So I recently picked up a Timebomb and have worn it the past 3 days. My question is if it's normal to have to readjust the time every morning. When I get up I notice that the watch is a couple of hours behind. I probably need to invest in one of those kinetic watch holders that rocks it while I sleep but I didn't think that it would happen over the course of 7-8 hours.

From my experience with the TB's, each one is unique. Some require a few flicks of the wrist and they stay charged for days and days, while this latest one I have seems to need a lot of charging before it will hold a charge. I have a watch winder, but haven't really used it as of yet. But, it is not uncommon for a TB to lose it's charge overnight if it has not been used consistently.

My carbon faced timebomb has been great, I have worn it on a every other day rotation and have lost no time yet. On the other hand my friend picked up a blue faced icon and it loses time over night to the point he too feels something is wrong. I guess it depends on the smoothness of the internals maybe? or it could just need to get a good few days of winding to really charge up.

i have two Timebombs and they hold a charge well... i think wearing it twice a week will last the rest of the week.

i really should get an automatic watch winder one of these days but now both my Timebombs are on display duty.

I really really wanna get one but when you factor in the issues with an automatic watch and the fact that it doesnt have a crystal sapphire face, I get cold feet. I bought my Dad a Breitling Automatic Chronograph for one Fathers Day It was a couple G's and it never kept the right time from day one. It was in for service twice and he finally returned it. Just wasnt worth the hassle. It's probably the reason the Time Tank is battery powered.

Man, I have got to get myself into Bill's family. He get's Dad a couple G watch for Fathers Day ... and he get's a Time Tank for his birthday.

What sort of gifts do you exchange for Columbus Day?!?

I figured it out. im the guy pablo was referring to earlier btw. last night in a stroke of genius placed my timebomb and icon in the respective vaults on top of my minifridge. not only is it a better place for display, but when the coolant generator kicks on and off every 20 odd minutes or so it lets the watches generate enough power to keep on ticking. its the perfect "poor-man's" watch winder/pizza-leftover-hider... mmm pizza

That is a pretty awesome idea John (welcome BTW). When I get around to getting one, I think i'm just gonna collar it around my cats neck at night. She's lazy and needs to earn her keep anyway. Let her be my auto-winder.

Ok, Bill - you are my new hero, that is the perfect idea, and that poor cat would be so confused every night - what the heck is with this huge collar!?!!?!? lol

...my friend picked up a blue faced icon and it loses time over night...

Interesting you should mention that. My blue Icon also seems to run out of juice after only a day or so of not wearing it. I used to wear it only for work Monday to Friday and let it sit in its Vault over the weekend, but it started dying sometime Sunday evening, so I now wear it daily or at least shake it up a few times over the weekend.

Lol, yeah you're prolly right. The face would get scratched to hell too. Back to the drawing board.

Scythe,
that's not normal at all. No normally working auto-quartz watch should ever do that. Get it looked at.

Don't ever expose the watch to a magnetic field over 20 Ohms per meter--that'll permanently screw the capacitor inside the watch. This is where mechanical watches win over electronic watches: they are virtually immune to magnetic fields. All you have to do is demagnetize them. Don't EVER take a degausser to a quartz watch. EVER.

Magnetic fields from freezer units and AC units are small and I've heard that they can mess time up as well as charge up your watch. Funny. It's like getting a second wind instantly after getting a kick to the balls.

I wear mine close to everyday and it runs out of juice after about five days. This has a lot to do with fact that lithium ion batteries really don't like being constantly charged in general. Ironically, the best thing to do with the watch is to fully charge it and then wear it out completely. You can't do that, of course, because your movement will continually charge the sucker. But in theory that's the way to go.

If you want to reset the 'memory' of your battery, apply the same old rules you would to Ni-Cad batteries: full charge and let the sucker run out. Keep the thing away from magnetic fields and see what the does. Should fix it.

Jon - any good way to estimate what 20 Ohms/metre is like? Maybe a dumb question, I'm not a huge physics guy. What kind of things with magnetic fields (besides what you listed) could mess with the TB? Is it as simple as any 'big magnets'? Just curious.

20 Ohms/ 1 Meter is actually quite a bit, but keeping in mind that time---knock on wood--can also throw it off. Keeping your timebomb on top of a speaker, even one that's shielded, can affect it.

It's just one of those things in the world you're NEVER gonna escape. Like gravity. Planetary bodies can be billions of AUs away from each other but they still have gravitational attraction.

I have a large subwoofer in the trunk of my car and I usually try to make a habit of keeping my watches---except mechanical ones--away from it. About three feet, yard, meter, etc. Especially when the thing recieves power, ie. music. Those electromagnetic pulses make love to your watch like a hammer to your eardrum.

Theoretically, it's possible to recalibrate the internals of quartz watches, but who wants to? Takes about as much money as one could spend to buy a whole new TB.

You engineers out there, watch out. Although you'd know this better than me. Power lines and transformers are really, really bad on watches. So, if you're repairing a buzzing transformer up a power line at 12 noon and your looking at your clock wondering why the second hand isn't moving and it reads 6 o'clock, learn your lesson.

I've heard that alternators can also affect watches. I wouldn't worry about that much.

Basically, keep your watches away from speakers, even shielded ones. Keep the away from microwave ovens. That'll make for a really, really unhappy watch. Not the radiation so much as the giant magnet that all Microwaves come with. I think this thing would be about 20 or more Oe/M.

FYI, this is arguably more important for those who have SS timebombs like myself. X-metal has a much lower ferric composition than SS, obviously. My thoery is that magnetic fields would affect SS timebombs more.

Or any SS watch out there, Oakley or non-oakley.

Okay, my last comment before someone else responds to this thread. I promise.

My Timebomb loses time as well. After about five days of not wearing it, it'll lose several hours. Not after ONE day mind you, but after about five. This is really not supposed to be the case for a high quality auto-quartz movement. The isochronism for these watches (at these prices) should be consistent, that is, keeps measuring time accurately until it's completely out of juice. They can do that for mechanical, I'm sure Oakley just got cheap and didn't want to spend the extra money or circuitry that would do the same thing for electronic.

Thanks for the explanations Jon, great to get this sort of knowledge on the OR.

So has anyone really screwed up a TB? Or any watch, for that matter?

put a watch on the amplifier that may be attached to a bass unit. It'll never work properly again after an hour.

Bottom line - If you are a serious O collector, a TB is a must....no whiners.....

Timebomb has become a cornerstone of any serious Oakley collector. If you have to reset it because you haven't warn it in a few days - too bad....stop whining....it's a 1500 dollar watch - looking good takes sacrifice.....ask any supermodel.

hey im not whining. im just trying to find a more convenient way to house them. isn't that the american way?

We're all cool here. No worries.

I mean, people are cool when I tell them I were my IWC more often than my TB, right?

So your saying putting my timebomb in the microwave so it rotates it around for me would be a bad thing?

That was a close one, I like my Time bomb to tell me the time, lol.

Oh, I was re-reading what I posted and realized I made a really stupid statement repeatedly. There are no such units as Oersteds / Meter. I meant just straight Oersteds, or Oe. Amps per Meter are much smaller and most of us don't have to worry about those.

I had this problem for about the first month of owning mine. But after a while it became very precise (i have it set to the exact same time as my school clock so i know the exact second when the periods end) and it is still right on the money (i was in school yesterday for a student council meeting)... once you wear it alot it will hold the charge and its great

both of mine work well and hold time well. That is, unless you don't wear them...Then for some reason, they just stop...GO FIGURE!!! The funny part was, the white faced one I bought said it needed a battery...Damn thing!! HAHA...