Here is the text pertaining to M8 and WATE problems in the Antarctic. This comes from Luminous Landscape and is just a snippet of the complete report...
"There were four people aboard who carried Leica M8's, myself among them. I primarily used mine in Buenos Aires for a bit of street shooting, and aboard ship for some snapshots of ship life. My only real problem was that the 67mm filter holder on the new 16-18-21mm Tri-Elmar jammed on, freezing the aperture ring. Some dissection followed and the eventual solution when I finally was able to remove it showed that there is a thick rubber O-ring used to seal both it and the lens shade, but that it is very easy for this to become cross-threaded when the filter and shade are being interchanged. Once this happens and the ring is dislodged, it appears impossible to get it to work properly again. I have found that I now have to use a bit of black plastic electrical tape to hold the lens shade in place. Not the usual quality of materials and construction that one expects from Leica"
In fact, the aperture ring was frozen only because of a filter holder malfunction due to an easily dislodged O ring.... I will wait for this to be perfected...