Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C6

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keldy2000
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by keldy2000 »

Great thread really interesting
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Roger O »

I just called TMC Industries and they will sell their "reclaimed" Fluorinert for $25 per pound with a 14 pound minimum - that works out to be $350 plus shipping. Still a bit too steep for me.
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by 28800bph »

Thanks for the good info! 14 lbs of Fluorinert = 1 gallon, which would be enough to fill on the order of 1000 watches, assuming zero waste (3 to 4 ml per watch). Too bad there's nobody selling smaller amounts at a reasonable price. I bought direct from 3M, and minimum order was 11 lb (3/4 gallon).
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Leo David »

28800bph wrote:Thanks for the good info! 14 lbs of Fluorinert = 1 gallon, which would be enough to fill on the order of 1000 watches, assuming zero waste (3 to 4 ml per watch). Too bad there's nobody selling smaller amounts at a reasonable price. I bought direct from 3M, and minimum order was 11 lb (3/4 gallon).
Well if you started to fill other people's watches you'd start to reduce that 3/4 gallon of Flourinet you've got lying around in the lab. Where do you want me to send my C6 8)
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Kip »

I want to know what you will charge for a battery change and a fluid change of a filled watch when the time comes. :-k
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Leo David »

Kip wrote:I want to know what you will charge for a battery change and a fluid change of a filled watch when the time comes. :-k
Quite! Not that we're putting you under any pressure you understand :-"
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by 28800bph »

Leo David wrote:
Kip wrote:I want to know what you will charge for a battery change and a fluid change of a filled watch when the time comes. :-k
Quite! Not that we're putting you under any pressure you understand :-"
Something will come of this, so stay tuned!
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Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C6

Post by Mortis »

I very excite. Quite keen to get my C6 done by Sir 28800bph. 8)
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Leo David »

Mortis wrote:I very excite. Quite keen to get my C6 done by Sir 28800bph. 8)
Yes me too. There will be a very long queue if and when the opportunity arises.
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by DHPflaumer »

Whoa. Just registered the other day and read through this just now. Very cool stuff! I had read of others filling their cases, but this is the only case I have read where the issue of thermal expansion was addressed at all.
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by mfman »

Nicely done! Can't believe I just saw this since I was also planning to DIY my own Sinn few years ago. I also thought of the unavoidable issue of thermal expansion. One method I came up was to add a compressible capsule inside the watch. This wouldn't require significant modification of the watch, however it will reduce the depth rating of the watch since outside pressure will tend to compress the watch, thus defying the point of filling the watch with liquid. Another way is to use a flexible caseback, either using synthetic material or stamped sheet metal with wavy pattern (more flexible). However lack of proper tool to manufacture such caseback ultimately held the project back. Hope you all the best!
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by bighenry07 »

That is fantastic work, 28800bph! Leo is right, the line will be around the block for this!
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by nelsonjk »

The OP is incredibly impressive. So glad things have developed since then.

I did something related for a school project--my mate and I had a computer running in a tank of oil, which was itself held in an operating aquarium. The idea was to overclock the machine and use the liquids to cool it. Not nearly as complex an engineering problem (no compression issues to deal with, for instance) but it was a lot of fun seeing goldfish swim by the spinning cooling fan on the motherboard.
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Cirrus »

That is bodge-tastic ;)

I suspect I know how you have accounted for thermal expansion as you describe it as simple method; I suspect it might be the same method employed in the high-end avionics stuff I used to work on. If it is you may be disappointed in your patent application ;)

EDIT: - hadn't actually reached the bit about your patent details when I posted this.

I was referring to the so called "mystery gasket" which a lot of our stuff had just sitting in the bottom of the gear and which didn't seem to serve any purpose... turns out it was a compressible (and I assume expansive) elastic material that existed only to absorb variances in the pressure of the case filling.
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Re: Liquid filled watch case: How I modified my Kingfisher C

Post by Cirrus »

Kip wrote:
krushy wrote:Kip,
Has CW made any comment about this super desirable idea?
"Tremendous stuff......

C"

:D


From a man of few words this is high praise.
I think it says a lot for the man that he recognises the achievement rather than getting all prissy about someone improving on his design...
“The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church” - Fernão de Magalhães
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