THE SEAHOLM® LIBRARY
Since the dawn of the electronic age, magnetism has been public enemy number one to the humble mechanical watch. Shocks, water, dust and mud were all addressed as soon as timekeeping migrated from the pocket to the wrist just after WWI. But proximity to electric motors or even the smallest magnets has always troubled the tiny components ticking inside your watch. If your watch is running fast, slow or has stopped altogether, there is a reasonable chance that a magnet is to blame.
All the more so these days, unfortunately, thanks to the ubiquity of mobile phones, television and PC speakers, microwaves, magnetic necklaces, handbag clasps, hairdryers, electric razors, magnetic parts of refrigerators… They all contain strong magnets or tightly coiled solenoids of wire, which create magnetic fields when electric current passes through them (your basic electric motor).
Since the dawn of the electronic age, magnetism has been public enemy number one to the humble mechanical watch. Shocks, water, dust and mud were all addressed as soon as timekeeping migrated from the pocket to the wrist just after WWI. But proximity to electric motors or even the smallest magnets has always troubled the tiny components ticking inside your watch. If your watch is running fast, slow or has stopped altogether, there is a reasonable chance that a magnet is to blame.
All the more so these days, unfortunately, thanks to the ubiquity of mobile phones, television and PC speakers, microwaves, magnetic necklaces, handbag clasps, hairdryers, electric razors, magnetic parts of refrigerators… They all contain strong magnets or tightly coiled solenoids of wire, which create magnetic fields when electric current passes through them (your basic electric motor).