Reply With Quotei would have thought an emp would not do mechanical watches much good as they are susceptible to magnetics. however, if someone had dropped a nuke, i would be to busy shitting my pants to look at my watch! :D
I just wondered what ppl on here think of the Luminox, Uzi and Taser range of watches?
I also just wondered if in general most watches come from Switzerland? Or do you often get watches made in eg USA, GB etc but just with parts from Switzerland? And why in general is Switzerland such a mad watch/time piece making country? Why it is all Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland for watches?
I'm looking for a watch and really like the look of some of these (Luminox, Uzi, Taser) esp types like this one:
The only thing about that I don't like is I think I'd prefer a hand wound watch to battery powered but that's being picky.
Can anyone tell me regaring military watches would they all be shielded from stuff like the effects of nuclear blasts and the electromagnetic pulse they generate? I know that even if you are in a safe place away from such a blast it can still take out unshielded electronics?
I always thought that hand wound you wont have any issues because it isn't really electronic is it? Its mechanical? Or can it also be electronic? At first I thought electronic refered to waches with digital lcd type displays, but then I thought it would refer to anything battery powered with circuits that are unshielded? Or does it refer to any metalic wires etc? If anyone can clarify I'd appreciate it. I don't totally understand all the watch terminology and lingo to do with the different movements and power sources. I have to keep going to wikipedia and reading their document on watches.
Cheers,
John
i would have thought an emp would not do mechanical watches much good as they are susceptible to magnetics. however, if someone had dropped a nuke, i would be to busy shitting my pants to look at my watch! :D
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
I agree with that last part :lol: I would too.Originally Posted by ktmog6uk
Was just curious about that and the effect on different types of watches esp regarding military watches and whether they were shielded from emp, whether it was part of the spec?
Cheers,
John
Swatch diaphane auto, because most of it is made of plastic. Ofcourse this will be the last of my problems.
The EMp associated with a nuclear "whoopsie" will fall off in intensity very quickly with distance.
Without doing any calculations I'd estimate that if you are close enough to suffer serious EMP then you'd either be toast or quite ill shortly.
Both of these scenarios would concern me more than whether my watch was busted. :D
Incidentally, the magnetic component of the EMp is much much weaker than you'd expect from a big magnet, so is unlikely to affect a mechanical watch.
Tra
Jason
John10001(John),
If you want your watch to be O.K. so you can use it for the rest of your life even enduring the direct effects of a thermonuclear blast, you can look for a good high quality and specification heavy-duty mechanical watch having a well designed soft iron "Faraday Cage" to protect the mechanical movement against the Electromagnetic Pulse your watch will have to deal with. Eddie's PRS-14 and his new PRS-22 Speedbird 3 both have this special feature. And remember this as it is quite important: be very careful to make sure the watch is running with a full wind at all times---iether by wearing it constantly if it's an automatic like Eddie's are, or otherwise by repetitiously using the manual wind feature so that your watch is always in a state of full wind. Then, when the blast hits, whenever that is and wherever you are---and this is the very most important part and was taught and drilled at military emplacements and even schools, etc., across the United States during the tense years of the Early Cold War---you will have to do the following as if it was rote, automatic, and second nature: duck, cover, and kiss your a-s goodbye, but remember, your watch will be just fine, maybe a little radioactive but what the hell do you care.
:wave:
It's too subjective to say whether a watch can survive an EMP because there are many variables to consider. Think of EMP shielding as being a bit like water resistance. A watch is not either waterproof or not waterproof, it's usually rated as water resistant to a certain rating. Also nuclear explosions deliver different strengths of EMP dependant on the type of device and many other factors such as its altitude on detonation (for air burst) vs. ground etc. Mechanical watches obviously don't suffer the same problems that battery ones would (but can still get magnetised). Generally speaking the military generally don't bother buying shielded quartz watches for issue - just standard quartz with no shielding.
Hopefully the original poster will not be exposed to any nuclear blasts but if he will be working in a lab with EMP or around CAT scanners in a hospital, maybe he should just take his watch of and keep it well away from the source.
Condescending comments aside (such as "I'd be more worried about the blast"...."you'd be dead but your watch would be fine"...."kiss your ass goodbye"), I am lead to believe that an EMP attack can be delivered from 400Km above the earth's surface, without any effects from either blast or fallout, launched on an intermediate range missile from a merchant vessel near the target area (continent).
Such an attack can be used to shape the battlefield in immediate preparation for an asymmetric attack on civilians (which will characterize most of the Wars Against Terror, or rather Terror's Wars Against Us, in coming decades), in order to frustrate emergency responses to a blast, chemical or pathogen release, thus increasing the terror as well as the death toll from delayed access to medical care or evacuation. A good deal of military hardware is shielded against EMP. Civilian command, communications, computing and information infrastructure is not. Imagine if your watch stops, the TV goes off, so does the radio, all phones go off, or worse still your computer suddenly turns off (no access to tz-uk!!!). So does everyone else's. Then anthrax spores or Spanish influenza viruses are let loose in the subway ventilation, another building is blown up, or sarin is poured into the subway ventilation (as in Tokyo in 1995 but with much wider dispersal). You get the picture. How will FEMA, the police, ambulance, fire rescue, medical evacuation services, any services, respond and coordinate their action if they can't communicate? It sounds like a minor thing, but knowing the time also helps once communication means are acquired (from the military).
This is not a fanciful scenario, nor is it a stupid question to ask how a time-keeping piece would fare under such circumstances. I don't know the specifics on actual values, but the Faraday cage is an essential part to shielding from any source of EMI. The advantage for a mechanical watch is the absence of circuitry in which to induce current. If the previous poster is right about the strength of the magnetic field pulse induced by an EMP, then those watches (and other equipment) with the highest magnetic shielding would fare best, viz the PRS 14 and 22 and other watches with high ratings.
A poster on this topic in another forum noted that if affected, a mechanical watch would need to be demagnetized, but also that in the ensuing panic it is unlikely that anyone with a demagnetizing device will be readily available. The topic started because a poster asked why the latest Marathon watch (TSAR?) has a mechanical movement.
It was a matter of failure to synchronise watches between British Naval and Australian/New Zealand ground forces in 1915 that led to a fruitless charge against heavily defended Turkish positions, because the naval gun barrage finished 10 minutes early. The Turks emerged from their dugouts, and the charging ANZACs were slaughtered. 300 of them in a few minutes.
I know we're all nerdy WISs, but in some circumstances knowing the time accurately helps.
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