# Does The Gas Leakage From Cells Ruin Your Watch?



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

I was talking to a really good watch guy who only services electronic and quartz Omegas this week and he said you should always store watches with the batteries out... we got chatting about why and he said that batteries emit gasses that coat the movement, thicken the oils and eat the dial lacquer... anyone have any thoughts for or against this school of thought? It was a new one on me.... :huh:


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

I think I have heard stories like that before....so why can we still find 50 year old Hamliton electrics still going strong and showing very little sign of internal damage that might be caused by these gases? It has been said that owners of Hamiltons soon got fed up with their new watches (the first Cal. 500 caused a few headaches for owners), but this is incorrect as witnessed by the brassing that you often see on well-used 10K GF Pacers for instance...and yet, inside, they are spotless.

So is this a case of making sure you use quality batteries and of the right technology? I'd never put these cheap alkaline batteries in my watches. If it is true, then how are we to use our watches, since it must be happening in use as well.

I'm not concerned.


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## Larry from Calgary (Jun 5, 2006)

Jon,

Does emitting gases :skull: infer a leaking battery? :blink:

It makes more sense to me that battery leakage :bad: would emit gasses that coat the movement, thicken the oils and eat the dial lacquer, etc.

Just a WAG on my part


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

cells that are manufactured correctly will not give off any gas at all. However a belt and braces approach would be to remove the batteries when the watch is in storage just in case you get the one in a zillion that is gonna leak.

think about it, how many millions of watches are sold each year? When you buy a new watch the guy at the shop doesn't pop the back off and put a battery in does he, it's already installed. It could have been on the shelf for years like that.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Interesting responses... From what the guy was saying all batteries give off a small amount of acidic 'fumes' or 'gas'. Manufacturers wouldnt worry about this as its slight and wont cause them hassle within the warranty periods etc, but for collectors it might be an issue 30years down the line etc

From what he said it wasnt about leaking batteries, just normal batteries being used in the normal manner...

Paul, yes in normal use, so that means batteries give off gasses all the time when being used... he was advocating storing watches with batteries out and only fitting them when wearing them. I asked if the spike when putting them back in was a worry and he said, just pull the crown out when you fit it and you'll be fine. Its deisgned to cope with that


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## Larry from Calgary (Jun 5, 2006)

JonW said:


> Interesting responses... From what the guy was saying all batteries give off a small amount of acidic 'fumes' or 'gas'. Manufacturers wouldnt worry about this as its slight and wont cause them hassle within the warranty periods etc, but for collectors it might be an issue 30years down the line etc
> 
> From what he said it wasnt about leaking batteries, just normal batteries being used in the normal manner...
> 
> Paul, yes in normal use, so that means batteries give off gasses all the time when being used... he was advocating storing watches with batteries out and only fitting them when wearing them. I asked if the spike when putting them back in was a worry and he said, just pull the crown out when you fit it and you'll be fine. Its deisgned to cope with that


I don't know Jon....it seems to me that if a battery is producing (giving off) fumes then there has to be a hole somewhere. :huh: I don't know what else it could be. I agree with him that the batteries should be removed for long time storage. Better to be safe than sorry.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

From what he said batteries are two pieces and sealed, but that that do give off gasses which slip between the two parts/seals...

Im still on the fence about this one...


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## blackandgolduk (Apr 25, 2005)

When I was a kid, my old man made me take the batteries out of anything which wasn't going to be used to prevent damage from battery leakage. Come to think about it, batteries did seem to leak A LOT, but I can't remember the last time a 'modern' battery leaked that horrid metallic stuff all over the insides af a radio or a torch so perhaps it's not as much of a problem anymore?

Still, it's probably better to be safe than sorry - I don't buy this 'gas' business though. Sounds like the kind of scare tactics that my dad used to tell me to change the way I did something.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Jon, I still feel that the evidence doesn't back this up....not the bit about the gas...I have no idea if gases are being produced or not....but wouldn't we have seen much more damage in our watches as described by this guy? Sure, I have localized damage in the battery area on some of my watches where the battery has died and leaked over time, but often the dials and rest of movement are mint. :blink:

I think I have about 150-200 vintage battery driven watches, many of those are Hamiltons, LIPs and Landerons from the late 1950s and early 1960s....where's the evidence for this damage? :huh: May be I'm better at choosing my eBay purchases than I realized  or maybe these gaseous watches got binned years ago.


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## b11ocx (Mar 19, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> I think I have about 150-200 vintage battery driven watches


Ever thought you may have a little problem :blink: :blink: :blink:


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