am the happy owner of a couple of IWC's. All of the other pieces regularly lost the ability to keep time. I am not talking about a few seconds here or there - the watches would one day be great, and the next day be minutes (or tens of minutes) off. Both of the IWC's (an Ingenieur and a St. Ex UTC Pilot) keep great and reliable time. This restriction in watches certainly limits my options, but that is probably a good thing. Admittedly I do have my sites on the VC Overseas....

--Sancerre