The fluid holding capability of polymeric materials was semiquantitatively characterized with a new parameter called the fluid holding time (FHT). FHT measures the time it takes a continuous film to recede down the side of a Wilhelmy plate, which varies on different surfaces with the same degree of wettability. Both pure water and an artificial tear fluid (i.e., protein/salt solution) were used to systematically wet uncoated and plasma polymer coated polymeric plates. The FHT was calculated from Wilhelmy force loop plots in the event that a continuous water or aqueous film adhered to a polymeric surface. Such events are easily verified by consecutive wetting. Dynamic Wilhelmy force measurement is probably the most sensitive technique for monitoring wettability and surface configuration change, two important phenomenological factors that affect the FHT. The FHT measured by the Wilhelmy balance method can be effectively used to compare the liquid holding capabilities of different surfaces. The value of the FHT depends on experimental parameters and thus cannot be used in an absolute sense. In general, spontaneous wetting is the most favorable condition for producing continuous aqueous films on unperturbable surfaces. However, moderately hydrophilic and possibly even some hydrophobic surfaces perturbable by water were found to be capable of holding continuous films of water.