I've just bought a new SMP but ...

bothyhead

I eventually bought my Seamaster last week, and needless to mention, I am smiling from ear-to-ear. However, I am having having trouble with the bracelet. I woke up last night with an itchy rash about the size of a 10c coin on the inner side of my arm - right under the clasp. The rash is red, with little individual bumps (like small pimples)

I have broken out from metal allergies in the past, e.g. if I'm wearing a tee-shirt outside my jeans, my belt buckle tends to cause a rash. Also, an old pair of glasses I had would irritate my temples, because the lacquer had worn away on the arms. However, I have never had a reaction to the stainless steel in my old watch, which I was wearing for nearly 15 years. Considering the SMP bracelet is stainless, I'm leaning towards this being a friction rash (unless there are different types of stainless steel?)

The first day I bought the watch, I had it sized too small, and I could feel the watch 'sticking' to my skin. The next day I got an extra half link added in, which seemed to help. The bracelet is still quite tight, and doesn't move around that much; however, I can easily re-position it by moving it with my other hand (which I couldn't do the first day), or by giving a good flick to my wrist. Even thought the watch is heavy, this doesn't seem to bother me when I'm wearing it. I spent about 3 or 4 hours driving yesterday, and the watch felt quite comfortable, so I was really surprised when I saw the rash last night. Could it be that I still have it too tight? I've ordered a bracelet pin extractor (thanks for web link posted in another topic), so I will be able to experiment a little in a few days. How loose should a bracelet be? I've a feeling that by swapping the half link for a full one, that the bracelet will be large enough to slide over my wrist-bone down to my hand; perhaps it is desirable. In the past few days, even thought the bracelet has been comfortable to wear, when I take it off, I've noticed that my wrist was dampish - do I need to let air circulate?

Has anyone experience with this or any advice?

Fingers x

Cyrus

if you have metal allergies perhaps you should have gone for a titanium watch?

bothyhead

True, except I never had any problems with stainless before (been wearing one for 15 years)

edit: I have just read that sometimes nickel is added to stainless to make it shiny ... hmm I wonder. It's time to fire an email off to Omega.

Cyrus

ah ok,

there are different grades of stainless steel but im not sure if that affects allergys

try resizing and see how you go,

good luck

Wibbs

Sounds like the small nickel content alright. Made worse by the recent warm weather where you sweat more?

bothyhead

bedlam wrote: »

... Having said that Omega claim their watches do leech nickel so should not be a problem to allergy sufferers.

Very interesting - They claim that the nickel is tightly bound to the steel, and won't leach out. Only those who are hyper-sensitive to stainless will have a problem, which is not me.

I'd agree with Wibbs and say it's more likely to be a sweat rash

Yikes! I just Googled to see what a sweat rash looks like, and it appears to be something similar (only mine is much milder). I did find the bracelet sticking to me a bit over the past few days, so perhaps you're on to something.

if you were experiencing a nickel reaction I'd almost expect to see a rash on the upper side of the wrist too

Nope, just under the clasp.


For the nickel allergy, one trick I've used on the past (on my glasses arms, for example), is to paint them with a bit of clear nail varnish, which does the trick nicely. So, that is worth a shot as well.

Thanks for all the feedback
B

bothyhead

Are you sure? Sort of contradicting what I said above ...

Looks like it, yeah:

Can I wear an OMEGA stainless steel watch if I am allergic to nickel?

The materials used by OMEGA are subjected to severe tests in order to avoid this problem. The stainless steel used by OMEGA does contain nickel, but this must first be transferred from the material to the skin before an allergy is triggered. Our stainless steel is so stable that it does not release nickel and is therefore safe for allergy sufferers. The only exception is for those who are hyper-sensitive to stainless steel, i.e. those who cannot cook or eat with stainless steel utensils. In this case, we recommend you buy a watch which is made of titanium.

I can't be hyper-sensitive to stainless steel, as I've been using SS knives and forks for the best part of 40 years

p.s. I put it back on again this evening for half an hour, and noticed that it's still rather tight, with very little movement. I'll swap out the half link for a whole one and see how I get on.

Wibbs

Now its just my humble, but maybe the tightness is 99% ofthe problem? I'm allergic to nothing, but wearing any watch, including a gold one in very sweaty weather and I get a slight rash. Gold is even less biologically reactive than Ti. So I reckon that could be a lot of it.

bothyhead

Update ... my link removal tool arrived this morning; however, I've been wearing the bracelet for the past 3 or 4 days without any problems. Maybe the tightness was due to the hight humidity last week. I'll leave the size as it is for another few days and see how I get on.