As an Engineer i can tell you that bubbles compromise the whole function(its not a problem of style and looks the added waterresistants only works with NO bubbles. The idea of using a Stiroform Ball is also completly destroying any added depth to the depth rating. if you want this oil filled system to work you need the watch to bee 100% oil Filed and for that to work you need a system like Sinns case back or the Caseback of the Bell and Ross Hydromax if you just want the better legibility you can go without those measurement but have in mind that there is no upgrade in waterresistance(if you have bubbles or styrofoam in your watch)
The earlier Sinn models didn't have a special case back. I don't think it's fair to say that it doesn't improve pressure resistance unless there is 0.0 bubbles. Cases will deform under extreme pressure, and as long as the deformation is small enough to not lead to total failure, then you won. Here the deformation will be limited to tiny tiny amounts
Someone explain to me why they need the special caseback? Isn't the oil incompressible? So with no bubbles there shouldn't be any need to have a caseback that can move in-out? If they're doing it to take thermal expansion into account then the thin sheet metal casebacks of these watches should have enough flex to account for that, I think.
@@roadrash999I know I'm stating the obvious but most watches aren't designed to keep high pressure in, they're designed to keep the high pressure out. If your watch has an LCD screen or some other part that is sensitive to pressure then I suppose there is a potential that you could crush the part if the silicon oil heats up and expands. As these watches haven't been engineered to support high internal pressures we would be relying on flex in the case back to control the internal pressure. That said, it is a cool mod as long as you're prepared for the watch to fail at some point.
I filled a Seiko Solar chrono based on your video and am super happy with the results. I used 3m Fluorinert FC-770 and it worked great. One thing that improves the effect is to use a domed crystal. Hopefully, it being solar I can go longer without replacing the power cell. Thank you for your video! Fluorinert Fc-770 has some pretty good properties for this: Low pour point -127C lower thermal expansion coefficient than water low kinematic viscosity 0.79centistokes boiling point 95C
@@timtim4726 Okay, I can't tell if you are joking or not :) Quartz watches don't have gears, they use stepper motors, so the glitter would probably be okay ;) Okay, depending on design and complication(s) they can have gears, but again, I am not sure if you are joking about the glitter? (I was of course)
Have you tested it on the effects of the silicone oil in the backlight? does it improve the coverage and glow or still the same as the original lighting?
I’m pretty sure if you just heated the oil to around 50c while you did this mod, then let it cool after it was sealed - this would be more than enough to handle any amount of thermal expansion you could reasonably expect to encounter. I’d love to see you test this theory in a future video!
As the oil cools and shrink, it will create a negative pressure (relative to the outside) inside the case. That negative pressure would try to suck any external water in. SO, that would be a double edge sword. To counter the thermal expansion of the fluid, you need to INCREASE the temperature, resulting in a negative pressure that sucks in any case flexing after thermal equalization, before sealing the case. To counter the possible negative pressure that sucks external water in, you need to DECREASE the temperature, resulting in a higher positive relative pressure after reaching thermal equalization, before sealing the case.
hello I have a U-boat rainbow watch. The watch battery ran out and the oil decreased during the replacement process. While looking around, I came across your video. Ask if you can fill the U-boat rainbow watch with oil in the same way. Please reply.
Fluorinert has a lower refractive index (1.278) vs PDMS silicon oil (1.43). Water is 1.333 for reference. This decreases the strength of the visual effect. I don't think it's worth the large bump in cost and difficulty to source until more substantive evidence for silicon oil being damaging to the watches is proven.
@@joset.santos4120 Silicon rubber spacers and gaskets absorb the liquid silicone and swell up. This makes it difficult to seat them again while putting it back together for a battery change, which makes the already precarious underwater battery change even more hard, but it actually makes them seal better. It also makes them harder to take apart, on any watch that's been together for more than six months or so I have to pry the casebacks off fairly violently to get them to pop open. I have had a silicone oil filled MW-240 since 2019 that is still running fine and has not ever leaked except when I assembled it wrong and pinched or missed the O-ring. The biggest problem with silicon oil is that it's so thick that if you use it on any analog watch the battery life is reduced to about 1/3 due to the greater friction on the motor. Flourinert is much more thin. I have also heard of people using mineral oil. I have not done so myself but it has worked out for them
@@axipixel5811 using a solar movement would resolve the battery life issue right? Any suggestions for cheap solar movements? As far as I'm aware, Casio doesn't really have any cheap analogs with solar other than the AQ-S810W. I've seen it in person and it's aesthetically controversial to say the least. Also not sure how well the buttons would work with a hydro mod since it is a digi-ana.
How is it with the Florinert? Since I checked that the boiling point for this liquid is 80C... Which can be reach if the watch is under the sun in the tropics...
so how did the watches make it through ? did this affect lume capabilities and the piezo beeper ? how was the battery life ? thinking of hydro modding my ga2100
On your video you mention pulling a vacuum and forcing the bubble out. That is where the video cut out. Can you make a short video showing the process of forcing out the bubble with this method? I am stuck with a fairly large bubble:(
I have enjoyed your video. I did this mod on my Casio Duro. I really like the looks of the dial. It now loses time, like 10 secs per hour, and sometimes stops. Any ideas?
Preparation is essential, make sure you have a tray that can completely submerge the watch during the filling process to prevent any bubble from getting trapped under the dial. I consider a syringe essential. If your tray is big enough and clearances small enough to draw vacuum using the syringe while submerged, that might help. I did not have to do this. Order more oil than you think you will need. 125mL should be enough for 1-2 watches (a lot of the oil is used on the outside to submerge the watch. The amount of oil actually used is quite small). If you use 3m Fluorinert, definitely recommend filtering as shown by Darak.
The point of the balls are to provide a pressure buffer, since the caseback doesn't expand like the Sinn watch does. When the oil undergoes higher temperatures, it would expand (since liquids are not compressible) and that could cause a leak somewhere or pop the caseback off in an extreme scenario. As he explained, he could leave an air bubble inside since air is compressible and it would solve the issue of the expansion of the oil. Styrofoam however is essentially lots of air bubbles contained in plastic, so it would serve the same purpose but without leaving a visible air bubble instead.
@@elisage5132 lol like we can't tell that you're the same person replying to their own comment. Both accounts created at the same time. Nice try. Both reported as spam.
I just did it with the same watch and forgot to put in the white plastic spacer ring AND it worked better without any air bubbles and was very easy to put back together. Like the look of the watch.
Hi James, sorry for that, just added to the video description, but here you go😁 Foam Beads for Slime - 90,000-Piece Slime Beads, 0.08-0.1 Inch Micro Foam Balls amzn.to/2PqCCwb
I looked at the chart and it seems like fc-84 is alot more liquidy (less viscous), easier to evaporate, and has higher expansion (volume will change more during the temperature change). Besides that, it looks about the same. I guess it will have easier time leaking or evaporating out of the watch. I want to get fc-40 if I can but fc-84 should do it as well
If only Fluorinert wasn't so toxic... Where I live, we can buy non-toxic 5 cSt silicone (PMS) fluid very cheaply, so I guess I'll go with that for analogue watches and with 20 cSt for digital ones.
How do you know fluorinert is so toxic? They're different types of fluorinert. Read the tech specs for exact liquid. Yes the sil oil is cheap and easy to obtain. Well I never heard of fluorinert before and using it instead of sil oil particularly. I also have no idea where to buy it if only a tablespoon is needed.
Maybe a late answer (I think it’s in the video as well). This does NOT work on an automatic/mechanicl watch as the balance spring cannot move through liquid. You’ll ruin your NH35/36.
Hello from Russia! I loved the styrofoam ball idea! Indeed, it is convenient for expanding and contracting oil! Man, tell me - are these some special styrofoam balls, or will ordinary balls from the box Sony Playstation 4 package do?
Thank you for this second vídeo. I see you switched to fluorinert. As I told you on my comment on the first video, we're planning to hydrolyze analog watches with 50cst silicone oil, but watching that fluorinert is less dense than 50 cst oil, don't you think that 30cst oil (if it can be found) could be used? And the second question. How would you set in position the styrofoam bubbles if you fill the case in the traditional way (not the way you do here, due to the lesser density of fluorinert). The styrofoam bubble would float, out of position, before closing the back -case (especially in a screw-down back.) Thank you I saw your vídeos on the LIV channel, but I'm now missing the comments. Couldn't you recover them?
Hi Boga92, the 3M Fluorivert cSt is around 0.2 to 3, there are different model out there, the one I use is the CF-30, 2.2 cSt, so it's very runny as you can imagine, due to this chemical property, the Fluorinert can flow freely in tiny spaces, so bubbles won't easily get trapped in the movement, that's why I switch to the crown fill method. As you had mentioned, it's near impossible to keep Styrofoam in place, so that's why I'm using crown fill. Sorry, the old channel is considered lost at this moment, so I can't recover the dates.
Is this a poorly thought-out hype? Is it a bad idea to fill your watch with silicone oil? The oil has good di-electric properties, meaning that it is an excellent current insulator. And in your watch there is a 1.5-3V battery that is now surrounded by silicone oil. Silicone oil will settle between the contact surfaces for the battery. The result...very poor contact? I'm just asking: is this a good idea?
Of course the resistance of the oil will affect the battery life and the watch entirely. It doesn’t surprise me that people do this as you can find people they think the Earth is flat 😂.
I have a digital chronograph. Yes I know sounds like an oxy-moron but I assure you it is a real thing lol. Would Filling with Mineral Oil ruin such a thing?
As an Engineer i can tell you that bubbles compromise the whole function(its not a problem of style and looks the added waterresistants only works with NO bubbles. The idea of using a Stiroform Ball is also completly destroying any added depth to the depth rating.
if you want this oil filled system to work you need the watch to bee 100% oil Filed and for that to work you need a system like Sinns case back or the Caseback of the Bell and Ross Hydromax
if you just want the better legibility you can go without those measurement but have in mind that there is no upgrade in waterresistance(if you have bubbles or styrofoam in your watch)
Mr. Engineer, just please document yourself more ...
Mr. Engineer :)
The earlier Sinn models didn't have a special case back. I don't think it's fair to say that it doesn't improve pressure resistance unless there is 0.0 bubbles. Cases will deform under extreme pressure, and as long as the deformation is small enough to not lead to total failure, then you won. Here the deformation will be limited to tiny tiny amounts
Someone explain to me why they need the special caseback? Isn't the oil incompressible? So with no bubbles there shouldn't be any need to have a caseback that can move in-out? If they're doing it to take thermal expansion into account then the thin sheet metal casebacks of these watches should have enough flex to account for that, I think.
@@roadrash999I know I'm stating the obvious but most watches aren't designed to keep high pressure in, they're designed to keep the high pressure out. If your watch has an LCD screen or some other part that is sensitive to pressure then I suppose there is a potential that you could crush the part if the silicon oil heats up and expands. As these watches haven't been engineered to support high internal pressures we would be relying on flex in the case back to control the internal pressure. That said, it is a cool mod as long as you're prepared for the watch to fail at some point.
@harrie205 I’m not an engineer, that was my thinking as well. 🎉
I filled a Seiko Solar chrono based on your video and am super happy with the results. I used 3m Fluorinert FC-770 and it worked great. One thing that improves the effect is to use a domed crystal.
Hopefully, it being solar I can go longer without replacing the power cell.
Thank you for your video!
Fluorinert Fc-770 has some pretty good properties for this:
Low pour point -127C
lower thermal expansion coefficient than water
low kinematic viscosity 0.79centistokes
boiling point 95C
Does your hydro mod still work a year later?
@@jimcao1860 yes, the solar seiko with fluorinert does
How about your lume ?
@@joliverlie151 no change
It's fc770 also supposedly non compressible?
Just bought the casio in the video, theres no way Id try this, is cool thou, no doubt, 5000m you say? Mad skillz.
Are the watches still working now after 3 years?
This looks like a great channel, very interesting, subscribed 👍👍
Hi - just checking, are both oil filled watches still working ? Thanks 🙏🏼
Would you consider dying the oil a fun color prior to your next mod video? Thanks!
Can you put glitter in it, snow globe watch :)
@@wildwalkerukI guess that glitter particles will get in between gears and obscure their work.
@@timtim4726 Okay, I can't tell if you are joking or not :) Quartz watches don't have gears, they use stepper motors, so the glitter would probably be okay ;) Okay, depending on design and complication(s) they can have gears, but again, I am not sure if you are joking about the glitter? (I was of course)
That's the first realy informative hydromod video I've seen. But I'll stick to old school airfilled watches.
I cant wait for my green one. Photos look amazing.
are you still making syringe and fluorinert kits? i would like to get one.
Nice follow up
Hi Rendolf, thanks.
Have you tested it on the effects of the silicone oil in the backlight?
does it improve the coverage and glow or still the same as the original lighting?
have you thought about doing one with a g shock
Great video!
Hi Frank, thanks.
I’m pretty sure if you just heated the oil to around 50c while you did this mod, then let it cool after it was sealed - this would be more than enough to handle any amount of thermal expansion you could reasonably expect to encounter.
I’d love to see you test this theory in a future video!
50c is too much I think. Electronic watch components aren't designed for that heat. 30c is more than enough.
As the oil cools and shrink, it will create a negative pressure (relative to the outside) inside the case. That negative pressure would try to suck any external water in. SO, that would be a double edge sword. To counter the thermal expansion of the fluid, you need to INCREASE the temperature, resulting in a negative pressure that sucks in any case flexing after thermal equalization, before sealing the case. To counter the possible negative pressure that sucks external water in, you need to DECREASE the temperature, resulting in a higher positive relative pressure after reaching thermal equalization, before sealing the case.
@ slight negative pressure is completely fine so long as there is no void, which there will not be if done properly in a vacuum chamber.
Cool video. I have two of these that I bought just for this mod.
You can record a video, a mod for the silicone oil of the garmin tactics watch, will the solar battery work after that.
Maybe you all should consider an alternative to Fluorinert after reading here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinert
Yep, I don't see a point of buying such toxic stuff if you can get hold of PMS-5 (yes, 5 cSt, not 50) or even PMS-20.
hello
I have a U-boat rainbow watch. The watch battery ran out and the oil decreased during the replacement process.
While looking around, I came across your video.
Ask if you can fill the U-boat rainbow watch with oil in the same way. Please reply.
It’s 4 years now.
Is it still working ?
Are there any updates after a year? :)
Is there any oil leaking every time you loosen the crown to set the time or date?
😛 ¡Saludos!. ¡Excelente video!.
Can we use glycerine instead??
can hydro android smart watches?
What is feedback after 4 month? Are those watches still running?
I'm keen on the DIY kits
What happen to your B650WD-1A?
Love the Hydro Video. Can you do a dome glass watch ?
Fluorinert has a lower refractive index (1.278) vs PDMS silicon oil (1.43). Water is 1.333 for reference. This decreases the strength of the visual effect. I don't think it's worth the large bump in cost and difficulty to source until more substantive evidence for silicon oil being damaging to the watches is proven.
Any updates on the damage produced by the silicon oil on the rubber spacers or gaskets? Fluorinert is pretty hard to source.
@@joset.santos4120 Silicon rubber spacers and gaskets absorb the liquid silicone and swell up. This makes it difficult to seat them again while putting it back together for a battery change, which makes the already precarious underwater battery change even more hard, but it actually makes them seal better. It also makes them harder to take apart, on any watch that's been together for more than six months or so I have to pry the casebacks off fairly violently to get them to pop open.
I have had a silicone oil filled MW-240 since 2019 that is still running fine and has not ever leaked except when I assembled it wrong and pinched or missed the O-ring.
The biggest problem with silicon oil is that it's so thick that if you use it on any analog watch the battery life is reduced to about 1/3 due to the greater friction on the motor. Flourinert is much more thin.
I have also heard of people using mineral oil. I have not done so myself but it has worked out for them
@@axipixel5811 using a solar movement would resolve the battery life issue right? Any suggestions for cheap solar movements? As far as I'm aware, Casio doesn't really have any cheap analogs with solar other than the AQ-S810W. I've seen it in person and it's aesthetically controversial to say the least. Also not sure how well the buttons would work with a hydro mod since it is a digi-ana.
@@axipixel5811what silicone oil did you use? I have heard that it is recommended to use the least viscous oil. It looks almost like water.
Is it still work today?
update?
How is it with the Florinert? Since I checked that the boiling point for this liquid is 80C... Which can be reach if the watch is under the sun in the tropics...
so how did the watches make it through ? did this affect lume capabilities and the piezo beeper ? how was the battery life ? thinking of hydro modding my ga2100
On your video you mention pulling a vacuum and forcing the bubble out. That is where the video cut out. Can you make a short video showing the process of forcing out the bubble with this method? I am stuck with a fairly large bubble:(
Did you get the Fluorinert from ebay? I can't seem to get smaller amount especially in Hungary.
I have enjoyed your video. I did this mod on my Casio Duro. I really like the looks of the dial. It now loses time, like 10 secs per hour, and sometimes stops. Any ideas?
What would your advice be on oil filling a Citizen eco-drive solar radio clock watch?
Preparation is essential, make sure you have a tray that can completely submerge the watch during the filling process to prevent any bubble from getting trapped under the dial. I consider a syringe essential. If your tray is big enough and clearances small enough to draw vacuum using the syringe while submerged, that might help. I did not have to do this.
Order more oil than you think you will need. 125mL should be enough for 1-2 watches (a lot of the oil is used on the outside to submerge the watch. The amount of oil actually used is quite small). If you use 3m Fluorinert, definitely recommend filtering as shown by Darak.
You know STW Hypertec Hyperbar Watches ?
Surely if you reassembled the watch while fully immersed there would be no need for little balls in the case... Or am I missing something?
The point of the balls are to provide a pressure buffer, since the caseback doesn't expand like the Sinn watch does. When the oil undergoes higher temperatures, it would expand (since liquids are not compressible) and that could cause a leak somewhere or pop the caseback off in an extreme scenario. As he explained, he could leave an air bubble inside since air is compressible and it would solve the issue of the expansion of the oil. Styrofoam however is essentially lots of air bubbles contained in plastic, so it would serve the same purpose but without leaving a visible air bubble instead.
I’m interested in this the diy kit as well
More detail on the stem removal plz
thertes a tiny button. push it
I'd be very interested to see what effect, if any, fluid filling a white dial watch would have on appearance.
i know I am pretty randomly asking but do anyone know a good site to stream newly released series online ?
@@elisage5132 lol like we can't tell that you're the same person replying to their own comment. Both accounts created at the same time. Nice try. Both reported as spam.
I just did it with the same watch and forgot to put in the white plastic spacer ring AND it worked better without any air bubbles and was very easy to put back together. Like the look of the watch.
What size styrofoam balls did you use as the pressure buffer? Any link to buy some?
Hi James, sorry for that, just added to the video description, but here you go😁
Foam Beads for Slime - 90,000-Piece Slime Beads, 0.08-0.1 Inch Micro Foam Balls
amzn.to/2PqCCwb
@@darakwatches467 Thanks for the info, last piece of the puzzle I needed.
Does it need to be FC-40? I can only find FC-84
I looked at the chart and it seems like fc-84 is alot more liquidy (less viscous), easier to evaporate, and has higher expansion (volume will change more during the temperature change). Besides that, it looks about the same. I guess it will have easier time leaking or evaporating out of the watch. I want to get fc-40 if I can but fc-84 should do it as well
Would be interested in seeing another update video on these watches... Seems like this channel might be dead though.
If only Fluorinert wasn't so toxic... Where I live, we can buy non-toxic 5 cSt silicone (PMS) fluid very cheaply, so I guess I'll go with that for analogue watches and with 20 cSt for digital ones.
How do you know fluorinert is so toxic? They're different types of fluorinert. Read the tech specs for exact liquid. Yes the sil oil is cheap and easy to obtain. Well I never heard of fluorinert before and using it instead of sil oil particularly. I also have no idea where to buy it if only a tablespoon is needed.
hello sir, sorry if this question out of this topic. is there any chances on swapping casio efv 110d movement to nh35/36? will the nh3* fit nicely?
Maybe a late answer (I think it’s in the video as well).
This does NOT work on an automatic/mechanicl watch as the balance spring cannot move through liquid. You’ll ruin your NH35/36.
@@MaartenAnna better late than never. 😅 thank you anyway for the answer. 👌👍
Hello from Russia! I loved the styrofoam ball idea! Indeed, it is convenient for expanding and contracting oil! Man, tell me - are these some special styrofoam balls, or will ordinary balls from the box Sony Playstation 4 package do?
Oh man. I’ve got a few eco drives and the temptation is high.
You haven't posted in a long time man. Hope you are ok.
Thank you for this second vídeo. I see you switched to fluorinert. As I told you on my comment on the first video, we're planning to hydrolyze analog watches with 50cst silicone oil, but watching that fluorinert is less dense than 50 cst oil, don't you think that 30cst oil (if it can be found) could be used?
And the second question. How would you set in position the styrofoam bubbles if you fill the case in the traditional way (not the way you do here, due to the lesser density of fluorinert). The styrofoam bubble would float, out of position, before closing the back -case (especially in a screw-down back.)
Thank you
I saw your vídeos on the LIV channel, but I'm now missing the comments. Couldn't you recover them?
Hi Boga92, the 3M Fluorivert cSt is around 0.2 to 3, there are different model out there, the one I use is the CF-30, 2.2 cSt, so it's very runny as you can imagine, due to this chemical property, the Fluorinert can flow freely in tiny spaces, so bubbles won't easily get trapped in the movement, that's why I switch to the crown fill method.
As you had mentioned, it's near impossible to keep Styrofoam in place, so that's why I'm using crown fill.
Sorry, the old channel is considered lost at this moment, so I can't recover the dates.
What is the point of doing this?
I love buy it
Is this a poorly thought-out hype? Is it a bad idea to fill your watch with silicone oil? The oil has good di-electric properties, meaning that it is an excellent current insulator. And in your watch there is a 1.5-3V battery that is now surrounded by silicone oil. Silicone oil will settle between the contact surfaces for the battery. The result...very poor contact? I'm just asking: is this a good idea?
Of course the resistance of the oil will affect the battery life and the watch entirely. It doesn’t surprise me that people do this as you can find people they think the Earth is flat 😂.
This mod on a quartz chronograph 😮😮
I have a digital chronograph. Yes I know sounds like an oxy-moron but I assure you it is a real thing lol. Would Filling with Mineral Oil ruin such a thing?
12.5.2025 need an update!