Datejust II vs MRI Machine

[Sea Dweller MD]

Hi guys I don’t post too much on here but I’m in need of some help/advice.

I am an anesthesiologist and sometimes need to respond to emergencies in the MRI scanners, last night was one of those nights. I remember to take my ID, phone and pager off but forgot to take my Datejust II off. I was in the scanner room for about 2 minutes, standing right next to the MRI machine when I felt my watch pull on my wrist and felt a little tingle on my wrist. This reminded me that my watch was on and I quickly left the room and took my watch off before going back in. At that time the MRI machine was not running, but like people mentioned on this forum the MRI machine is always “on”. My watch was still working at that time and is still working now.

To begin with my watch hasn’t been too accurate, meaning it’s been off by 2 to 3 minutes after running for a few months straight. I say it like that because I sometimes I don’t wear my watch and don’t have a winding box for it so it sits on my desk and after about 48hrs it stops running, (from my understanding the power reserve on a Datejust II is 48hrs). So anyway, after this happened I reset my watch to my cell phone clock second for second and it’s been about 12hrs now and my watch has been accurate, i.e. still second for second with my cell phone, (maybe at most 1 or 2 seconds off) I am now testing the power reserve on the watch and hopefully it will last for 48hrs.

On top of all this my 2 year warranty runs out in a few days. So should I just simply bring my watch in and have it sent out to a RSC for service/testing or if the watch continues to keep accurate time for the next 2 days I should be in the clear and I should consider myself lucky that I didn’t break my watch? Also what’s a normal variation in time for a Datejust II?

Thanks in advance for all the advice and help.

[Tseg]

If your watch is -4 SPD or less or +6 SPD or more on average over several days you may want to consider sending it in. If not... no.

[Tools]

There is likely nothing wrong with your watch. If it had been affected it would likely run many minutes fast per hour/day.

It does not matter when your warranty runs out, sending it in for a service is not a warranty covered process nor is exposure to an MRI machine covered by a warranty.

Normal variation for your watch is 1 to 5 seconds a day. A couple of minutes a month is well within proper running specs.

Your cellphone is not a good source to set your watch with for testing (it's fine for just setting the time) as it will up-date itself when you move into another cell tower and could jump by a couple of minutes.

[Wcdhtwn]

Your being a Dr this should ring true: "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". So yes send it in just to be safe.

A suggestion: Milgauss

[Mr DateJust]

Originally Posted by Wcdhtwn

Your being a Dr this should ring true: "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". So yes send it in just to be safe.

A suggestion: Milgauss

An MRI scanner has a rating of somewhere between 5000 and 30000 gauss. The milgauss is only rated to 1000.

[tkerrmd]

sounds like your watch is fine, however if the MRI was ON it would pull any steel into the magnet, remember it is twice the magnetic field of a magnet that picks cars up in a junk yard

chairs, tables, guns, scissors get pulled right in when it is really on

at our hospital emergency magnet shut down "quench" happens during a code, but shuts down MRI machine for a week, so people don't like to do it

was a quench performed before you entered the room?

at our hospital we have MRI scanners in the OR room and all of us have to be certified before we can even be anywhere in the OR or near an MRI

[Wcdhtwn]

Originally Posted by Mr DateJust

An MRI scanner has a rating of somewhere between 5000 and 30000 gauss. The milgauss is only rated to 1000.

But that's better than the DJ he's wearing. AND it gives him a great reason to add to his collection. No I'm not trying to sell one...

[Ravager135]

Originally Posted by tkerrmd

sounds like your watch is fine, however if the MRI was ON it would pull any steel into the magnet, remember it is twice the magnetic field of a magnet that picks cars up in a junk yard

chairs, tables, guns, scissors get pulled right in when it is really on

at our hospital emergency magnet shut down "quench" happens during a code, but shuts down MRI machine for a week, so people don't like to do it

was a quench performed before you entered the room?

at our hospital we have MRI scanners in the OR room and all of us have to be certified before we can even be anywhere in the OR or near an MRI

As above. I respond to codes as a house doctor all the time. Unless the MRI is on, you shouldn't have any problem, I've worn mine into radiology several times without any issue. You'd know if your watch really magnetized. It would stop, lose an exceptional amount of time a day, or be very inaccurate.

[itsjknight]

This is a great thread. I've often wondered how much of a magnetic field a Rolex can take without becoming magnetized. Sounds like a pretty strong field for you to feel it pull on your wrist and yet it didn't become magnetized. Good to know.

[moyski]

If the OP's warranty will expire in a couple of days then his watch is covered by the new Rolex warranty which means he has another year added! So I wouldn't worry about sending it in for service IF at all needed. Keep wearing it for a while first and observe how it runs.

[sunnyd]

I'd use this as an excuse to get a Milgauss, but maybe I'm just looking for any excuse to buy a Rolex lol.

[swils8610]

Worst that could happen is it would become magnetized. Usually it would run very fast. Several minutes per day. Any quality AD can demagnetize it simply.

[WatchinMD]

If you were standing "right beside" the machine, you experienced significantly less than the full rated strength of the payment. The full 15000 or 30000 gauss ( 1.5 or 3T) is in the bore. Outside the machine, on the axis of the bore the is a fairly steep drop off of field strength as a function of distance. On the lateral sides the field is variable. The diagram is for field strength for a 7T!!! machine.

My guess is that you watch is fine and if it wasnt, you would know about it already.

[tritium8]

We had a chair get stuck in an MRI machine in grad school....had to get a truck to pull it out. Fortunately, I had nothing to do with it. Careful when it's on!

[Sea Dweller MD]

Thanks everyone for the comments. The watch is running fine. It lasted a little over 46hrs on the power reserve test which I am assuming is with in the standard error of the watch's power reserve of "48hrs" (please correct me if I am wrong).

The MRI was not quenched it was simply turned off, by the time I got there, there were already other people in the scanning room.

If you look at the Diagram above I was standing right were line A intersects with the dashed rectangle box when you trace the line down. My hand with the watch was pretty close to the scanner.

And also thanks to everyone who suggested buying another Rolex but I'll have to pass, too many other toys that I would much rather buy.

[Sea Dweller MD]

Originally Posted by moyski

If the OP's warranty will expire in a couple of days then his watch is covered by the new Rolex warranty which means he has another year added! So I wouldn't worry about sending it in for service IF at all needed. Keep wearing it for a while first and observe how it runs.

What do you mean the new rolex warranty? Are they 3 year warranties now?

[moyski]

Originally Posted by Sea Dweller MD

What do you mean the new rolex warranty? Are they 3 year warranties now?

Watches bought from July 1, 2015 get the new 5-year warranty. Watches bought from July 2013 to June 30, 2015 (someone please correct me if I got the dates wrong) gets an extended 1-year added to the previously standard 2-year warranty.

[SpaceWanderer]

Originally Posted by WatchinMD

If you were standing "right beside" the machine, you experienced significantly less than the full rated strength of the payment. The full 15000 or 30000 gauss ( 1.5 or 3T) is in the bore. Outside the machine, on the axis of the bore the is a fairly steep drop off of field strength as a function of distance. On the lateral sides the field is variable. The diagram is for field strength for a 7T!!! machine.

My guess is that you watch is fine and if it wasnt, you would know about it already.

I agree. I think you are probably fine.

[GradyPhilpott]

Originally Posted by tkerrmd

sounds like your watch is fine, however if the MRI was ON it would pull any steel into the magnet, remember it is twice the magnetic field of a magnet that picks cars up in a junk yard

chairs, tables, guns, scissors get pulled right in when it is really on

Wow! That must truly be a sight to behold.

[tomcorkery]

Im still having a bit of trouble that you went into an mri room with something on your person that was not safe. You could hurt someone very bad by not checking yourself properly. Your just worried about your watch working or not?

[captainnice]

What would be the reaction with gold filling in your teeth?

[Andad]

Gold is non ferrous.

But watch out for that steel earring captain.